Quote:
Originally Posted by CSBM5
I would echo this statement times 10. Of course my experience was on an older (now) Audi, a 2001 S4 (B5 S4 with the twin turbo V6). During 10 years of owning that car, I also owned throughout (and past) that time an E39 M5, E90 M3, E90 330i, E46 330i and a Volvo 850R wagon. Guess which car was the biggest PIA to work on? The S4, no contest, by a wide margin. It was so much fun to replace the turbo drain seals three times (using OE Audi parts) which is typical for a B5 S4. At least the turbos were still fine at 192k miles when I sold it (likely due to never putting on a tune and the resulting max turbo rpm limit exceeded).
Need to swap an alternator on an E39 M5? No big deal, takes a couple of hours, straightforward. Same on an E90 or E46. The S4? Just finding it is difficult, and getting access to it is a major ordeal requiring putting the entire front of the car in the "service position", etc. The job sucks and makes you hate the car. Similarly with doing many other basic things on that such as rear brake pads which required a special tool that turns the caliper piston as it compresses it (you must buy and use this to do the job, which also makes it very easy to destroy the dust boots). Many of those jobs make you dislike the car for inflicting you with convoluted procedures and/or weird requirements.
I would echo the parts cost issue too. It seems like you essentially pay Porsche level parts cost. I had trouble finding reliable sources for deeply discounted OE parts like exist for BMWs. I don't know, maybe I've just been working on my BMWs through way too many years.
All that said, the more modern V8 turbo BMWs are likely a DIY nightmare and one I'll never want to experience. I'll find out more on the S55 as time goes by and it runs out of warranty in 2022...not really looking forward to that, but then again many years ago I felt the same way about the S62 in my E39 M5, and that turned out to be a non-issue from a DIY standpoint.
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I still have my 850 Light Pressure Turbo, it is so well made; zero rust, copper nickel brake lines; nice power response and great seats and room. I think I will regret getting rid of it.