Hey, I didn't mean to dump on anyone's car. Everyone has his or her personal choices, I respect that. I have never owned a BMW in my life, and was only making an observation from those I know who do own them, and don't abuse them, as well as from my ownership experiences with European cars, which were both good and bad (excellent driving, amazing smooth handling, but very high costs in maintaining them). Anyway we are all car enthusiasts, and we are here to learn from each other, hopefully in a civil manner

 

Their inline 6's are simply the best and pair quite excellent with their transmissions, which are very strong and durable units. They do drive excellent despite being heavy because their chassis design is incredibly balanced front/rear despite having a long inline 6 engine.

Is it possible to buy one that's gonna be a complete money pit? Dude, dont get me wrong, if you don't do your research and blindly choose you're going to have a very bad perception of the brand without a doubt. I saw a 2006 325xi in the shop while getting my trans filter change that has over 200k miles but it looked like it had half that. The body, black paint, even the way the suspension sit showed to me that this is a very well built car, something which you just wont see anymore unless you only shop for Japanese. Having owned a 528i myself, It cost me nothing but standard maintenance to operate, I guess because I got lucky with a solid example. These newer german cars are insanely complex.

Now, Audi is probably a bit easier to work on than a new BMW, but the worst is definetely Mercedes.