October 2000
This month I managed to cross the 50K miles barrier and at a bit over 52K brought the car in for another Inspection I. No other maintenance was required or performed. Price? $420. Up a bit from last time.
Shortly after this I made the decision to purchase a second car in an attempt to take some of the burden of my daily commute off of the vehicle. So, the good news is that as of mid-October, I'm driving a 2001 Golf GTI GLX to work everyday and the bimmer is getting a well-deserved rest in the garage.
I decided to do this primarily because a trip to the local BMW dealer convinced me that the 20K miles I had managed to put on the vehicle over and beyond the mileage expected of a vehicle this age reduced it's value somewhat -- not a huge amount of money, but enough to convince me "enough is enough".
I've said it elsewhere here, but I'll say it again -- properly maintained BMWs are not cheap to run. I haven't really maintained a per-mile figure, but I know damn well it's higher than the GTI. BMWs are a dream to drive and this specimen has been virtually trouble-free...but this kind of pleasure and reliability comes at a price.