BMW Cost of ownership less than Toyota?

[Kirby]

From AutoSpies:


My first target was BMW. I scanned the deals and found I can have a base 328i for just $401.00 a month on a 3 year lease, sounds pretty fair but just how does that stack up? I wandered around for a bit on other sites and soon I found myself at Toyota.com. Just for giggles I ran a base Camry XLS for the same lease and it came in at $488.00 a month. How can that be? I double checked the figures and found they were correct, so then my wheels got turning.

What if a BMW was cheaper to own than a Toyota? After all Toyota has always been known as the value leader and BMW was known for being expensive. Of course there is more to it than just a payment; there are other factors to consider.

So out came my trusty pen and this is what I found taking a 36 month lease with $2,500 down and 15,000 miles a year:

Round 1: MSRP – Toyota

$28,695 Toyota Camry XLE V6
$33,175 BMW 328i

Round 2: Fuel Cost- Toyota

$5094 over 3 years using regular gas @ $3.00 a gallon averaging 26.5 mpg – Camry XLE
$6429 over 3 years using premium gas @ $3.50 a gallon averaging 24.5 mpg – 328i

Round 3: Insurance – Toyota

$4341 over 3 years - Camry XLE
$5578 over 3 years - 328i

Round 4: Maintenance - BMW

$ 0 (all maintenance is included for 4 years) - 328i
$ 979 Over 3 years - Camry XLE

Round 5: Repairs - BMW

$ 0 – (all repairs are included for 4 years) 328i
$ 141 – Over 3 years Camry XLE

Round 6: Total Expenditure over 3 years – BMW

$28,942.57 (payments + maintenance + repairs + insurance) 328i

$30,623.34 (payments + maintenance + repairs + insurance) Camry XLE

Basically this scenario probably can be done with several makers but in this case the 328i came in with an annual cost of $9647 per year while the Camry totaled to $10,207. A difference of $560 annually.

I know the Toyota fans will correctly point out that the Camry is more reliable, but in this case Toyota ranked 1.79 issues per vehicle while BMW came in with a 2.12 issue rate in the latest JD Power rankings. So in the worse case the BMW may visit the dealer 1 more time over the 3 year span.

I don’t know about you, but considering a savings of almost $1681 over 3 years, I can sit in the waiting room of a BMW dealership for an hour watching their plasma TV, while sipping my complimentary Starbucks, investing that extra cash all on their dime.

 

[deutsch100]

Great job Kirby!! Pretty interesting. I think most of us would want the 328i, regardless of the savings, but I'm sure the insurance costs can vary A LOT depending on where you live, and your age...thus making the BMW, probably much more expensive.

 

[MrElussive]

Doesn't Toyota have more aggressive lease rates than BMW currently does for the new 3-Series?

 

[Average Jae]

is this really apples to apples?
i haven't priced out cars in a while, but 28k+ for a camry seems high end, where as 33k bmw seems low end. as in base model (32,400 + destination) i suppose they know off a little off the top.
there's also no mention of down payment and such. (i recall my local dealer running a $2500 down w/ 10k miles a year lease on the cheap.) this is just a speculation, as the author doesn't mention it..
but its amusing read none the less.

 

[Big Daddy]

Not surprising, my father-in-law owns a newer camry, I had one years ago, and neither of us were/are happy with it. Mine (91) has numerous transmission problems, I traded it back in less than a year for a different car.

 

[tool fan]

But it is a Camry........thats all

 

[Kirby]

I just had a Solara (2 door Camry) for a rental from Hertz with 2000 miles on it. I was playing with it, using their version of Steptronic to shift. The Check Engine light came on when I shifted from 5th to 1st (hahahaha) at about 40 mph, and it stayed on the whole time I had the car.

That was my first time ever driving a Toyota. Needless to same, my first impression was "So much for the Legendary Toyota quality."

 

[bmw046series]

That was my first time ever driving a Toyota. Needless to same, my first impression was "So much for the Legendary Toyota quality."

It never was "Legendary" the media and morons that own them told everybody that and people believed them.