2008 (E93) BMW 335i Ownership Cost
2008 BMW 335i Special Edition Cabriolet: It had the classic tune-able N54 motor and fully loaded with every option possible at the time. This shared with the E90, E92, and E93 bodystyles.
Purchased at roughly 50,000km and liquidated at 124,000km, I drove it for 75,000km over 35 months- an average of 25,714km/year. Depreciation was $14,600 over the time of ownership, as a young girl t-boned me and wrote it off for an insurance payout at fair market value. Thus, the depreciation cost was $0.195/km, or $417.14/month.
Using private independent mechanics and doing small repairs with my own hands, the total maintenance, excluding tires, rims, and windshields, was $6,615.53; $0.0882/km, or $189.02/month. I replaced the following:
- Hardtop roof motor
- Ignition coils
- Spark plugs
- Clutch
- Vacuum lines
- VANOS solenoids
- Camshaft sensors
- EVAP/emissions pump
- Front headlights
- Cup holder
- Seatbelt mechanism including motor
- Brake pads
- Oil and other misc. fluid changes
So overall, the 335i cost me $0.28/km to run minus fuel, or $606.16/month. At the time, a similar lease or longer-term finance with $0 down would had been around $1,000/month; today (though re-badged as the 440i and now comes with all-wheel drive) $1,100-1,200.
Now comes the headache and time loss issue (i.e. opportunity cost). The above repairs involved about 35 hours of total labour over a total of 13 mechanic visits/sits, excluding timely oil changes. Based on my average wages, the time value of this was approximately $3,900- an average of $111.43/mo. over the time of ownership. So with this perspective, the true cost of ownership was $717.59/mo.
