SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Most and Least Expensive Cars to Maintain
The most expensive thing most Americans own, after their house, is their car. On average, Americans spend 5% of their income on purchasing a car. Another 5% goes towards ongoing maintenance and insurance costs.
But not every car costs the same to keep it running. And different cars have varying risks of leaving their drivers suddenly immobilized.
At YourMechanic, we have a massive dataset of the make and model of the cars we have serviced and the type of maintenance done. We decided to use our data to understand which cars break down the most and have the highest maintenance costs. We also looked into which types of maintenance are most common to certain cars.
Which Car Brands Cost the Most to Maintain?
Based on estimates of total car maintenance over 10 years
Rank Car-Brand Cost 1 BMW $17,800 2 Mercedes-Benz $12,900 3 Cadillac $12,500 4 Volvo $12,500 5 Audi $12,400 6 Saturn $12,400 7 Mercury $12,000 8 Pontiac $11,800 9 Chrysler $10,600 10 Dodge $10,600 11 Acura $9,800 12 Infiniti $9,300 13 Ford $9,100 14 Kia $8,800 15 Land Rover $8,800 16 Chevrolet $8,800 17 Buick $8,600 18 Jeep $8,300 19 Subaru $8,200 20 Hyundai $8,200 21 GMC $7,800 22 Volkswagen $7,800 23 Nissan $7,600 24 Mazda $7,500 25 Mini $7,500 26 Mitsubishi $7,400 27 Honda $7,200 28 Lexus $7,000 29 Scion $6,400 30 Toyota $5,500
What has been your experience in this regard ?
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Monday July 13 2020, @10:53AM (3 children)
About a decade ago I read Roundel magazine and kept seeing letters from people who were puzzled by BMW's decision to remove the oil dipstick and require special tools to replace the friggin battery. Or they were lamenting the lack of spare tire or another expensive fuel pump failure. I think it was their tech writer Mike Miller who compared a huge tapered-roller bearing from the rear end of a 2600lb 325e, with the equivalent but much wimpier bearing from the latest models at that time which were also 1000lbs heavier. Letters from other people who had paid good money for a newer BMW and were satisfied with it asked for an end to the whining :)
The 7 series, the V8s and V12s, and the M engines were always known to have higher maintenance cost. But it looks like BMW has problems across the board these days.
Oh, and BTW... dual-mass flywheels suck too.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 13 2020, @11:10AM
Good brand to launch conspiracy theories too: Mystery surrounds car with 'COVID 19' number plate parked at Adelaide Airport for months [abc.net.au].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Funny) by fraxinus-tree on Monday July 13 2020, @03:22PM
Do you know what BMW oil stick is for? You dip it in the snow cover. If the snow is above "max", BMW stays in the garage.
(Score: 2) by qzm on Tuesday July 14 2020, @06:42AM
E66, Put 150k miles on it.
In that time it had an alternator diode pack go bad (french part, funny enough). BMW wanted close to $1500 for the parts/labour to change the alternator - the diode pack cost $30 and took perhaps an hour to change myself.
The PCV breather gummed up - engine started EATING oil, smoking like a monster (suddenly), cleaned the PCV breather, back to perfect, no cost.
Currently the windscreen washer doesnt squirt water - must go find out why.
BMW tells you not to change the ATF fluid - which is ok if you want a new transmission every 100k . change the fluid every 60k and it is a rock.
Moral of the story? if you can spin a wrench and look after a car, they are not bad - if you drive in to the stealer for everything - horrific.
Have been considering an F01 (also 730ld).. they seem more plastic and the aluminum door panels are damn hard to repair.. undecided.