[salesdriver]

HI. I am a traveling salesman. Will run @ 40,000 miles a year. I like the 328i, but all the features I want are on the 335i. Have some concern if the 335i turbo's will be reliable with that many highway miles. In my expierience, cars that run a lot of miles, have few engine problems, and I figure these two have great engines. Looking for a new driving expierience, but need it on the road, not the shop. What is the the right car?

[John 070]

Originally Posted by salesdriver

HI. I am a traveling salesman. Will run @ 40,000 miles a year. I like the 328i, but all the features I want are on the 335i. Have some concern if the 335i turbo's will be reliable with that many highway miles. In my expierience, cars that run a lot of miles, have few engine problems, and I figure these two have great engines. Looking for a new driving expierience, but need it on the road, not the shop. What is the the right car?

If you go to edmunds.com and look at TCO figures, BMW's are clearly the wrong car to use as they have an over-the-top cost per mile to operate. Hate to say it but that's where Japanese cars shine.

imho no, this is not the right car. Not when the vehicle is to be your means of earning a living.

[solacebmw]

I have an 325 E90 and on target for about 20k my first year as I communte 60 miles a day. thus far, the N/A motor has been fine. I think if you want the BMW driving experience, go for it, just be prepared to pay for added maintaince cost after 50k is up

[Couch]

I think you'll be fine either way. No one really knows how the car will hold up over the years. But with the majority being highway miles, you should be able to rack up a lot of trouble free miles.

But if you want to play it safe, go with the 328. Can't go wrong either way imo.

[Bimmerista]

Operating costs for any luxury car will be higher than those of non-lux cars: the hourly rate of dealers/shops, cost of parts and multitude of gismos than are expensive to repair all add up, whether it is Lexus, Infinity, BMW, Audi MB etc.

Having said that, if you accept this as a cost of moving to a lux marque, then the name of the game for increasing reliability is decreasing complexity.

Therefore, get rid of the twin turbos and intercoolers-get the 328. Do not get Idrive, if you need nav, get an aftermarket Garmin or similar. Unless you are sure that you can live with the (slightly) harsher ride, do not get the sports package-if the standard mags are repulsive to you, keep them for re-sale and get a set of after-market mags to suit your own taste.

Do this and you wil find that the BMW engines are more reliable than most out there, often what fails are the accessories, like turbos, like electronic gismos and so on.

BMW on pure reliability (removing the feel-good "ease of use" matrix from the study) is ranked 3rd in reliability of all manufacturers by JD Powers.



If you go to any middle eastern country you will find most cars are 10-20 year old BMWs and MBs. Believe me, these babies are well build-its the accessories that kill you after the warranty is out.

[SunnyvaleCA]

My aprehension about the reliability of the turbo engine would stem from the high stress you could put on the engine during highly-spirited driving. If you are doing 35k miles of steady highway use and 5k miles of spirited driving each year, you really only have 30k miles of spirited driving when the car is ready to be retired--that's not too much stress.

As far as resale value is concerned, high-mileage isn't necessarily properly modeled by Edmonds. If you plan on going 200k miles or more then just assume you will write off the entire purchase price (i.e.: not get a whole lot in resale). If you are going to sell it after 2 years, then keep your records, including your documented traveling-salesman records, and explain to prospective buyers that the car has basically spent its entire life in top gear gently going down the highway.

[TurboFan]

I agree with almost everything on this thread to this point.

I've been in your shoes, and was very happy with my Acuras. I had a BMW toward the end of my high-mileage job, and thankfully it was a certified pre-owned. Thankfully it was also an easy car to work on, 'cause I had to do a lot to it. CPO didn't cover all the little crap. Take a long look at the RL - unfortunately it's not a BMW, but fortunately, it's no BMW. They have some great deals on them right now, and they're outstanding vehicles for high-mile drivers. The AWD system is excellent as well, especially if you drive in foul weather frequently.

I admit a little bias here - I was a production engineer for Honda, and think a great deal about their cars. I'm the only one in my family that hasn't bought a Honda / Acura for my last car.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by Bimmerista

Operating costs for any luxury car will be higher than those of non-lux cars: the hourly rate of dealers/shops, cost of parts and multitude of gismos than are expensive to repair all add up, whether it is Lexus, Infinity, BMW, Audi MB etc.

If you're a physician, executive, etc., at some point in life you and your family are not going to be able to spend the income you will make over your career, so you don't worry about the fact that an Accord is in the 48 cent/mi range, a G35S is 74 cents, while the 335 is 91 cents, and you get 48.5 cents/mi as a reimbursement or deduction. But if you're a salesperson and the vehicle is a tool to enable you to earn a living, I would think you don't waste money and you take operating costs into consideration. An Infiniti is much cheaper to operate per mile than a BMW. As a matter of fact, the 335 costs the same to operate as a Cayman, although the Porsche costs 10 grand more to play. Now how smart is the salesman driving the Accord?

[Bimmerista]

With all due respect, if he is going Honda, he might as well get the Acura TL (even the type S-just released). The RL is a snore to drive.

Ooups, I was responding to post 7

[Bimmerista]

Originally Posted by John 070

If you're a physician, executive, etc., at some point in life you and your family are not going to be able to spend the income you will make over your career, so you don't worry about the fact that an Accord is in the 48 cent/mi range, a G35S is 74 cents, while the 335 is 91 cents, and you get 48.5 cents/mi as a reimbursement or deduction. But if you're a salesperson and the vehicle is a tool to enable you to earn a living, I would think you don't waste money and you take operating costs into consideration. An Infiniti is much cheaper to operate per mile than a BMW. As a matter of fact, the 335 costs the same to operate as a Cayman, although the Porsche costs 10 grand more to play. Now how smart is the salesman driving the Accord?

