I drove all the way to west Virginia for a car made it late at night 3 hours in drive it breaks down in random hills... how is this possible?

Yep. They're cheap because repairs are expensive and they break often because a lot of owners can't afford/don't care about maintenance and pass that headache onto the next owner.

I remember seeing an X5 in for repair at a dealership that had an invoice of 45k AUD for various repairs sitting unpaid (not surprised) and an SQ7 that needed a 65k brand new engine because the twin turbos ripped themselves apart. Both were traded in by owners that bought them cheap and couldn't afford the repairs.

I'll never own a German car out of warranty.

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cactusjakal@reddit

If they're taken care of they are better made and more reliable than most other cars, but you have to know how to work on them and be prepared to spend time doing research and troubleshooting.

If you pay a shop for maintenance and repairs on one you're fucked. Especially with an early 2000s VANOS era bmw.

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therealmalc@reddit

So many of the original owners have the “it’s only a lease” mentality and usually neglect the cars first major service. If you buy used and you want German. Certified pre owned is the only way to go.

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Sinister_Crayon@reddit

It's a BMW LOL.

Seriously, I once flew to South Carolina to buy an E60 BMW 545i in exactly the spec I wanted... because why the hell not? (from St. Louis for the record). Somewhere in the mountains of North Carolina my car decided it didn't like having coolant in it and poured it all out near Waynesville, NC at 4:30pm on a Saturday. Got my car towed to a shop in Waynesville that worked on BMW's and checked into a hotel and spent the weekend walking around that town and at least in part trying to find a place to buy clothes.

Despite my worst fears of the "valley pipe" being the problem, it thankfully wasn't (a known expensive issue with those cars) and was just an extension outlet pipe that came off the valley pipe that had lost its seal. Finally was able to get the replacement pipe in and installed on the Tuesday morning and continue my delayed journey home.

Drove that car for a few years and genuinely loved it, but that first day was definitely a trip.

As a side note, actually had a nice time in Waynesville and been back there a few times since on other trips mostly on my motorbike. I'll be headed through that way again in the fall LOL.

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Jaydenel4@reddit

Been there. Found a '74 Nova in Merritt Island. Started driving back to Ft. Lauderdale when I stopped for gas. I had a feeling I shouldn't have turned it off, but I did anyways. It didn't start again that night. When I finally got it back like 5 days later, I had to let it spin a few times before I backed off the key before she would start. That was just how she started all the time.

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far_beyond_driven_@reddit

That’s the E9x for you. Works really fuckin well until it suddenly doesn’t.

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DJMagicHandz@reddit

Derek is that you???

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cdsbigsby@reddit

It's fine, we'll just pretend we didn't see that

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DJMagicHandz@reddit

I was just wondering if they were Derek from Vice Grip Garage...

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cdsbigsby@reddit

And "We'll just pretend we didn't see that" is one of his many sayings.

OP certifiably does NOT have a goin'-to-town rig.

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DJMagicHandz@reddit

Damn big WOOSH

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doyu@reddit

The car probably still has fewer problems than your punctuation use.

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Total-Improvement535@reddit

it is a 20 year old BWM so

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redhandsblackfuture@reddit

I nought an 84 silverado years ago about 2 hours away. Broke down on the way home. Dropped it at a mechanic about halfway between my house and the sellers house. Picked it up a week later, broke down AGAIN on the way home. Fixed it in my driveway for like 2 weeks. Broke down a 3rd time on my way to get gas right after fixing it. Sold it a day later for less than half of what I paid. Life sucks sometimes lol

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89LSC@reddit

Nobody sells a car because it works excellently. You found out why they put it up for sale

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PaulaDeen21@reddit

What nonsense.

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Fryphax@reddit

This is completely wrong.

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89LSC@reddit

I see it an awful lot both personally (have bought many cars) and professionally (tons of these sob stories through the door at work) "I just bought this and now its broke!!?!!11??"

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I_amnotanonion@reddit

Yeah, I’ve had good luck buying old trucks from guys who replaced them with something newer. Doesn’t mean they didn’t need work down the road, but they were good runners when I bought them

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too_much_covfefe_man@reddit

Here I am thinking I should sell my G8 before anything breaks, you can't fix stuff on that car 😭

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PaulaDeen21@reddit

What do you mean how is that possible?

It’s incredibly possible, cars do break down after all.

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