Quote:
Originally Posted by lakefront
Helping my daughter look for an affordable sporty car and kinda narrowed it down to these 2. Really interested in reliability before anything else. Manual trans, sunroof are musts. I think a 2012-13 128i would be more reliable but cost a lot more to do any needed repairs. Focus ST would be a few years newer, but turbo and related piping, Ford quality.....
This car would have to last at least another 5-7 years. Love GTIs but the older ones are certainly not reliable enough. Any thoughts appreciated.  |
Are you a DIY type of guy? If so, I think the 128i would be the way to go. VCG, OFHG, and OPG are the biggest repair costs I believe.
I did the first two myself and have never worked on a BMW before so it was pretty cheap. The Oil Pan Gasket was already completed when I bought the car through an Indy and cost the previous owner ~$700 according to the paperwork that I got.
Aside from that, just oil changes...plugs....coils....coolant...brake pads. Normal replacement items. And there are plenty of threads on the N52 on the "3" series side where most of the posters have 200K+ miles on them.
It has enough power for what it is, and feels like it has more. (Throttle response, handling, etc).
It would have been a perfect car for my daughter when she started driving years ago. But she picked a Scion Xa. It was very reliable with only oil changes up until 175,XXX miles when she got rid of it.....and she beat that car up pretty badly learning to drive.