$4,000 Repair at 60k. Not Okay!
Jan. 23rd, 2026 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerAfter our car went kaput on Sunday (dire warning messages on-screen, fluid pouring out of the engine) we had it towed to a trusted mechanic on Monday. Long story short, we picked it up yesterday with a $4,000 repair bill. The problem was a cracked oil filter housing. The car has just over 60k miles.
This breakage wasn't a result of an accident or even hard use. We don't take the car to track days. We don't even drive particularly hard. This failure was simply the result of weak design. A $4,000 repair— at barely over 60k miles!
"Is this normal?" I asked the service writers at the shop. Hawk had asked too, over the phone. Together we asked 3 different service writers. All of them said, "Basically, yes." This part of the engine is known to fail at 60k-80k miles.
"How many other expensive repairs like this are we going to need to make before this car is even considered 'high mileage'?" I asked.
The advisors shrugged.
With a bit of affably prying I elicited from them, "Buy a Toyota." These are BMW specialists. And they all own Toyotas. 😰
Look, I understand that repairing a BMW isn't cheap. When I bought my first BMW, a used M3 twenty years ago, I knew that though I was buying the car at just 40% of its original sticker price the maintenance bills would still be 100%. When people warned me, "You're going to have $700 oil changes," I believed them. (Actually, though, $700 wasn't an "oil change", it was Inspection II service, which included replacing spark plugs and inspecting numerous things in addition to simply changing the oil.)
Even though our current BMW, a 230i convertible that we love, isn't as highly tuned as an M3, I get that repairs are always going to be more expensive than a Toyota Camry. But having a failure of a major engine component— because it was built of plastic— at merely 60k miles is beyond the pale. What's going to break at 70k? At 80k? Is this car going at the point in its life where it's going to have $4-5k maintenance costs yearly?
"It's at the point where it starts getting expensive," one of the service advisors admonished us.
Fuck that, it's just 60,000 miles! 60k is not "high mileage"! Our previous BMW started getting expensive, too— but at 120k miles.
Is this the new normal for BMWs? They're not just expensive but start falling apart at 60k? This is not what I signed up for.
This breakage wasn't a result of an accident or even hard use. We don't take the car to track days. We don't even drive particularly hard. This failure was simply the result of weak design. A $4,000 repair— at barely over 60k miles!
"Is this normal?" I asked the service writers at the shop. Hawk had asked too, over the phone. Together we asked 3 different service writers. All of them said, "Basically, yes." This part of the engine is known to fail at 60k-80k miles.
"How many other expensive repairs like this are we going to need to make before this car is even considered 'high mileage'?" I asked.
The advisors shrugged.
With a bit of affably prying I elicited from them, "Buy a Toyota." These are BMW specialists. And they all own Toyotas. 😰
Look, I understand that repairing a BMW isn't cheap. When I bought my first BMW, a used M3 twenty years ago, I knew that though I was buying the car at just 40% of its original sticker price the maintenance bills would still be 100%. When people warned me, "You're going to have $700 oil changes," I believed them. (Actually, though, $700 wasn't an "oil change", it was Inspection II service, which included replacing spark plugs and inspecting numerous things in addition to simply changing the oil.)
Even though our current BMW, a 230i convertible that we love, isn't as highly tuned as an M3, I get that repairs are always going to be more expensive than a Toyota Camry. But having a failure of a major engine component— because it was built of plastic— at merely 60k miles is beyond the pale. What's going to break at 70k? At 80k? Is this car going at the point in its life where it's going to have $4-5k maintenance costs yearly?
"It's at the point where it starts getting expensive," one of the service advisors admonished us.
Fuck that, it's just 60,000 miles! 60k is not "high mileage"! Our previous BMW started getting expensive, too— but at 120k miles.
Is this the new normal for BMWs? They're not just expensive but start falling apart at 60k? This is not what I signed up for.
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Date: 2026-01-24 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-24 01:16 am (UTC)"The problem with BMWs that old is parts get super expensive," they noted.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-24 08:31 am (UTC)My MINI (AKA front-wheel-drive BMW) had a number of issues with one of the oil sensors or a solenoid. Not a huge deal to replace, except the failure allowed oil to seep into the wiring harness, so that also had to be replaced... Happily it was under warranty so I didn't have to pay, but the cost was much higher because of problems caused by the initial failure.