I think it's time to go...

[balkanac]

My father in law spent $8,000 on his 7 Series BMW at 5 years. Needed new gearbox, rear suspension failed. Was in the shop for more than 6 weeks.
His other BMW a 3 Series cost $4000 at the 3 year service.

So BMW may not be as reliable as some say. Some people have a bad run other get by unscathed.

Tell him not to buy another 7 series and take his 3 series to a specialist, not to BMW. Imparts sells exactly the same parts BMW uses for 1/4 off the price. I dont see why should you or anyone else take their car to a dealer, they make their money on servicing, not selling cars

[JustCruisn]

Tell him not to buy another 7 series and take his 3 series to a specialist, not to BMW. Imparts sells exactly the same parts BMW uses for 1/4 off the price. I dont see why should you or anyone else take their car to a dealer, they make their money on servicing, not selling cars

Both Bemmers sold and replaced by a new 5 series and a Mazda 3.

[mikk]

how often are the bulbs being replaced? that's really odd, is someone/something touching the bulb glass before putting them in?

do you drive over rough roads or potholes?

i'm surprised nobody has asked how many km are on this car. the maintenance things are normal, but the rest is strange.

[bullsta]

hey dubbed I got a 4 GTI
2 years now and noi ssues whatsoever.Keep hearing the horror stories but all good my end.
Chipped too

[dubbed]

mikk, I made sure to use cotton gloves putting in the light globes last time. Think that would help.. Last night I learned another brake light has gone! By the way, it hasn't hit 150k km yet.

bullsta, lucky you!

So turns out the sway bar bolt has made its way loose and was out. Nice and easy fix. Mechanic charged me nothing. Amazing, right?

Brakes need replacing all round which I suspected anyway. But the best part? I start the car and well what do you know? The plagued piece of **** is misfiring again - brought back memories of when the MAF was faulty. No doubt it won't be cheap whatever it is. Surely not another MAF.... Coil packs? They haven't been replaced yet lol

[audi-tone]

mine was misfiring lately and it was the ignition control unit which is $430 from the dealer BUT a place in brisbane has an aftermarket which works perfectly for $120. if you want their details i'll pm them to you, i'm not sure if they post but you could ask?

[type 17]

Your problems may stem from the way you drive your car,

every car has its own gremlins especially euros and even BMW, there are too many variables to consider to say a beemer or merc or audi is more reliable than the other.

If you are unhappy with your maintenance bills, then sell the car and buy a honda.
But you will eventually have to sell that when it starts having problems.

This thread is just full of whine, Balkanac, you should sell your R32 to someone who wants one,
all you seem to do is complain that its not as good as an E46. Why don't you get one, and see how expensive they are to maintain!

Ive driven M3s and they handle great but i would never trade one for my R32 for any money, no car is built perfectly,
but the M3's engine sounds like a sack of smashed assholes compared with the R32's.

I drive the absolute **** out of my car, and nothing serious has ever gone wrong, especially nothing i wouldn't have expected.
Maybe you just bought a lemon OP but as others say, most of what you have replaced is service parts which can be sourced outside of VW for much less.

My 2 cents

[mikk]

ah the E46... definitely not a cheap car to maintain

honda won't exactly be cheap to maintain either. out of all the japanese brands it seems to have the craziest prices for things.

such a pity this car seems to be a bit of a lemon.

[balkanac]

as i said before, no car is cheap to maintain if you take them to a dealer. Every time i took my r32 to VW for a service it never came out with a bill less than $400
E46 is a much better car and saying that you wouldnt get an m3 because the engine is noisy? So you bought your car just because of how it sounds? Mate, do a bit of research and then compare them. I have driven both e36 and e46 m3s and i have had my car for 4.5 years and whoever drove both cars will agree that you cant compare them, M3 is in a league of its own.
the only reason why i havent bought an e46 yet is because im waiting for the right one

[type 17]

Mate I have done plenty of research, I also have driven every m3. An e30 evo3, 36, 46 and 92, I didn't mean to make it sound like a personal attack mate. I like you Nik, but you are seemingly always bagging out the R32. Which made me wonder why you own one, you've just now answered that question.

