Len D 
2008 BMW 3 Series Sedan 335xi 4dr Sedan AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbo 6M)
High maintenance, but high satisfaction too!
 Bought my '08 about sixteen months ago (May 2015). It was pristine with only 38k miles on it then and still runs and looks like new today, now having almost 47k miles on the odometer. It has Cold Weather, Premium and Sports packages, 6-spd manual. The run-flats were ditched by the previous owner and despite the extra weight over the nose from AWD it carves corners like a Ginsu knife with quick, responsive steering; highly tossable. Yet it also has that legendary combination of sporty handling with ride comfort, although being the 3-series it does tend to follow road perturbations more than it absorbs them, making the ride along PA's crappy roads 'busier' than I'd like at times. The car has that classic German horsepower swell where, the further along the tach the needle goes, the harder it seems to pull; third gear it's nearly frighteningly quick and I swear it has way more than 'just' 300 hp. 	All that said, I keep my fingers crossed every time I get in it. Three months after getting it, it stranded me; I had to have its third high-pressure fuel pump installed at under 40k miles. Thankfully, BMW had years before acknowledged the problem and extended the warranty on that specific part to ten years or 120k miles, which means I’m on my own in another fifteen months. Still, warranty or not, three fuel pumps in under 40k miles is a joke. And then there are the dainty little piezo fuel injectors that also reputedly might have a short life and the twin turbo wate-gates and of course, the self-imploding water pump (every 55k miles!). The tech at my local BMW dealer, as well as the owner of the indie BMW shop I take it to, both tell me that the N54 in-line 6 is “..the best engine BMW ever made..” and that its foibles are grossly exaggerated on the internet. The dealer tech was able to tell through the BMW database that my specific car had “..already had the injectors addressed..” at around 20k miles although he was unable to explain exactly what that meant, and so he assured me I was “..good to go..”. I hope they’re both right.	But even if they are, that still leaves me with the frequent and expensive maintenance charges. I spread-sheeted the planned expenditures according to my much-trusted indie shop’s schedule for the car, (which BTW includes changing differential and xfer case oil that BMW claims never needs changing; yeah, right!). Including the guaranteed-to-fail water-pump, it’s going to cost me about $1,000/yr to keep her maintained and running ‘like a BMW’. The online BMW forums dismiss this as ‘..pay-to-play..’ and the cost of ‘being in the club’. I suppose that’s really not so bad, but if the other of its notorious bits start to ‘pop’ it’ll be a LOT worse than that. Frankly I’m shopping for something less fussy to maintain and repair, while keeping my fingers crossed. The problem is, once you’ve become spoiled by the car’s unparalleled combination of power, handling and comfort (for a 4-door sedan anyway), most every other sedan feels inferior by comparison. Darn Germans!!UPDATE 8/1/2017So as predicted, the car has cost me about $1,200 each year to 'maintain'. Maybe in 2017 that's not so bad?...$100/month? It still gripes me. I'm just over 49k miles now and the dreaded $1,200 water pump 'guaranteed failure' is within the next 10k miles, and possibly the 'walnut blast' to blow the carbon deposits off the valves abused by the direct injection system. But the car itself? Wow. No complaints with how it drives, the engne's power and smoothness. Like I said before, road perturbations throw it around more than I like but it does handle crisply, like a good BMW should. Bluetooth still sucks. Lately the car has taken to deciding on its own whether or not it's in a good enough mood to 'pair' with my phone when I get in the car. When it works it's fine, when it works. Infiniti had this perfected in 2007. What's up with this BMW?      I'm not sure I'm going to keep it. The primary thing keeping me in the car right now is its very low miles and 'like new' condition, and also the fact that stickshifts are getting harder and harder to find. But not impossible, so I'm leaning in the direction of parting ways. My wife's '05 Audi S4 has actually required less maintenance than this thing craves. If you absolutely must have the blue and white rounded in your driveway, this vintage of BMW will not disappoint, and so long as you're prepared to dump that kind of money into it on a yearly basis, go find one and have fun. For me, the jury's still out but BMW's 'ownership model' is not looking good to me lately.UPDATE 8/2/2018She’s gone! Sent to a good home in NY. Couldn’t stand the ‘time-bomb-ticking’ I kept hearing in my head. I ‘settled’ on a pristine, low miles BMW dealer-offered 2006 BMW 530xi with NO turbos and NO direct injection. I LOVE it. Nowhere near as fast but has that classic old perfect balance of handling, comfort, size and a slew of options my other car didn’t have, all for $10K!!! Best car!!