DrEntropy said:
Too much to go wrong, the parts are too expensive.
Says the guy driving an MB diesel. ::stickpoke::
I've owned and wrenched on BMWs for about 20 years. If you do a little research and you're careful about where you buy parts, they're really no more expensive than your average Honda - and I've owned a bunch of those too. It's no different than what we do for our LBCs.
I just replaced the exhaust cam sensor on my wife's X5. Started acting flaky @105k miles. The OEM for the part is Febi. If you buy it at the dealer, with no discount, the list price is $110 plus tax for the part. It does comes in a pretty white BMW box. Source the EXACT SAME PART from
www.autohausaz.com and it's $32 in an orange Febi box. The BMW roundel is smudged off; but it still has the BMW part number printed on it. Exact same warranty.
Replaced the rotors and pads on my daily driver last Sunday. Used genuine BMW "performance rotors" sourced from an on-line parts house (ECS Tuning). These are the bees knees... 2-piece lightweight floating rotors; aluminum hats, steel rotors, cross drilled and chamfered, made in Germany. Price? About $80 each. Go down to your local Autozone and it's $85 for a generic rotor of dubious origin and quality; almost certainly made in China.
Bosch 02 sensors... $125 at the dealer. Exact same part sourced on-line... $43ea. I have countless examples.
IMO, the whole "BMWs are too expensive" thing is a myth perpetuated by people who rely on the dealer or Autozone for everything. I did invest $100 for a Peake BMW-specific code scan tool; it reads the extended BMW codes and not just the generic OBD2 stuff. Pretty much tells you precisley what's acting up.