Are Bmw Cars Expensive To Repair

The Most and Least Expensive Cars to Maintain

Luxury cars, such as BMWs, are the most expensive and Toyotas are the almost price efficient. Driving style also affects car maintenance costs.

past Maddy Martin on

June 01, 2016

The well-nigh expensive matter nigh Americans ain, after their business firm, is their car. On average, Americans spend 5% of their income on purchasing a car. Another 5% goes towards ongoing maintenance and insurance costs.

Simply non every car costs the same to keep it running. And different cars take varying risks of leaving their drivers suddenly immobilized.

At YourMechanic, nosotros accept a massive dataset of the make and model of the cars we have serviced and the type of maintenance done. Nosotros decided to employ our information to understand which cars break down the nigh and have the highest maintenance costs. We also looked into which types of maintenance are most common to certain cars.

Beginning, we looked at which major brands price the almost to maintain over the start x years of a car's life. We grouped all years of all models by make to compute their median cost by brand. In guild to guess annual maintenance costs, we institute the amount spent on every two oil changes (equally oil changes are generally washed every six months).

Which Automobile Brands Cost the About to Maintain?
Based on estimates of total car maintenance over ten years
Rank	Car Make	Cost
1	BMW	$17,800
2	Mercedes-Benz	$12,900
3	Cadillac	$12,500
4	Volvo	$12,500
5	Audi	$12,400
half-dozen	Saturn	$12,400
seven	Mercury	$12,000
viii	Pontiac	$11,800
ix	Chrysler	$10,600
x	Dodge	$10,600
xi	Acura	$9,800
12	Infiniti	$nine,300
13	Ford	$nine,100
14	Kia	$viii,800
xv	Land Rover	$eight,800
16	Chevrolet	$8,800
17	Buick	$viii,600
18	Jeep	$8,300
19	Subaru	$8,200
20	Hyundai	$8,200
21	GMC	$vii,800
22	Volkswagen	$seven,800
23	Nissan	$7,600
24	Mazda	$7,500
25	Mini	$vii,500
26	Mitsubishi	$7,400
27	Honda	$7,200
28	Lexus	$vii,000
29	Scion	$six,400
30	Toyota	$5,500

Luxury imports from Deutschland, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, along with domestic luxury brand Cadillac, are the about expensive. A Toyota is virtually $10,000 less expensive over 10 years, just in terms of maintenance.

Toyota is past far the near economical manufacturer. Scion and Lexus, the second and tertiary most inexpensive brands, are both Toyota subsidiaries. Together, all three are x% below the median cost.

Nigh domestic brands, like Ford and Dodge, are in the middle of the pack.

While luxury cars call for the most expensive maintenance, many upkeep vehicles rank relatively high. Kia, an entry-level brand, surprises with maintenance costs 1.3 times the median. In this case, sticker prices don't correspond maintenance costs.

Knowing the relative maintenance costs of brands can exist informative, simply information technology's too of import to consider how car costs change with historic period. This nautical chart looks at the median annual cost of maintenance beyond all brands.

how do car costs change with age

Maintenance costs increase as the car ages. A stable, consistent increase of $150 per year in costs exists for years 1 through 10. After that, there is a singled-out jump between xi and 12 years of age. Afterwards age thirteen, costs plateau effectually $2,000 per yr. This is likely because people disown their cars if maintenance costs are higher than their cars' worth.

Even within brands, non all cars are created equal. How exercise specific models compare directly to one another? We drilled down past splitting up all cars by model to look at x twelvemonth maintenance costs.

Which Car Models Toll the Nearly to Maintain?
Based on total car maintenance costs over 10 years
Rank	Car Brand	Cost
1	Chrysler Sebring	$17,100
2	BMW 328i	$15,600
three	Nissan Murano	$xiv,700
iv	Mercedes-Benz E350	$xiv,700
5	Chevrolet Cobalt	$14,500
6	Dodge Thou Caravan	$14,500
vii	Dodge Ram 1500	$13,300
eight	Audi A4 Quattro	$12,800
9	Mazda six	$12,700
x	Subaru Forester	$12,200
11	Acura TL	$12,100
12	Nissan Maxima	$12,000
xiii	Chrysler 300	$12,000
14	Ford Mustang	$11,900
15	Audi A4	$11,800
sixteen	Volkswagen Passat	$xi,600
17	Ford Focus	$11,600
xviii	Chevrolet Impala	$11,500
19	Honda Pilot	$xi,200
20	Mini Cooper	$11,200

The xx priciest car models in term of maintenance cost all crave, at a minimum, a staggering $11,000 to maintain over 10 years. These estimates include expensive one-off costs, like a transmission rebuild, that skew the hateful higher.

According to our data, Chrysler'due south Sebring is the almost expensive automobile to maintain, which is likely one of the reasons why Chrysler revamped it in 2010. German imports (such every bit BMW'southward 328i and Mercedes-Benz' E350) along with many manufacturers' luxury or full-sized models (such equally the Audi A4 Quattro) are quite expensive as well.

Now we know which cars are money pits. So which vehicles are a thrifty, reliable choice?

