Is BMW the GEO of luxury cars?

[twastheglow]

I was actually sad when I got to the end of this thread and didn't have anymore to read...



...still LOL'ing though.

[robhoy]

They weren't really designed for interstate use.

Damn straight they weren't, but no one told us that, and we were 16 and too dumb to know better. It's not like we were going far - just a few exits on the Beltway - but that was enough to show us the error of our ways. They were total tin cans too - dunno how they ever passed US crash standards.

[poordna]

My friend bought, and is now daily driving a 2001 Audi S4. What did he pay? 2 grand.

You'd be hard pressed to find an ///M from that era for 2 g's.

[yash]

^ It's Italian..! Imo the worst looking car on the planet. When I see one on the streets .

They let that thing on the streets ! Sheeeeet .

Blastingb4rust.

[1fatcat]

Hmm, maybe my question was not written correctly. I did not mean to imply that a BMW is like a geo, not at all! I was just wondering why such an expensive car can loose so much value in it's life time. I see domestic cars of the same year range (1995-1999) selling for more $ than a comparable sized BMW. Example: A 1998 cadillac deville might sell for $3,000 when it cost $50,000 new. As where a 1998 BMW 740il might sell for $2,500 when it cost $70,000 new.

Right now there is a member selling his 1998 740il for $1,000. Granted, it is not in perfect condition, but does run and drive. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ensive-to-keep

[SeattleBMW325i]

Hmm, maybe my question was not written correctly. I did not mean to imply that a BMW is like a geo, not at all! I was just wondering why such an expensive car can loose so much value in it's life time. I see domestic cars of the same year range (1995-1999) selling for more $ than a comparable sized BMW. Example: A 1998 cadillac deville might sell for $3,000 when it cost $50,000 new. As where a 1998 BMW 740il might sell for $2,500 when it cost $70,000 new.

Right now there is a member selling his 1998 740il for $1,000. Granted, it is not in perfect condition, but does run and drive. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ensive-to-keep

Okay, I'll give you a serious answer.

1. It's a luxury brand, the typical customer is someone who springs for the extra comforts and features. Once it starts to get old those features are not so much luxury as they are standard, most of the stuff you see on a 10 year old 3 series is standard on a new civic, or it doesn't work anymore. The budget minded shopper is gonna go for the eco box with the same features and a warranty, the luxury shopper is gonna go for the newer luxury car.

2. Maintenance. Personally I think people tend to exaggerate how bad it is, at least with the more basic models, but even so, people are afraid of the cost of ownership, this drives the price down. Also you're still paying to buy BMW parts when things break, which isn't always cheap.

And a 740 that needs work is a bigger project than you might think. In fact, look no further than the first line for the reason he's selling it so cheap

the insurance and inspection and maintenance and horrible fuel economy annually cost more than the whole car is worth on KBB

That car on good shape is still worth $5-10k, but you'll probably pay that again in maintenance over the course of ownership, particularly with the v8.

[Franchise]

[montaillou]

We're getting a little off-topic here

Some people say cucumbers taste better pickled

They do.

[r33p04s]

People with money buy new luxury cars, poor people like myself buy used luxury cars

Fingerblasting my iPad

[1fatcat]

People with money buy new luxury cars, poor people like myself buy used luxury cars

Fingerblasting my iPad

Don't let my user name fool you, I'm poor! I just happen to own a fat cat....as in, an obese feline, an over weight kitty, a big fat pussy.

I bought a broken bimmer thinking I could fix it and flip it for some extra cash, but now I see that these expensive cars (new) seem to be worth jack squat when they hit a certain age.

Just wondering if a "car flipper" mechanic should look into Mercedes instead of BMW?

[cheech1]

^ It's Italian..! Imo the worst looking car on the planet.
When I see one on the streets I always need to drive next to it for a sec to see who's driving it and then wonder what motivated that person to own one of those.
It's like thinking about the size of the universe, just can't grasp it.

