Drawbacks

[Stock4Evr]

So what the negative impact of no more 1 Series being built? Will BMW stop any upgrades or concerns about the 1? How long before parts are not available? What is your opinion on the impact?

[Butters03]

average life span of parts after a particular body style generation has ended is 10 years after the last model year (for example 2014 being last mod el year so parts are generally available till 2024)

as far as corporate support that I cant answer. I personally work for Nissan and is frequently various forms of support/ecm updates/ recalls ect for at least another generation (example, the 01-06 Altima body style is now 3 body styles old and it is still getting updates)

[Xyloft]

pretty sure the US has a legal requirement to create parts for cars after the car is out of production.

I want to say at least 7 years?

[Dilmorecg]

I dont see there ever not being parts...especially from the 3rd party marketplace. The only thing we might be missing out on is new performance type parts/mods since there are new engines and ecu's out now tuning companies might move on to the newer models.

[mr.fabulous]

watch out for shit from China in another five years....

[RoundelM3]

1-series is still being built in Europe (hatchback only)...due to become a FWD platform sharing components with Mini. Existing 1 shares a lot of components with 3-series outside of body panels. If you consider all the stuff available for 2002 and especially E36/E46 models, there's nothing to be concerned about. I'm keeping my wife's 128 convertible until the wheels fall off - mainly because of its uniqueness (NA engine, soft top, etc.).

[Stock4Evr]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I have nothing to worry about as I may be dead before the supply of parts runs out.

[mr.fabulous]

IMHO there is a bigger issue if you mod your car with something not from BMW... and especially if this is your DD. A small tuner is not going to have your same parts available in 10+ years, they'll have moved on to newer cars. Factory knock-offs will be around for a very long time, but quality might be suspect (depends on the source and that often cannot be determined).

Having an older car as your DD can get complicated....

[RoundelM3]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

Having an older car as your DD can get complicated....

Only if you fail to maintain it properly or screw around with it and break something...but then that's what salvage yards are for (in extreme cases).

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

Having an older car as your DD can get complicated....

I didn't find that to be an issue with the E36 daily driver that I owned for 18 years.

[mr.fabulous]

Originally Posted by bmw1racer

I didn't find that to be an issue with the E36 daily driver that I owned for 18 years.

depends on how much you like working on cars

[6MT_Addict]

Originally Posted by Dilmorecg

I dont see there ever not being parts...especially from the 3rd party marketplace. The only thing we might be missing out on is new performance type parts/mods since there are new engines and ecu's out now tuning companies might move on to the newer models.

+1. The performance parts line had been discontinued to make room for the current models performance parts production. Still lots available but they are no longer being produced.

[DuckCoverRoll]

Speaking of performance parts:

https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/Vehicl...oadRecent=True

A pretty sad state of affairs, but perhaps its legacy will continue on by supporting others in need :-)....

Originally Posted by 1AddictsAnonymous

+1. The performance parts line had been discontinued to make room for the current models performance parts production. Still lots available but they are no longer being produced.

[rpsco]

Originally Posted by DuckCoverRoll

Speaking of performance parts:

https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/Vehicl...oadRecent=True

A pretty sad state of affairs, but perhaps its legacy will continue on by supporting others in need :-)....

Estimated Repair Cost: $57,895

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

depends on how much you like working on cars

I like working on cars... Up to a point: I did all of the regular maintenance (oil, plugs, brakes, etc.) myself and left the bigger stuff (shocks, tranny, etc.) to my mechanic.

Looks to be a bit tougher with this car.

[mr.fabulous]

Originally Posted by bmw1racer

I like working on cars... Up to a point: I did all of the regular maintenance (oil, plugs, brakes, etc.) myself and left the bigger stuff (shocks, tranny, etc.) to my mechanic.

[not my intention to argue] The issue that starts this thread is availability of parts. I drove my heavily-modded '96 E36 coupe to 170K. The suspension was entirely after-market (I did all of it)... and it became pretty clear towards the end that I was screwed if I ever needed, for example, to replace an RSM (nla). Or a spring (nla). Those of you reading this who plan on keeping your 1er forever... keep it stock, or you will not be keeping it forever.

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

[not my intention to argue] The issue that starts this thread is availability of parts.

You're right... Sorry for derailing the conversation.

Those of you reading this who plan on keeping your 1er forever... keep it stock

That would pretty much be me.

[Tuxedo]

Seems to me the 1er cross contaminates most parts with either e46 and e90 for interior and mechanical. Time will tell but least of my worries.

[Lucky1]

Originally Posted by roundel335

1-series is still being built in Europe (hatchback only)...due to become a FWD platform sharing components with Mini. Existing 1 shares a lot of components with 3-series outside of body panels. If you consider all the stuff available for 2002 and especially E36/E46 models, there's nothing to be concerned about. I'm keeping my wife's 128 convertible until the wheels fall off - mainly because of its uniqueness (NA engine, soft top, etc.).

Good man! When they fall off donate them to me because I'm not interested in many other cars at this point nor am I able to afford the ones I am interested in

[Lucky1]

You guys are overthinking this. You just need to appropriately plan for the future. Just buy two of every part and store them for a rainy day. That way even if you can't fix your current car worst case you can just build a new one exactly like it. The ones with the lowest MTBF will get replaced well before your rainy day parts bin is the only resort. Lastly we can scavenge parts and donate them amongst ourselves like a liver or kidney. Or even start trading organs with each other in exchange for parts from our running cars. Lastly, there's always scrapyards or just finding 1ers in parking lots to pillage if we're still allowed to have non-self driving cars and/or the unavoidable Mad Max post-apocalyptic world precludes any of the other more reasonable options already mentioned.

Speaking of which does anyone have a turbo or window regulator they'd be willing to trade for a lightly used adult male pancreas?

[X2 Monstah]

Not sure of the drawbacks, but here's a pretty neat article about the 1 Series...
http://jalopnik.com/why-the-bmw-1-se...ssic-508797316

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by mr.fabulous

Those of you reading this who plan on keeping your 1er forever... keep it stock, or you will not be keeping it forever.

That is an inane statement. There are loads of modded BMW's driving around everyday with vintages going back to the 1960's, and aftermarket parts readily available for same, provided you know where to look.

Sure, there may be cases of a part not being available from a specific manufacturer, but there are always other manufacturers. Or, worst case scenario, one could revert to stock, since your argument is apparently that OEM parts are available forever (?).

If you're talking about doing a restoration, okay, it gets a lot harder to source things like door cards, dashboards, etc. - but that shouldn't apply to someone keeping a car from new (or lightly used).

And did you really mean to imply that you could not find a spring for a 1996 3 Series? Because they're out there (in abundance). Not only E36-specific kits, but many springs are not even specific to an application: you just pick length, diameter, and spring rate. Same goes for rear shock mounts: pretty widely available.