Per year maintenance of an e38 740i @ 120k km?

[tsamb 0]

I have the option of "inheriting" a 2001 740i this year. I'm thinking of selling my e39 to free up some cash and taking over the e38.

Anyone have a rough idea of how much per year in maintenance and parts the e38 will cost? It's a 2001, done about 120,000km and it's been well looked after.

[3series 0]

If its been well maintained and not a singaporean import then I'd say no more than your E39 tbh.

[*Glenn* 854]

Your talking about an eleven year old car... it could cost anything between $1,000 - $6,000 or more, depending on what went wrong in any given year

[tsamb 0]

Thanks for your replies. My e39 has done 80,000km and feels in better nick than the 7. If it's gonna be $6k a year that'll chew through what I'll get for the 5 pretty quickly.

Glenn, if I brought the car in for a check up would you be able to give me a without prejudice opinion on what the upkeep might cost? Or is it all at the whim of the car gods?

[NZ BMW 368]

I would budget about $2500 per year for repairs and routine maintenance - the E38 would, I imagine cost about the same as the E39 as they both share the poor BMW cooling system and both chew through suspension parts.

My E39 is costing about the same to maintain as my 1990's S Class did.

Also for a pre purchase inspection - the dealer can be quite good as they tend to overstate the work which needs to be done and their prices can be higher - this can be used to beat the price down more.

[Allanw 1051]

If its been well maintained and not a singaporean import then I'd say no more than your E39 tbh.

At least if it's a singapore import, it's proper Euro spec. Plus it's the Jap ones which seem to have the disintegrating rubbers, seals and insulation padding. I'd worry more about them.

NZ new always seems to fare better.

From the reviews from UK etc that I read, the E38 is has more issues than the E39, but they may have been model specific issues. E38's seemed to have more gremlins, although I assume most of the componentry is the same anyway.

I chose and E39 because of that (plus it was manual!).

I think it is ones of those things that is likely to be more related to the actual cars, as opposed to the model in general. If the 740i has been meticulousy maintained, it's probably a reasonably safe bet.