Context: I've got a 7 year old BMW which i bought brand new. I got it with the extended 7 year warranty. Now that time is almost up. Honestly it was a nice run but i don't want to deal with the high repair costs (none foreseen) that could come up (am i wrong on this one?) Furthermore, given i have a family now, i can't afford the higher cost of a new car and frankly want something that will get me from A to B cheaply and safely in the Seattle area. TC:220 / YOE:10 / L64 Thanks for the help!
Find out the value if you sell it right now - trade in vs private sale depends on how much work you’re willing to spend. You might be willing to take a thousand or two less for the trade in if it saves you 20 hours dealing with private sales. Estimate possible repair costs. Looks up common problem areas on your model and year. Water pump is something that I’ve had issues with on BMWs, for example. If the value is less than potential repair costs, keep it until it breaks, then trade it in for scraps. If the value is well above repair costs, keep it, and reevaluate when things break.
I think bmws are pretty reliable... it should last you 3-5 more years.
They don’t have turn signals though, it depends on what you want!
Drive it at least until it starts failing. Cars are the anti-investment. Once there’s a sign of trouble, you might want to bail. I have a BMW at 167000 mi. I love the car but it’s not cheap to fix.
What is the mileage on the car? Has it had any significant problems up to now? If you get a new car, don't get *brand* new. That is a colossal waste of money.
70~ k miles.
Bought my previous (not BMW but similar) car almost new and drove it for 12 years and 100k+ miles till it needed a big repair ($2500). Sold it then for $5k
While I am generally against new cars, but I have to admit that the safety standards of newer cars have gone up. I have seen some Autocap crash tests and really admire the engineering that's been done. It's a shame that such feature don't get as much publicity as apple carplay or Android auto
Get a Toyota or a Tesla.
One of these things is not like the other.
The cheapest available Tesla is now $45,000 - $7,500 fed rebate - variable state rebates. Considering that most tech companies provide free charging you can add gas savings ($1000 yr x 10 yrs). So over lifetime, cheaper than a Camry and approaching Corolla numbers. That puts them on somewhat equal footing.