130857My car is due a 60K-mile service. Would it be better to have this done by a BMW agent and hang the expense, or go to my usual engineer, who charges half the price?:rolleyes

I only go to a BMW shop for everything. There are alot in my area, but I have settled on one that can do normal service, but his focus is performance.

I am sure you have one near you.

as long as the shop is familiar with the common failures on your car, you should be ok. Heavy electrical repairs are when a dealer is most helpful since they have access to original schematics and what not.

i will only go to the bmw dealer i bought my car from, i refuse to take my car anywhere else. i'd rather park the car in the garage and not drive it if for some reason i can't afford the repairs.

curious, how many HP does the 520 have?

DIY...and if you can't DIY...then you find a bmw shop/stealership.

I only take my car to a shop if I'm completely baffled on how to fix a problem, or it's something that is beyond my expertise or I don't want to buy a $500 specialty tool to repair some random thing that I'll most likely only do once for the lifetime of the car.

When I do bring it to a shop, I only bring my bimmers to a reputable indie shop. I found one locally that is freakin awesome from a customer service/knowledgability standpoint. When they perform work on my car, they're patient in explaining exactly what they're going to do to it.

curious, how many HP does the 520 have?
Dunno, the details are in the car, which is garaged about 100 yards from my house, and it's raining cats an' dogs at the moment.
Am aware that the 520, which has a capacity of 1996cc over 6 cylinders is not popular in the US, as your motoring fraternity probably thinks it doesn't conform to it's rivals' HP output (if there are any).
The six-cylinder (I think it's an M34 engine) is the smoothest, silkiest and best engine (for it's size in) the world. It has been voted tops in so many auto magazines over here, and I regard it as the best engine/car I have ever driven. I believe it to be the only six of 2000cc capacity in mass production anywhere in the world. (Please feel free to contradict me on this!:)
Will let you know the HP output if it ever stops raining here in Scotland!

i will only go to the bmw dealer i bought my car from, i refuse to take my car anywhere else. i'd rather park the car in the garage and not drive it if for some reason i can't afford the repairs.
Think you are right about this, also a major service is only once-in-a-while, as I am retired, and do very little mileage these days.
Just wanted some opinions on this.
Thanks.;)

[QUOTE=Zeus1931]The 520i six-in-line engine produces 150 BHP at 5900 revs. Top speed is 131mph. Average fuel consumption 28-31mpg (British). :cool

I go to local dealership to buy parts, I have friend there who hooks me up cheaper than realoem.com pricing. All work I do myself, or with my BMW enthusiast friend. Dealerships are meant to do warranty service, everything else is they suck at.

There's only one BMW dealer in town and that's where my car goes for all services. The next nearest agent is about 150km away and the one after that about 400km on.

The Bimmer is slow low that any work required to the underneath of the vehicle woiuld require a vehicle hoist, which is something I can only ever dream of having in my garage. Sigh!!

So, unlike my Land Rover, which has heaps of clearance underneath, any under vehicle work on the Bimmer has to go to a workshop. :(

I brought my CLK430 to the dealer for a service "B" + spark plugs.
It cost me $1,650. Did it for warranty record reasons.
Do as much as you can yourself, F that shit $$$$:cashwalle

Thought it was only in the UK that you needed to be a millionaire to get a genuine BMW oil change. Seems the US is just as bad. Perhaps they sell the cars at a loss and make it on the servicing?:stickoutt

The Bimmer is slow low that any work required to the underneath of the vehicle woiuld require a vehicle hoist, which is something I can only ever dream of having in my garage. Sigh!!
So, unlike my Land Rover, which has heaps of clearance underneath, any under vehicle work on the Bimmer has to go to a workshop. :(
A JCB will make short work of that service pit in the garage floor!;)

Learn to do the service yourself and use the savings for an upgrade.