Yes M3s are completely incomparable to the R32 its such a different platform, and yes stock for stock the m3 will out perform. I mean what ~341bhp vs 241bhp, Rwd vs 4wd. E46 CSL is one of my favourite looking cars of all time, but i would never buy one, i just think they are over priced. You own a very rare quite quick 2 door golf with possibly one of the best sounding engines out of anycar, m3 is a dime a dozen car with a powerful and in my opinion a terrible sounding engine.

Part of the decision to buy my R32 was definitely made by the sound it makes, another was the location of the car. I was going to buy a B5 RS4, but it was situated in NSW and before i booked my ticket to go over there i checked car sales and saw my car in WA.

My stipulations at the time were,
-German
-4wd
-6 cylinder
-turbo

It ticked three of those boxes, cost half as much as the RS4, and i knew with the remainder of the money not buying the RS4 i could turbo and turn an R32 into a killer of many. Yes it is a bit nose heavy, but with the right tweaks it can all be dialed out.

I just don't get why you rag on your own car so much, so many people would kill to have a car like yours.
You should be proud of owning it, winning trophys (albeit superfluous) and such.

I mean dude, It's a slick car a modern classic and more and more are being crashed every month.

Not aiming here to get up your nose, nor have my nose up your ass but just saying you are lucky to be one of very few, especially in perth, to own one of these cars.

I know someone who is thinking of selling his E46 SMG in silver if you want his details, you may persuade him, he's looking at the C63 AMG.

There is also a guy selling a black e30 M3, non evo orginal version.

No hard feelings.

Pedro

BTW OP sorry for the thread hijack.

[brodzta_GTI]

take it to a dealer for your running rough issue.. might be the altitude sensor??

if your really keen on selling it.. sell it.. get another make.. drive it for 10 years.. then make your comparison.. i did my apprenticeship at a vw dealership and now i work at a ford/nissan dealer.. i can tell you its an absolute pleasure after a day of driving lesser quality vehicles and getting into my 01 gti..

if your looking at a focus..more fool you.. ill take my 01 gti over any model focus any day of the week.. trim quality, performance, handling dont come within a bulls roar of the gti..

youll learn.. and youll be back

[grtuned]

Good point brodzta Gti!!! I'd have to agree with that, if we made comparisons to vehicles that have reached 10 years and looked at overall cost I'm sure that they would most likely be equal.

[type 17]

My mate just have his transmission die in his e42 540 and his engine in an e38 740IL rebuilt because the thing ceased up, still had oil just killed itself.

Auto Classic subsidised half the cost of a motor rebuild but it still was thousands they put it down to some electrical fault. Doesn't surprise me cause half the electronics in the car don't work, the window regulators have been changed so many times cause the windows are like half inch thick, and the most of the LED displays are toast the rear window curtain has been broken pretty much since they bought it new in 2001.

Cost him big buck to fix both then he ended up just selling them. The 740IL was one seriously expensive car when it was released.
Feel sorry for him.

[Coralon]

I used to work with a guy that had a 525 coupe, it was one of the sexiest cars I have seen but he swore it was the worst car he had owned. Sure it went like a shower of ****, handled like it was on rails and had women literally sliding off it but it spent more time getting fixed than actually driving. He sold it and bought an A4

[dubbed]

I've never taken my car to a dealer, I'm not that crazy!

I ended up taking it to Dean at Volkspower (I can't give enough praise for him) who changed one of the coilpacks, spark plugs and the ignition control module. 600 bucks later it's back to normal. Apparently the left front wheel bearing needs changing too. Yay.

Now it's time to do the brakes which will be around $900 so I might just do it myself. Plus another two more tyres.

Oh, also forgot to mention both window carriers have been replaced (those plastic ones that break, but I guess I'll be told that's maintenance as well ).

By the way, whoever said the Golf handles better than the same gen Focus is bonkers and biased. I've driven the same gen which poo all over any Mk4 in the handling stakes. I also hired a later model one in NZ and took it around the South Island and put it through its paces; wet, snow, etc and it was magic. Doughy but magic.