Sorry guys, another "what to do with this car" thread. My boyfriend got a 1999 BMW 328i back in April, at my recommendation. 130K miles, interior in pretty good shape, same with the exterior. When we test drove it, it drove great. Needed an alignment but that was all. Under hard acceleration, braking, and cornering it felt good and tight. Paid $5500 for it, and it's been a great car for him since. Lately though, he's been having transmission problems. It goes into limp mode after highway driving, and after taking it to a reputable European car shop, they told us the car is totaled. Apparently the transmission has been slipping a fair amount. Furthermore, the transmission is going to continue to get worse, even with new fluid and filter. Replacing it would be costly as well, a used transmission for that car is $1500 and a new one is nearly $4500. And then there's the labor to replace it, as well as some other stuff the car needs (shocks and ball joints). I feel bad because I highly recommended this car to him, and said it would be really reliable, but as it turns out it is nothing but a headache. But like I said, on the day of the test drive the car performed exactly as it should have, it was tight and drove like a BMW should. I guess I just feel responsible for the car's problems since it's because of me that he got it. (This is why I always recommend people buying older used cars to try to find one with a manual transmission.) So now, we need to figure out what to do with the car. I would suppose it's not worth fixing, unless we can get like a free transmission or something. So then comes the question: how can we get as much out of it as possible? I was thinking we may get more out of it if we sold it at one of those big auto auctions than if we privately sold it or traded it in, but I've never gone through the auction process so I'm not sure. Like I said, it looks pretty nice--the interior cleaned up nicely, and the exterior has some age, but it's typical of that for a 13-year old car. The engine runs like a clock. We aren't really in a good position to part it out, so unfortunately that's not an option. And finally, if anyone knows of a nice European car for sale anywhere near Kentucky (willing to drive a few hours) in the ~$5500 price range, please let me know. If we sell it, he's gonna need a new car ASAP because until then I've gotta drive him around everywhere, and we both have different work and school schedules. Thanks for answering all my random questions! Clark
Clark, I am sorry this had to happen to you guys. Wish you had asked me about the Bimmer before you pulled the trigger. I have extensive experience with them and have been Detailing hundreds of them from an Independent ( a really good one) BMW shop for years. So I get to talk shop with them all the time too. Sounds like this car did not get a lot if any transmission fluid changes over its lifetime. You always need to know the history of this critical part before you go further with buying negotiations - with any make model of vehicle.. So this shop you went to - was it a strictly BMW shop ?? If it is just a generic all European cars shop, I would not be so satisfied with their assessment just yet. Did they pull the pan and drain the fluid and look at the bottom of the pan for worn clutch material, etc..? If not, then how can they be so sure that your transmission is dead? Did it stop moving completely when you put it in any gear, or reverse? You might try to find a good, reputable BMW only Independent shop around there if possible. I am a member of the BMW Club (BMWCCA) for over 12 years now, and in the monthly Roundel magazine, they always post this - http://www.bimrs.org/ which is an international association of BMW Service providers and they may have a member of this organization close by. I would trust their shop much more than some all European place. I am not slamming your place, please know; but I do know that guys that went to lots of schools for BMW and have seen hundreds/thousands of BMW transmissions, would be way better to listen to than anyone else.. And along they way I am sure that you have figured out that it does cost $$$ to keep a German car running - way more than a Honda, etc., but you get what you pay for too. There is nothing that drives like a Bimmer, and that is one of the main things that attracts so many people... I wish you guys were over here, I would refer you to my personal Indy BMW shop and they would be very happy to help and give you better than expert advise.. Good luck with this - use that Link and see if you can find a shop close by, if you want to get another opinion.. Dan F
