1998 BMW 3 Series 328i from North America - Comments

The coolant tank has a leak that comes up every so often. The battery goes out periodically and this damn thing drinks oil like no other. The dealer and my regular mechanic charge me an arm and a leg to fix this stupid car.

For some people, the BMW driving experience is a wonderful engagement with the road and speed. It is a moment during which you feel at one with the car and the road. For me, it is a terrible time with terrible power steering, a sticky accelerator, transmission which never shifts properly, bumpy rides, and gas guzzling.

The handling isn't all that great in comparison to what I've had with a Saab. But of course, different strokes for different folks. I just do not get into BMWs and I don't give a damn how much it cost, I think this car was a waste of money and isn't worth buying again.

Indeed, it is possible that I am the only one who feels this car is hideous, gas-guzzling (oh how efficient at 15 MPG... yeah right), and outright expensive to own. I'm a mere college student and here I am with this damn car that breaks down pretty regularly. The god damn engine had to be rebored after the coolant leaked out and the oil hoses sprung a leak during a highway drive. A nice explosion occurred. Wonderful. I am starving myself for the sake of upkeeping this damned car that I didn't want in the first place.

What I wanted was a Saab 900 or a good old Volvo, both of which are economical and cheap to run. Not this German disaster which drives like a bloody tank and just sucks all my cash. My dad always told me that I should like this car as much as he did and now I wish he had just kept this stupid thing and let me get my own set of wheels. No college student who is lacking in daily cash should be driving a modern German car. A 1986 190E? Fine, it's probably better than this garbage. Anyone who wants this car can take it from me, I hate it with a fiery passion.

You are probably the first person in the world to have a BMW with a V6 engine.

Usually BMW's have inline 6's.

I advise you to sell this car and get an older Volvo like 740, 940 or maybe 850, because SAABs are very rarely cheap to own, believe me. If you want to keep this BMW, read below.

Get another mechanic and an electrician, this BMW model does have its own problems, but nothing a capable persoun could not fix.

This motor should not drink a lot of oil, I know some cars with the same engine and they`ve done way over 300 thousand miles with minimal oil consumption.

Try using a different brand and a higher viscosity index of oil to fix oil consumption, Esso is great for BMW, but I don`t know if it is available outside Europe.

I'll take it off your hands... I'll even be kind enough to pick it up from you free of charge. =)

What you ought to do is 1. Replace the gaskets and seals within the coolant system (there's only a couple), 2. Find where in the engine the oil is leaking if there are no oil spills where ever you park, and 3. Be easier on the throttle. I'm a college student as well and I can make my 1990 Accord (EPA 19/26) get 32 mpg, or 18 mpg depending on how hard I mash the gas pedal. Also, dealers will often cause more problems than what they fix while raping your wallet at the same time. Try to find a local European repair shop and/or do some of the simple stuff yourself. No need to be charged $300 or so to replace brake pads.

P.S. Reason why an Accord owner is here is because I'm buying a '97 328i.

As if you need another advice: Go to the most expensive repair shop you know and let them give you a free estimate for all the things that are wrong with that car. Then you go to your dad and tell him: " Dad, I really love your car! It's wonderful. But I am a student and don't make much money. I can't afford the repairs. See how much it will be? Could you instead give me that money so I can buy this Volvo? You can keep the BMW until later when I can afford it!"

Of course he loves you because you love his car and you are such a sensible kind of boy. He will give you the money for the Volvo and the Beemer later for a graduation gift. And as soon as you have that great paying job you can trade in 2 old cars for a shiny new one. How about that?

While I am the first to advocate buying a car that you really like I have to point out that saab and volvo are pretty much the same as bmw in that they will go for well over 300k with proper maintenance and will fall to pieces without it. Saabs in particular are notorious for the their constant need for upkeep, yet if you like saabs then maybe you'll pay close attention to what it needs.

I'm not quite sure what you mean in your description of the coolant leak, but it sounds like the head gasket blew and you lost coolant and oil at the same time. Honestly it sounds more like you got shafted by an incompetent mechanic who did a shoddy rebuild.

I have a 1998 328i. I get b/w 28-30 mpg on the highway, and about 25-26 in town. My 328 has over 200k on it. What in the hell have you done to your car? People like you upset me. You take a nice BMW, run it into the ground with shoddy maintanence, and scream about how much of a waste it was when some theiving mechanic takes you for all you have b/c you don't know anything about it in the first place. MY car does not use oil, and NO I do not leak fluid. I have had a few issues here in there in the last 120k. I got the car with 80k from my dad as well. But the car has never stranded me anywhere. And it is a HELL of a lot easier to work on than a FWD Saab. But of course you wouldn't know that. I doubt you even know how to open a hood. Oh BTW I am a poor college student too. And I do most of the work on my car... but of course it really dosnt need much since I maintain the thing on a regular basis, something you have to do with ANY car.

This review made me, another broke-ass college student, a little angry. This guy is a freak! My parents helped me buy a 1994 318i with 125,000 miles on it and I am grateful for it being in my life every day. This car came to me at a time when I seriously needed better wheels and I have not been disappointed. I have only had to do regular maintenance and here I am, 3.5 years later, at 170,000 miles with no smoking, no oil usage/leakage, no coolant leaks, and everything on the car functions EXACTLY like it did when new.

People like this give BMWs the undeserved reputation for being "expensive to maintain" and "problematic" because they never fix anything until it all blows to hell, and then they like to say that it is the car's fault. If you stay on top of things, the car will treat you well. This is true for any car, not just BMW.

I agree with the two previous statements. There are some people out there who think that all you have to do with a car is add gas, (usually the rich) and then once something goes wrong with it they either trade it in for a newer car and do the same thing or sell it private party. The money savvy fix it themselves and usually have a car that last pretty much as long as they want it too. It gives good cars a bad rep, and can discourage some people from buying a certain car. That's why they call it preventative maintenance, it prevents the car from going bad on you. I mean it is a machine that you trust your life to, you are supposed to take good care of it... I mean wow.

Amen.