Thank you. This has nothing to do with an Italian tuneup. DI engines have this problem regardless of how hard they are pushed. On the DI BMW engines we add an oil catch can that prevents a lot of this but you really can't eliminate the problem.

There are a lot of business incentives to leasing if you put the car under the company name and drive a lot of company miles, both of which he's most likely doing. In addition to that you're only paying tax on the portion of the car you're using versus paying on the entire amount of the car. With a car like that,…

No he's not. If he buys it outright he pays taxes on the entire amount. If he leases he pays on his lease payments. If he puts it under his business name (and I'm sure he does) he can also write the lease payments off, at least the portion of them that were used for business purposes.

There are a lot of enticing…

Looks amazing and seems like a great bargain until you get to the engine. 2 liter 4 cylinder? 240hp? Ok, well it's a turbo 4 so I'm sure it's oozing torque. What's that? 250 lb/ ft? And in the age of 5 series BMW's weighing well north of two tons it's almost certainly going to be tipping the scales at 4500 -…

While this hasn't happened to me, I'm inclined to cut the guy a little bit of slack. Here's why:

See the problem with the BMW is people do notice, especially other BMW drivers. You can pretty easily spot a low option 320 versus a well optioned 328 or 335. The low option cars don't have angel eyes, have small wheels, smaller displays inside (because of the lack of NAV). Sure, to 95% of the people out there…

You didn't make a mistake. He mentioned the fact that he paid 10k over sticker. Once he put that on the table, discussing price was fair game. It's not like you walked up to him un-provoked and told him it was a dumb decision. He throw it in your face and you gave him a reaction other than the the one he was…

I don't think you fully understand the demographic. Many people that can afford these cars can afford them because they factor stuff like this into their purchasing decision and considering things like that in the equation are what got them the means to afford a car like this in the first place. Likewise, many…

My 8 year old 550i was also flawless. Over 100,000 miles and the only issue it ever had was a leaking coolant expansion tank. $140 and 5 minutes and I was back in business.

My 2010 535 has been amazing and it's a "new" BMW no less, not one of those old school models that you could fix with a paper clip and a gum wrapper. Now if you want to talk about used Audis...

As someone that's been there and done that a lot, is in the income bracket you cited and who owns a business, you're not quite accurate in your assessment. You can often make a tax case for a new car if it's 100% business use but unless you're leasing it even that's limited. I own a business and have a great…

That is priceless advice and a perfect way of summarizing my point.

"They don't age well" really is a perfect way of putting it. VAG tends to use cheap quality components and the cars appear to be built mechanically to last as long as their typical owner demographic will keep it. As far as flagships go the A8 was heads and tails better than the last gen 7 series or Merc but has…

Truly it's hit and miss. With most of the cars Tavarish posts you might get one and never have a hint of any problems or you might get it and it will bankrupt you. Part of the equation when buying a car like this is to ask yourself:

I know plenty, myself included. The error wasn't in buying used. It was in buying out of warranty. I bought my 2 year old BMW for about 40% off, under warranty with just 17k miles.

The S8 was such a miserable car and I say this as someone who nearly pulled the trigger on one and instead opted for a fully optioned A8. It's marginally faster than the FSI 4.2 when driven like most people drive these, the V10 makes it much more nose heavy than the already nose-heavy A8 (and the fact that it's only…

You can get both stock and aftermarket solutions that add bluetooth A2Dp sound as well as iPod control through the display. It all works seamlessly.

I just sold my A8 with the B&O system. By far it's the thing I miss the most about the car. It was just inexplicably clear.

Interesting. I had no idea. I thought it was purely a range extender.

You realize the Karma has an identical drivetrain right? Electric motor powers the vehicle at all times and the engine kicks in as a generator when needed. There is no direct connection to the wheels from the engine. Same with the Volt.

Also, TCG?