Quote:
Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
I disagree with you, a lightly optioned, manual trans, non-turbo BMW 3-series is a very reliable car based on my experience. I have four BMWs right now, and a fifth was a 1989 E30 325i bought new kept for 18 years and 257,000 miles. All in all I've driven 930,000 or so miles on the five. Now I do DIY everything except alignments, tires, and AC, granted, but old 3-series BMWs are very reliable. At 250,000+ I was still daily driving my E90 a minimum of 800 miles a week (165 a day); I still drive it 2 days a week. I rotate basically between 3 cars during the week. My Experience spans across the E30, E36, E46, and E90 platforms.
OP, if you don't need a 4-seater, and like to drive, get an E86 Z4 3.0si Coupe. You can find them for $12K. Best build quality I've seen from BMW.
Life is too short to sit your ass in a POS Japanese econobox and think you'll have great reliability.
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No matter how much you think the BMWs you owned were reliable, a similarly cost Japanese economy car is 9/10 times more reliable. That's not to say I don't agree with you and would pickup your cars to drive daily. But as a recommendation to someone for a best $10k daily beater, not sure about that.
I owned both a E46 328i and currently a E60 550i. Both I consider "beaters" because I put minimal maintenance, did not make them look beautiful with cosmetic upkeep, and both were worth sub 15k when I had them. Both exceeded 120k miles, however, I cannot recommend this as a daily driver that would be cheaper / more reliable than comparable japanese cars. With that said, I'd rather do the DIY maintenance / simple fixes and be stuck w/ a E46 / E60 than a corolla. This isn't for everyone though.
The E46 had a lot of issues - off the top of my head, intake camshaft sensor (CEL light) water pump failure at 70k (stuck at side of road) window regulators (over 5x broken) rear shock mount, front control arms, bushings, and much more. Not really a good "beater" but a great car I love/miss till this day.
The E60 550i I currently own, I've averaged roughly $1500 in annual expenses to maintain, mostly with DIY work. From 60k-120k I've changed water pump / expansion tank / hoses (starting to leak and prevention), few electronic issues (control modules needed to be swapped), and leaking valve cover (2x), alternator gasket, front control arms bushings at 60k and due again, few other gasket leaks in the engine, and currently at 120k I'm getting slight stuttering likely from valve stem seals on cold days that I don't plan on addressing until my car throws a CEL or is inoperable from a safety stand point.
While I love both of those cars, reliable and affordable daily driver wouldn't be the adjectives I use. The e60 was far better in terms of reliability, yet the parts were still more expensive and had weird electronic gremlins. As a car enthusiast these are acceptable to me and I don't mind doing the DIY work. But I wouldn't recommend these cars for $10k range (likely in condition that needs work).
For $10k beater recommendation a honda / toyota as a daily driver make the most sense. Not to say that Japanese cars don't have any issues, but the few that I've owned (Corolla / Altima / Sienna / Rav 4) literally have seen much more abuse / miles with much less costs. Very hard to argue this decision from a cost basis.
With that said everyone has different requirements for a daily driver. I prefer owning cheaper used BMWs over the tried and true japanese economy cars. To each their own. I'm willing to pay to play
