Average maintenance and repair per year?

[edlocke]

What would be an average cost of maintenance and repair on a M5 weekend driver? Mileage say 140,000. I know this can vary but lets get an average on a well sorted e28 M5.

[Brad D.]

Are you assuming DIY work or at shop rates?

[HealeyBN7]

I'll give it a try to start by saying that my M5 is one the most inexpensive daily driver's that I have owned. I average about 25,000 miles/year and still have not found a suitable replacement. 235,000 mile on the clock

I do pay to have my valves adjusted ~$400.

I find myself replacing at least one suspension component (pair) a year (~300) anything from wheel bearings, upper/lower control arms, dog bones, etc. I guess I could have just replaced everything at once, but they seem to wear on different schedules.

And over the last five year it seems that I am also replacing a couple electrical sensors annually (02, oil sender, relays, in-tank pump, etc). And no, not the same ones over and over again. So over time maybe a budget of ~300/year would cover it.

I am excluding oil changes, tires, brakes and other routine wear items. There is nothing unique about these items or their cost.

By adding it all together ($400+$300+$300= $1,000) it still doesn't feel like too much and really no more any 21 year old car.

Now a pending $12K engine rebuild is a little hard to factor in, but given you are starting with a 140,000 miles feel free to follow my lead and bury your head in the sand.

Dean

[derrith]

I have to say that my M5 has been the most reliable car I've owned. Which makes me sad a little. However, when I purchased it from Mark Wicker here on the board, he'd replaced every bit of the suspension front and rear. New rubber everywhere. He'd also had a valve adjustment done and new intake boots at the ITBS and to the AFM.

It's passed smog with flying colors and eats up miles on the freeway. Knowing that you've got the engine of Damocles hanging over your head does wear on me a little, but as long as you're prepared for that possibility, enjoy the car and drive it, as BMW intended.

Since I got my car in May of 2008, I have replaced the spark plugs, rebuilt the shifter with an X5 unit, replaced vacuum lines, half the cooling hoses, and I had to tighten down the cam tray. Several of the allen bolts holding it to the head were loose and it was dumping oil on the exhaust manifolds. And I've put 10-15k miles on it in that time. Love the damned thing.

[stuartinmn]

As with any e28 it will depend on where it is in its maintenance cycle...once you get everything fixed it should be good for a while. My M535i had a couple years in a row where I spent ~$1000 on various maintenance items, but this year it didn't cost me a dime.

[tn535i]

My M6 history... First year about $2500 getting it back mostly right even though it only had 50k miles. Me doing all the work and that did included a set of wheels and tires to replace the rotten TRX.

Second year, almost nothing.

Into third year now, I have about $400-500 worth of parts waiting to go on just becasue I want to bring it to the next level. I still drive it whenever I want and enjoy it every time I turn the key.

I would budget 500-1000/year(same as the 535 for me) but the inital bump has everything to do with previous history. Maybe big or maybe nothing at all. I tend to get cars the require a bigger initial infusion in order to pay less up front. And I'm strange since I 'like' working on cars and having parts come in the mail is like Christmas.

[Randomg]

My experience is that it's always something, at 170k.

However, I'll also say as far as I can tell if the car had stayed up on maintenance it would have been reliable up until now (most things I've done I inherited from the previous owner).

In parts, over 30k miles, ignoring suspension and rear brake upgrade, it's cost me $2000. It's only left me stranded once, and that is because I ignored a known bad ECU resistor until it failed.

If I hadn't done labor myself, it would have been at least double that.

But as I said, it's always something. Rear defroster seems to corrode away every time I fix it, interior fan has started to squeak periodically, right tailpipe has rusted at the bottom and is trying to fall off, car is eating driveshaft center bearings, just snapped my steering box side mount and have to baby the car for a week until I can get it to a shop. Just replaced the chain tensioner to try to quiet down the car on warm up as well as give me a little piece of mind.

[Karl Grau]

I would consider mine "well sorted" as I purchased it from Ron P.
As long as upgrades don't count towards maintenance , other than oil changes, the only things I've done are plugs and a thermostat in a little over 3 years of ownership.

[L_N_Love]

Mine has not been noticebly more to maintain than my former 535is. It seems like I spent more on the 535 in upgrades to get more performance. I haven't felt that need on the M5 since it has most of the upgrades already built in. Patrick McHugh showed me how to do the valve adjustment which is fairly easy with the instructions available on the web. Surely helps to start with a well maintained example.

Just an E28 with a different drivetrain and suspension.... and a little more fun.

[KRsM5]

Mine is over 170K mi, have owned it over 2 years, it needed some major things sorted (and probably still does). Sadly I don't do much work on it myself, only really trim bits and minor electrical fixes. I did a tally recently and some math...roughly $1.70 PER MILE, not including gas or insurance or tires. Yeah, that's not too good but I still love it. Even today, after somebody hit it

[M5ZEALOT]

I know this thread may be dead but I was told I had to reply. My M5 recently hit 300K miles. I have about 5K on rebuilt engine. Believe it or not up to @235K miles previous to rebuild the most expensive maintanance was valve adjustments every 15K miles. (about $400) Learning to do it myself save me some buck. Other than that, fuel was the most costly item. The cars are build like Panzer tanks....they just don't break!