Water pump broke right after I purchased it. This cost me $350.
Air flow meter broke, leaving the car undrivable at about 210,000km. This ran me for $600.
The water pump pretty much blew up at about 212,000km. The mechanic said he had never seen one go as badly as this. It was under warranty, but for the labour it cost me $120. Apparently this is a really hard peice to get to to fix.
Muffler had a huge hole, was hanging down, and broken from the cat-back this made a hell of a noise until I could afford to fix it. For the cat-back system it cost me $750.
My brakes were making an awful noise at 226,000km I took that in to get fixed, turned out it was just some sort of pin, I was only charged for labour, but at the same time it was discovered that my passenger side ball-joint had gone. So the total bill for this trip to the garage was $310.
There is significant rust on my car, to get this properly fixed I have had it quoted to come somewhere between $800-$1200 for the rust to be removed, patched, primed and a basic paint-job.
This car is a good performer compared to stock civics, accords and the usual rice mobiles. I don't race much (I have maybe 5 times in this car) but so far the only car anywhere near it's price range that has beaten it was an Eagle Talon TSI AWD.
The seats are decent, but not suit for long trips. The room in the back seat is awful, I'm a lanky guy and need the seat all the way back to drive how I like, and if I go on a trip with people in the back seat they are uncomfortable, and I have to move my seat up making myself not at my preferred driving position.
I love the handling of this car. It is very good in dry weather. It is fun in the rain, scary in the snow. I could never go back to a front wheel drive car.
If you are looking to get this car to tune up, forget it. The engine is as tunable as a brick. Any cosmetic upgrades cost a ton of money, and most take away from the classiness of this beautiful vehicle.
These BMW engines are relatively easy to 'tune' and a few modest upgrades can go a long way toward improving drive-ability. Some recommendations include:
Replace stock air filter with High-flow (K&N-style) filter
Upgraded engine management software (Dinan, Jim Conforti, others)
A cold-air intake kit
Improved header and exhaust systems.
These upgrades range in price from less than $100 US to thousands, but they can breathe a lot of new life into a very stock-looking car.
Have fun & good luck!
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