1990 Bmw525

[salloom]

I own a 1990 BMW 525i with over 223,000 miles on it. How much longer can I except it to run? At what point one says, its time for a new one? Any advice is greatly appreciated....

[Zackb911]

When the cost of ownership to you excedes a via alternative, that is different for each person.... In this case only you can answer. Well cared for the car itself should be able to exceed 300K.

[jaz525i]

Well cared for the car itself should be able to exceed 300K.

Even when not cared for it can go forever ;)

When I first bought mine I didnt care about mileage as my friends father was a testimony to the car being a long distance runner. He bought it in 89 and drove it as his daily driver up until it died last year. I always liked his car and his was an extremely clean example of a 5 series. I also made the assumption that he was always on top of the maitenence, but I was wrong. The car made it to 319k miles but I later found out that...

..even when the car had more than 200k, he was only changing the oil every 5k mi, sometimes more and neglected noises that some of us would cringe hearing, etc , Initially I was impressed the car went 319k but even more blown away that the car ran that long under those conditions.

[E34-520iSE]

It'll just keep on running until you decide it's getting too costly to maintain. My car is at about 206,000 miles (30k of them have been since an engine rebuild). The bodywork has plenty of little dings about but so what? -it's 16 yrs old. I know the 'box is starting to make noises but I can still see me having it in 5 yrs time - I'd be lost without it. It tows whatever I hook on. I can chuck 250kgs of crap in the boot and it still goes well.
What I'm really saying here is run it until it falls apart!! LOL

HTH,

Shaun

[SilverFive90]

When the cost of ownership to you excedes a via alternative, that is different for each person.... In this case only you can answer. Well cared for the car itself should be able to exceed 300K.

I have 240K on mine, and minus the fact that I've been lazy and haven't replaced the AFM and control arms yet, it still runs amazingly. Mine is also a 90....they've never been fast, but once at cruising speed I can pass anything I want on the highway. I've probably invested close to $2000 since purchase, but only because those things had to be done. I intend to drive it forever, it's my commuter now. I have a 325i conv. also that I want to restore, I'm down to the cosmetics now. The engines are great on these things!!! Enjoy and Relax!

[Antrieb]

Change the timing belt every 40kmi and change the oil every 3kmi and it'll go forever. Trust me, I've had 5 cars with that engine. 2 over 200kmi and one over 300kmi :)