Any chance anyone here could talk me out of buying a 2001 BMW 740iL?

In reply to dculberson :

I see a lot of cars from Cleveland go to African countries.  I have seen 4Runners go there before and lots of Corollas and Mitsu cars.  

I figure there must be other forces at work like huge taxes, tariffs, sanctions or fees on cars but these probably come into the country as "auto parts" and then bypass the taxes/fees.  What amazes me the most is imagine a Cleveland rusty 4 runner in Africa?    

I bet it cost $1k to get the car to a US exit port and then less than $1k to get it onto a ship.  

I've owned 1 BMW, A 2002 525it. Beautiful car, dark green, the doors went "clunk", it drove and handled wonderfully and was in excellent condition. After 2 years I couldn't take the cost of ownership anymore. So, been there, done that, have the t-shirt. My current wagon is an '05 Focus ZXW with 251K on the clock and it just cranks and goes without drama. :)

Kinda related but I was watching this the other day. 

NermalSnert said:

I've owned 1 BMW, A 2002 525it. Beautiful car, dark green, the doors went "clunk", it drove and handled wonderfully and was in excellent condition. After 2 years I couldn't take the cost of ownership anymore.

And my BMW experience was the exact opposite.  I had a 2003 325i lease turn-in that I bought used in 2006.  Over the next 11 years I put over 100,000 miles on it and other than consumables all it needed was 1 wheel bearing, 2 window regulators, and a sunroof cassette (which was fixed by BMW at no cost).

Anything I did to it (brake replacements, etc) was easy to do and parts cost was not really worse than any other car.  Hell, depreciation was only about $1500 a year.

volvoclearinghouse said:

I've owned one BMW in my life.  It had a carburetor.  It was still unreliable.  That right there is all I ever need to know about BMWs.  

German companies developed fuel injection because they couldn't figure carburetors out...

The diversity of BMW ownership experiences seems to come down to A) previous owners' commitment to maintenance, and B) expectations of ownership costs. The best summation I've heard comes from a friend on another forum who'd been a BMW tech for decades. Basically, he states that any BMW from the modern era is going to require ~2-3% of the sticker price per year in maintenance (less if you DIY), and any of those costs deferred before the car came to you have accrued. If you're willing to accept this and buy a car that's been well maintained, you're usually happy with it; if not, you're only going to be disappointed.

Don't those BMWs need pretty regular transmission rebuilds too?  At least the Mercedes 5 speed automatics usually last longer than the rest of the car does.