Which Car Models Have the Everyman Maintenance Cost?
Based on total motorcar maintenance costs over 10 years
Rank	Motorcar Make	Cost
1	Toyota Prius	$four,300
2	Kia Soul	$four,700
3	Toyota Camry	$5,200
four	Honda Fit	$v,500
5	Toyota Tacoma	$5,800
six	Toyota Corolla	$5,800
seven	Nissan Versa	$five,900
viii	Toyota Yaris	$half-dozen,100
nine	Scion xB	$6,300
10	Kia Optima	$6,400
11	Lexus IS250	$6,500
12	Nissan Rogue	$6,500
13	Toyota Highlander	$6,600
14	Honda Civic	$6,600
xv	Honda Accord	$6,600
xvi	Volkswagen Jetta	$6,800
17	Lexus RX350	$six,900
xviii	Ford Fusion	$seven,000
19	Nissan Sentra	$vii,200
xx	Subaru Impreza	$7,500

Toyota and other Asian imports are the least expensive cars to maintain, with the Prius living upwards to its well-known reputation for reliability. Forth with many Toyota models, Kia'due south Soul and Honda'south Fit hold close to Prius's depression-cost lead. Toyota's Tacoma and Highlander are too on the low-toll leaderboard, even though the listing is dominated past compact and mid-sized sedans. Toyota completely avoids the the virtually expensive models listing.

So what, specifically, makes some brands more expensive than others? Some brands accept a higher incidence of routine maintenance. Simply some cars tend to have the same problems time and once more.

We looked at which brands take maintenance requirements that occur unusually oftentimes for that detail brand. For each brand and outcome, we compared the frequency to the median across all the cars we serviced.

Mercury is the make that suffered most chronically from a blueprint flaw. In this case, Mercury cars most oftentimes had fuel pump issues (Mercury was discontinued by parent company Ford in 2011).

We tin can see some issues cross from brand to make within the aforementioned manufacturer. For example, Dodge and Chrysler, which are both part of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) conglomerate, can't seem to get their frazzle gas recirculation (EGR) valves working correctly. Their EGRs demand to be fixed at roughly xx times the national median rate.

Merely there'south one problem customers care more about than whatever other: which cars will simply refuse to start? Nosotros answer this question in the below nautical chart, which limits the comparison to cars 10 years old or less.

Car Brands Nigh Likely Not to Start
Based on service by YourMechanic and compared to the median model
Rank	Car Brand	Frequency of Car Not Starting
1	Hummer	9x
2	Mercury	6x
3	Chrysler	6x
4	Saturn	5x
5	Dodge	5x
6	Mitsubishi	4x
7	BMW	4x
8	Suzuki	4x
9	Pontiac	4x
10	Buick	4x
11	Land Rover	3x
12	Mercedes-Benz	3x
13	Chevrolet	3x
fourteen	Jeep	3x
15	Ford	3x
16	GMC	3x
17	Acura	3x
18	Cadillac	2x
19	Scion	2x
xx	Lincoln	2x
21	Nissan	2x
22	Mazda	2x
23	Volvo	2x
24	Infiniti	2x
25	Kia	2x

Although this could be a reflection of some owners' diligence but as much every bit the cars' build quality, the results of this list are quite damning: 3 of the top five brands were discontinued in the last several years.

In addition to the at present-defunct brands, the premium segment (such equally Mercedes-Benz, Country Rover, and BMW) is represented in this list. Notably absent are many of the brands from the to the lowest degree expensive listing: Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai.

Just the brand doesn't reveal everything nigh a machine. We dove into the particular models that don't starting time with the greatest frequency.

Machine Models Almost Probable Not to Start
Based on service by YourMechanic and compared to the median model
Rank	Machine Model	Frequency of Car Not Starting
1	Hyundai Tiburon	26x
2	Dodge Caravan	26x
3	Ford F-250 Super Duty	21x
4	Ford Taurus	19x
v	Chrysler PT Cruiser	18x
6	Cadillac DTS	17x
seven	Hummer H3	11x
viii	Nissan Titan	10x
9	Chrysler Sebring	10x
10	Contrivance Ram 1500	10x
11	BMW 325i	9x
12	Mitsubishi Eclipse	9x
13	Dodge Charger	8x
14	Chevrolet Aveo	8x
fifteen	Chevrolet Cobalt	7x
xvi	Mazda MX-five Miata	7x
17	Mercedes-Benz ML350	6x
18	Chevrolet HHR	6x
19	Mitsubishi Galant	6x
20	Volvo S40	6x
21	BMW X3	6x
22	Pontiac G6	6x
23	Contrivance Caliber	6x
24	Nissan Pathfinder	6x
25	Saturn Ion	6x

The worst cars failed to start 26 times as often as the median, perchance explaining why some of these models got the axe: the Hyundai Tiburon, Hummer H3, and Chrysler Sebring (all in the acme x) were discontinued. Some premium models brand it into the shameful list as well, including BMWs and several Mercedes-Benz models.

For equally long equally cars take existed, Americans have debated auto ownership and the questions of cost and reliability. This data reveals which companies alive up to their reputation for reliability (Toyota), which brands sacrifice reliability for prestige (BMW and Mercedes-Benz), and which models deserved to be discontinued (the Hummer iii).

Withal, car maintenance is about much more than the median price. Factors such equally how well a machine is maintained, how often it is driven, where it is driven, and how information technology is driven all affect maintenance costs. Your mileage may vary.

The statements expressed above are only for advisory purposes and should be independently verified. Delight see our terms of service for more details

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