Anyone with any thoughts on purchasing a 2014 BMW X1 with Ultimate and M packages; what issues should I be concerned about; never had a BMW always had Asian cars with no problems. New to German cars. Thanks.
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Having enough money to be able to maintain it?
How to turn a large fortune into a small one - buy a used German luxury vehicle.
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Plastic parts in the cooling system that go bad at about 7 years and 50K miles, BMW’s recommended maintenance intervals (too long and too few), all wheel drive complications, electrical problems with the neat accessories all over this vehicle and, as others have mentioned, the costs to repair it all when it no longer works.
Other than that, all is good!
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According to Consumer Reports’ April 2018 issue, it rates better than average for overall owner reliability. Its in-car electronics, however, rate much below average in reliability. It s not on their list of Best Used Cars.
I wonder if BMW uses the plastic parts in the M cars. A friend loves him some 5-series and has had several of them. After 5 years he replaces the plastic water pump with a metal racing water pump (OEM) and never has problems. I’d guess that part of the M series upgrade is using factory racing parts like the water pump. Maybe not, but worth looking into if you are buying one. He also preemptively replaces other plastic parts under the hood so that they never leak.
That’s the path BMW Car Club of America members recommend for long life of the engine as well. It is a burden but if you know when they typically go bad, a little preemptive maintenance can be applied. Beats an overheating engine with a blown head gasket.
The BMW club tech guy swears at the extended change intervals for oil, transmission fluid, diff lube and coolant and recommends much as we do here.