Which brings us right back to the very beginning of the OP's journey to this board - the first and fundamental decision as to whether to get a luxury car, or not And my recommend if he does indeed decide to go luxus, is NOt to get the 335, but rather the 328, whose operating costs are no-where near those of the 335

[John 070]

Originally Posted by Bimmerista

Which brings us right back to the very beginning of the OP's journey to this board - the first and fundamental decision as to whether to get a luxury car, or not And my recommend if he does indeed decide to go luxus, is NOt to get the 335, but rather the 328, whose operating costs are no-where near those of the 335

The 328 @ 76 cents/mi. and what, 76 HP less than a G35S? Not exactly a bargain. Again, when a vehicle is for pleasure, even a pauper can say I don't care, I want a BMW, it makes me happy, I don't care how much it costs to drive. But when the vehicle is for earning a living, and a lot of miles are driven, a BMW makes no sense imho. It's like the more you drive, the more you lose.

[dmboone25]

I would look at a TL--still a Honda, but more features and a little nicer.

[TurboFan]

Yup, TL is also a good choice, I just hate FWD.

[salesdriver]

Originally Posted by Bimmerista

Which brings us right back to the very beginning of the OP's journey to this board - the first and fundamental decision as to whether to get a luxury car, or not And my recommend if he does indeed decide to go luxus, is NOt to get the 335, but rather the 328, whose operating costs are no-where near those of the 335

Thanks for the help. I have thought of most of the answers. I know this is not a practical business car. I am at the end of my career, and will splurge a little this time. I will drive this car for 200,000 to 300,000 miles of mainly highway miles. The car will bring in its' own income while it moves. Most cars I have used have been mainly trouble free. Is seems these engines like to be run. I would think a simple 328i would run all day, everyday, for a long time. My Toyota did. My Chevy did. Just want something fun to drive, with a good radio! Ha Ha I agree, get the basic 328i.

[abuzzl23p]

how about a lexus IS250? its fairly peppy...though slower than my 5 spd tC...but the gas mileage and toyota reliability can't be beat...almost 34 mpg i think...and they ride very smoothly on the highway...you can get a steal on one...you could finagle about 4k off the price...i believe it was 34k for a fully loaded is250...heated/cooled seats, navi, rearview CAMERA not sensors, bluetooth, power seats, 6disc in dash mp3cd capable changer

[Aija]

Originally Posted by salesdriver

HI. I am a traveling salesman. Will run @ 40,000 miles a year. I like the 328i, but all the features I want are on the 335i. Have some concern if the 335i turbo's will be reliable with that many highway miles. In my expierience, cars that run a lot of miles, have few engine problems, and I figure these two have great engines. Looking for a new driving expierience, but need it on the road, not the shop. What is the the right car?

I would advise against getting BMW as a commuter car. We bought a 05 Lexus ES just for a commuter car. 68k miles on the car and only one minor problem has occurred with the car (window wouldn't go down). Our older Lexus (2000) is reading about 205k miles. I'm surprised, one minor problem with that car throughout so far.

As far as gadgets go, I would take the Japanese car's GPS over the BMW anyday.

[younghov85]

I would get the BMW but only while the warranty is valid and then sell it and get a Japanese car, like me!!!

[retlod]

The TL doesn't drive that much differently from the Accord (both felt sedated to me) and really doesn't have that many more features than a loaded Accord EX-V6. Don't get a TL-S--they're ugly. If I were the OP, I would get a V6 Accord or a TSX.

[anerbe]

if you do decide to go BMW, you may be able to find a CPO E90 w/ the 100,000K warranty. Most, if any, of your major issues should pan out within this mileage/timeframe.

plus, highway miles should not be as big a deal as city. it's interesting, but part of me would rather have a 60K car over a 30K car if I knew they were all highway, but at the same time, I'd be tempted by the 30K car as it has "less miles". i guess it's becuase it's hard to document how the car was driven, as a 60K car could have been beat on in the city, driven 5 hours/day .

[sflgator]

FWIW, I drive ~ 20k-30k mi. /year for my career (somewhat large territory), and about 80% of my miles are hwy. miles. The fact is that driving on the hwy. induces much less stress (than city driving) on any car, including the 335i.

So far, the only issues I've had with my 335i have been the typical annoying BMW electrical issues thus far, all of which have been rectified (typically with my car being at the dealer's service dept. for 1-2 days each time). I've had my car in for these electrical malfunctions 3x in almost 1 year. As annoying and inconvenient as this can be, I still wouldn't go back to driving another Japanese car at this point.

My point to the OP is that you're in your car A LOT (more than me in fact) and you might as well really enjoy your driving time...this will be achieved much more so in a BMW 335i as opposed to a "more reliable" Japanese car like the Acura TL which just doesn't perform like the 335i. Just my $0.02.

btw -- if you want to go the Japanese route (which would also be a little less expensive) but still get 8/10th's of the performance of the BMW 335i, then go get yourself an '08 Infiniti G37 Coupe or G35 Sedan!

[bronco]

Just get a KIA or Hyundai if the car is going to be your workhorse

[derryck]

What 'features' are available on the 335 that aren't available on the 328...I thought it was just a different engine?