Wow, you mean that's a real car????

[1fatcat]

I would guess this was meant to be sarcastic, but I have to admit that you taught me something. I did not know that alligators could leap out of the water like that. I've lived in MN all my life and have never come across a gater. We do have some vicious mosquitoes though.

[twastheglow]

To also try attempt to give an honest answer...

...any car can be "flipped" if you buy it at the right price, do the "repairs", then sell it to the right person for a profit. But to make it worth your while, you need to do lots of reading and find out what models are "desirable" as well as what the market for said car is. For someone not familiar with BMW, I wouldn't bother trying; that is unless you want to do lots of research/reading on what cars make sense to "flip". But that also brings us back to what you can pick said car up for.

The simple equation is "car at the right price + OEM parts used to bring the car back to good working condition + finding a buyer whom is willing to pay the price you're asking for". The difficult part of the equation comes with what are the parts going to cost...are you going to run into additional issues with the car that you had not planned on but now need to address...what is your time worth to do all repairs...how long are you willing to sit on the car until it sells...and lastly how likely are you going to be to sell it for what you need to to make all this make sense?

Personally, it's not a venture I would look into. My time is worth more than I would make off flipping a car. And this is coming from someone well versed in BMW's, repairing BMW's, and knowing what models are worth even considering because they're sought after models

[323i E30]

They let that thing on the streets ! Sheeeeet .

Blastingb4rust.

Wow, you mean that's a real car????

It's not pretty, but absolutely real

[pizzaman09]

Plenty of $25-35k cars that are 20 years old sell for $1000. What $70000 bimmer have you seen sell for $1000. Only example i can think of you gotta go back 30 years to the 745i.

On a serious note, the one example I can bring up is an e38. Probably over half of them sold for over $70k new and there are plenty that can be picked up for $1k or very close to it now a days.

[97Calypso328I]

other than maybe a Lexus LS400 nobody really wants a 20 year old luxury car and a V12 is pointless barely more powerful than the V8 and way more complicated and troublesome

[ross1]

There are good examples that have had care and then there are those cast off by the wealthy and subsequently driven into the ground by penny pinching poseurs. Only the later examples are $1k cars.
"Car flippers" ought know the difference.

[ChristopherG]

Top gear made it even better.

[vipertanz]

I lived in Germany for four years and I think the BMW is the Cadillac of German cars. Mercedes are everywhere even the taxis. If I was starting out flipping cars I would not touch any of the old imports. The chances of losing your entire investment is too high whether it is a Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover or Jaguar any little thing wrong could end up costing way more than the car is worth to fix. So either you don't fix it sell the car and tarnish your reputation or you get it fixed and lose money. I would stick with PT Cruisers, Celicas, even neons cars that can be bought, fixed and resold with little to no risk.

[modular93fox]

What is the op problem, buy the 18 yr old car for a grand and move on.. Or buy a 18yr old car for more and complain about that..

[RobertFontaine]

Flip civics.

[rvnmaniak]

Look at the glass half full: You can buy some of the world's greatest German cars for an affordable amount of money. I bought my 88M5 for 10K and it looks and drives like its 6 months old. My e36 M3 turns heads everywhere we go and I traded a Toyota pickup straight up for it. It is absolutely the best driving car anywhere in my opinion.

Audi- In 2008 I drove my 13 year old 95 m3 to the Audi dealer to buy the Audi A5. After driving the Audi on twisties and out on the interstate I pulled into the parking lot at the dealer and turned off the engine. My 18 year old son was in the passenger seat. After a pregnant pause he looked at me and said "Dad if you trade your M3 for this crap you are crazy." The KBB value for the M3 at that time was 8k. The Audi sticker was 52K. We didn't buy the car.

Mercedes: I had both a 300SD turbo-diesel and an SLK350. Absolutely like driving a sewing machine. Those cars have no soul. They are women's sportscars.

Porsche: Why lay awake at night worrying whether you're blowing your retirement money?