Oops - I meant the fuse panel is easy to change - the HVAC stuff sure isn't!

Mine had every one of those issues sorted all ready, though I got to give it fuse panel #3. It also had new blower motors and the HVAC motors done. What utter pieces of crap those things are, but at least super easy to change. It also has a rebuilt transfer case, new viscous coupling, and a new flexplate in the last…

It's a computer controlled coil pack for a bi-turbo V12. It is a TOUCH more complex than a distributor. Ultimately, the parts cost what they cost - if you can't afford it, don't buy the car.

It WAS the benchmark diesel in the US in the mid-80s. Obviously, anything modern is far better. Where you even alive in the mid-80s?

3yo cars are not enough cheaper than new cars. Buy new or buy really used, the in-between is a false economy.

I don't have a 335i. I find the G37 to be significantly inferior in fit and finish and driving feel to my 328i. It's fast, but it's cheap, both literally and figuratively. You get what you pay for. My 328i is faster than you can use on a public road in the US, so what is the point of anything faster?

And yet being a generalist is the best way to go through life:

I have always thought that Manhattan would be an amazing place to live if you were so rich you never had to actually set foot on the street. Helicopters and chauffeured limos. I spend a few weeks a year there for work every year, and hate every second of it.

You have obviously never driven one of these. The only better diesel was the BMW 524TD, and I would rather have the Volvo, as they came in wagon form.

These are not that slow. The TD has as much hp as the Volvo red-block 4, and a LOT more torque. Especially with the stick, it is quite quick and being an inline six it is one of the smoothest diesels you will ever find. When I first got out of school, I had an '87 744GLE automatic (same color scheme as this one), my…

An awful lot of BMW people would tell you to be thankful you HAVE a dipstick. But I am not one of them. I am perfectly happy to leave that to the car. I have three other cars to check myself.

Cost me <$200 to put a top-of-the-line Nakamichi CD/MP3 into mine... Still uses the stock H/K speakers and sub. Waaaay better than what it came with, and simple enough that it looks appropriate. Though I suppose yours is too new to have it that easy. :-)

Actually, on my '11 BMW you just hit a couple buttons on the turn signal stalk once the car is warmed up. If the car is more than 1 liter low, it tells you without having to do anything. There is actually no particular reason to check it, given that. It holds nearly 8 liters of oil total, being one low is meaningless.

It's a coil pack for an almost *$200K* car. You know, expensive cars do not have cheap parts, and then a $180,000 badge on the back of them. Considering you can pick up a nice CL65 for roughly $100K discount off new, I don't think spending a few grand now and then is really that big a deal. If you can't afford that,…

No wonder you spent $20K, you bought a basket case! I was really lucky, I bought mine from an enthusiast who had maintained it really well, but was "thinning his herd" as he got divorced and she got the big garage. So my truck had nearly all of the common "mid-life crisis" issues addressed already. I also, relatively…

The average adult commuter should be buying a Camry rather than either one.

Who listens to CDs anymore??

My time has value, but it is worth less to me than the $150/hr the local Rover dealer charges. And the hassle of getting it there and back. As I say about my BMW, once the warranty and free maintenance are done, it will never darken BMWs door again.

Not really fair to count things you spent money on because you wanted to, as opposed to what you had to. I would not count my new Nakamichi head unit Parrot hands-free kit as costs, for example. How long a span for that $25K? But I do agree with you, I have lost about $20K on my bought new BMW and Abarth over the past…

Insurance is no more expensive, massively cheaper if you get something old enough to run on classic insurance. Fuel depends on what it is, there are interesting cars that get very good gas mileage - my Spitfire gets 35+. I would keep a boring car just as clean as anything else, probably cleaner than my Range Rover -…