Dan, thanks so much for your help and advice! I really wish I had contacted you before he bought this car--you said your shop was in Indy, and that's where he bought the car from. It appears as though the car has been neglected over its lifetime, only something we have found out after he has owned the car for several months. I guess that's a lesson learned. As far as the shop goes, it is listed on the BMWCCA website. It's called Motorsports of Lexington. Based on their reviews they do pretty top-quality work, and seem to be the best BMW shop in Lexington. It was the only one listed on the website. What they told us was that the fluid, though certainly not new, was not burned and that it was clean. They said that early E46 BMW's with automatic transmissions have a flawed design, and that there's a part in them that ultimately goes bad and causes the transmission to fail. And that eventually, all the transmissions in those E46 BMW's will fail because of it. The car was throwing fault codes for first and fifth gear...and I have noticed when driving the car on the highway, it didn't seem to want to engage fifth gear. The revs would stay up higher than usual, and first gear seems to slip. Unfortunately, the car does not just need a new transmission, it also needs new suspension all around and new ball joints. Again, something I'm sure your shop would have been able to find and deter him from getting the car. But all that combined with the transmission means that it is not really cost-effective to keep the car. For a while we were toying with the idea of getting a manual transmission and sticking it in there, but the complications of that seem to pile up really quickly, with all the internal computer stuff and having to run new linkages, etc. etc. It really pains me to see this car have to go, it looks fantastic, the interior is in great shape, and even with all the problems it drives great, and still feels like a BMW. We have been trying to find a good car locally, since Chris needs a new car ASAP. We currently have our eye on a 2005 Volkswagen Passat station wagon at the BMW/VW dealer in Lexington. It's got 115K miles on it and looks nice. There was a 2003 Passat there with about 97K miles on it but it didn't have leather, a sunroof, alloy wheels, and it had a grey exterior with grey cloth on the inside...pretty bland. The station wagon is a nice metallic blue, leather interior, sunroof, alloys, floormats...a bit more mileage, but a nicer car for that. I'm gonna try to take the Passat to Motorsports of Lexington tomorrow morning and have them take a look at it. I'm also gonna call the dealer and see what service records they can pull up for it. The good thing is that we should be able to get between $3,000 and $4,000 on trade for his BMW according to the dealer, and he (rather, his mother lol) will pay $4000 or maybe less in cash. In the meantime I'm scouring around online to see what I can find in the price range. Anyway, lesson learned here I suppose, always get a used car looked over by a shop. I know my way around cars pretty well but ultimately a shop is the best place to take a car to have it looked at. His mother partially blames me for the problem, but then she used to spend several hundred dollars a month to keep her dying old Town and Country on the road. And then it finally died after she put power steering fluid in the coolant for months for some unknown reason. So she replaced it with another old Town and Country, which also kept breaking, so she bought a 2004 Taurus. Which, given their reputation, will soon begin to break as well. So I can't really take her criticism too seriously haha. I'll keep you guys updated on what I find and what we end up doing. Again, thanks for your help and concern Dan! If we ever buy a BMW in your area we shall certainly hit up your shop! And I imagine we will...though Chris may not have a Bimmer for a while, I know he wants a nice 5 or 7 series at some point when he's got the money...
Clark - I meant any Indy shop - short for Independent Shop - not necessarily in Indiana, ok ? Since I am located over here on the West Coast, yeah, my guys could not help you very well. Looks like you may be able to salvage much from this if you can get those numbers for a trade in, so glad that all wont be lost. Please consider taking those Volkswagen models you mentioned to a great shop that can give you a good written report on condition, including compression (dry and wet), and/or leakdown tests so you can get a pretty good idea of the internals. Then, if either have a Turbo, these parts alone are very expensive to service or replace too. The Turbo uses engine oil and sometimes an oil cooler to help cool down the bearings, and if the engine oil was NOT changed often, well, that means that in addition to increased engine wear, you may also have increased Turbo bearing wear which can lead to failure... So key is inspecting, testing looking at all the maintenance records that are available so you can get an idea of how good this car/s really is going to be, or not.. Good luck; take your time, get inspections, have the inspectors explain the results and listen to their recommendations. Dan F
Oops, haha. I'm not very good with abbreviations. And I actually just got back from the dealer with that passat, and they said I could take it to a shop no problem. So first thing Monday Morning I'm calling the shop and having them take a look at it as soon as they can. We have looked at several other cars in the area and that passat seems like the best deal we are gonna find.
