 Most everyone here complaints about the car being unreliable. Most of them also claims that they have replaced major things on their 10 yr old cars. I have been a BMW owner since 1994 and have driven nothing but BMW's ever since. Here's the real deal: Yes they have their quirks (window regulators, etc.) but most of the complaints I've read here involves just basic maintenance. Yes the cooling system are not 100% but with a little TLC one can update all the issues and drive a Bimmer for 600,000+km for a lot less than a Civic! Don't be taken in by the hype, these cars are great and don't cost a lot to maintain! Stick with a manual transmission, the autos WILL fail if not maintained properly!