Maintenance Cost: e90 vs e46 & e36

[razza 0]

Hey guys,

I was just thinking about the cost of maintaining my e36 recently and was wondering if it was comparable to the average maintenance cost of the equivalent e90. They've come down in price quite a bit and it sorta makes sense to spend the money and get an e90 if the maintenance costs are the same .

I assume that the e36 and e46 have similar costs. If you dont DIY and take your car to an independent specialist (e.g. BM Workshop, Botany Motor Worx) for nearly everything I would think that proper routine & some preventative maintenance would cost $2000-3000 yearly more or less. Is this also true for the e90, or is it more?

[qube 3568]

It will definitely cost more buy being a newer car hopefully u will have less problems.

But e90s are weird. They don't have a engine oil dipstick so u must rely on the computer to tell u if ur running low but u can check it. I would stick with e46 personally because I think they look 10x better than an e90 but I'm pretty biased

[Michael. 2312]

Prices of new parts on an older car are just as expensive as a newer car, except unlike a newer car many components are well due for replacement, so yes, you can buy the car for a fraction of a near new car price, but in theory you would have to spend probably the same amount if not more than the cars value to fix it up to a good standard, of course most people don't do this because it's cheaper and easier to just drive the car into the ground and buy another.

The advantage with the newer models is you wouldn't have to do much work for years (unless random parts fail because of the questionable quality)

Advantage with older cars is they have already depreciated to the bottom of the market.

[Jamex316 1]

Why not?

E90's are relatively new compared with the e36 and e46, if its a 2005, its would be close to ten years though.

On the subject of maintenance costs, be wary of the age and potential replacement costs of wear and tear items, it might still be worth keeping your car, purchase price plus any potential wear and tear components could be much greater than simply maintaining the car that you have so it runs pristine.

[my_e36 43]

But e90s are weird. They don't have a engine oil dipstick

Mine has a dipstick and no computer sensor. NZ New 320d

But it's really weird that the dipstick doesn't go in straight down like most cars I came across and it's on a slanted angle.

[M3_Power 636]

Believe it or not E90 parts are the cheapest out of the lot.

The E90 was made with economy in mind I think and the parts are surprisingly cheap when compared to older cars. It is by far the cheapest to maintain in my opinion.