530iii

Being resourceful cobradav? That's what i'm talking about!

Most women are oblivious as far as cars and directions go anyway.

niktee

Until lease payment number 36.

e60beast

IMHO, I dont want to keep the car past my lease/warranty period. I will get the new generation 5. I dont want to be stuck with IDrive upgrade costs, or imagine replacing a dynamic drive component, or active steering component. Lets be honest here in saying that there is no doubt these are the best driving cars in the world, but I dont care if you have had one BMW thats been "reliable" . I have had four BMW's , and NONE of them by any stretch have been 'reliable'.
So, dont get me wrong but all im saying is I would never want a BMW not covered by BMW warranty. I have no doubt I will own another 10 BMW's though, they are the best driving cars!

cheers

my530i

It's very costly to own a BMW past warranty. Just an oil change, it already costs you $100+. I could not imagine if i-drive went out. Cost will skyrocket. Keep BMW under warranty and drive new one every three years.
Just imagine if you keep the car for 10+ years, your life will be short.

redondoman

I will probably buy it out at lease end (as I will have lots of mileage overage), sell it and re-lease another BMW for 36 or 39 months. BMW is going to make lots of money servicing the electronics / computer / i-drive screens, etc off out of warranty vehicles.

Canada545

I hope to drive the car well past the warranty period to get my moneys worth from the car ... that said, I will continue to monitor the expense of the car year to year (including what might go wrong with the car during the warranty period) ...

All non-american cars cost $$ to maintain ... I have a toyota 4runner that has cost me as much as $800 for a major servicing (nothing even broken) ...

Sans

I too did the four year lease - full service till the end. It's tough for me to gauge what I'll do then - I suppose the decision will hang on the last year or so of problem full/free driving. So far so good... I just hope by then I've nestled away enough to swing an M5....

SueBMW

Watch it. You are in mixed company! And if we want to throw stereotypes around, isn't it MEN that have the problem with directions?

In any case, 7 years is a REALLY "long" term, IMHO. Most high-end vehicle drivers I know keep their cars for 1 1/2 to 2 years--- 3 years is an eternity. Even if they lease for 36-42 months, they just get out early. ...and nobody I know keeps a car out of warranty! (At least not a primary car-- if it is for one of your children or used as a backup, then they do). That can become financial suicide very quickly. Not only do you have to worry about the massive repair bills, your value drops like a brick once it passes out of factory warranty. I might have called 5 years long term, since that is the typical loan length.

The longest I've ever owned a car was 4 years, and that was my very first car, and I relegated it to backup duty after 2 years. I typically change every 8 to 16 months, sometimes sooner (that is unless I am stuck in a lemon I can't get rid of until a court date that is many months after I would have normally gotten rid of the car!)... I may keep my Range Rover for the entire 30 month lease term, but I doubt it. After only 4 months, I've already been itching to upgrade to the 2005 (it has a nicer navigation system than my 2004, voice activation, and bluetooth that actually works (as opposed to the BMW, that is...)). The BMW will (fingers crossed) leave us in April, at 17 months old. I most likely would have gotten rid of it in October if the car wasn't so problematic and I didn't have to wait for court.

soc_fans

I did not vote as it's not in any of the choices..

I bought mine and planning to use it for about 3 yrs..

Aaron

Watch it. You are in mixed company! And if we want to throw stereotypes around, isn't it MEN that have the problem with directions?

In any case, 7 years is a REALLY "long" term, IMHO. Most high-end vehicle drivers I know keep their cars for 1 1/2 to 2 years--- 3 years is an eternity. Even if they lease for 36-42 months, they just get out early. ...and nobody I know keeps a car out of warranty! (At least not a primary car-- if it is for one of your children or used as a backup, then they do). That can become financial suicide very quickly. Not only do you have to worry about the massive repair bills, your value drops like a brick once it passes out of factory warranty. I might have called 5 years long term, since that is the typical loan length.

The longest I've ever owned a car was 4 years, and that was my very first car, and I relegated it to backup duty after 2 years. I typically change every 8 to 16 months, sometimes sooner (that is unless I am stuck in a lemon I can't get rid of until a court date that is many months after I would have normally gotten rid of the car!)... I may keep my Range Rover for the entire 30 month lease term, but I doubt it. After only 4 months, I've already been itching to upgrade to the 2005 (it has a nicer navigation system than my 2004, voice activation, and bluetooth that actually works (as opposed to the BMW, that is...)). The BMW will (fingers crossed) leave us in April, at 17 months old. I most likely would have gotten rid of it in October if the car wasn't so problematic and I didn't have to wait for court.
[/quote]
SueBMW,
I thought the value of cars drops like a brick as soon as you drive it off the lot. After the first three years, it then begins to flatten out so to speak. I know when under warranty, you may have more bidders, but I'm not so sure about your value statement.