My wife daily drives a '11 328i Sport Wagon, with the I6 engine. Has around 90K miles on it. It hasn't ever been in the shop, and has had normal routine care. The problems that exist on this car still are still the same as when I had a '94 530i V8 (125K miles before I sold it a few years ago). Leaking oil at the oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket, idler pulley going bad, creaking suspension. Haven't had any issues with the car spending an inordinate amount of time in the shop. There's a reason why people either lease BMWs or don't own them outside of warranty. It drives unbelievably well, and hasn't had a major malfunction *knock on wood,* but I will probably never own another BMW again.

Conversely, I drive an '11 Infiniti M37X. About 95k miles, and the only things I've done to it are routine fluids, and normal wear/tear items. I have absolute confidence that my car won't be saddled up on a shop.

BMWs are nice looking cars, and are excellent drivers when new, but as they age, you either need to be a car person yourself, or knows someone that can do it for you as a favor or cheap, because they can be a bear to maintain. For me, I'm getting too lazy to work on cars anymore.