No.
You do it with the spanner over the terminals, right? 
Yeah, once was enough thank you. 
… and I know my memory is short … and the itch is always there … what can possibly go wrong!?
I own an E90 that I bought new in 2006. It was two weeks old before the first thing broke, and it’s been a money pit ever since the motorplan expired.
I have refused to get rid of it, because I stubbornly tell myself after every huge repair bill that my luck is going to turn and nothing’s going to break again anytime soon.
I have however promised myself that I’ll never buy another German car.
Question though: Are you having issues with the mechanical bits, the trim, suspension?
I remember with the E46 it was a combination of things. The Diesel engines needed injector and glow plug services after a few years, they went through turbos, and the earlier M47 engine had the swirl flaps in the intake that would break off and destroy everything in its path (the same engine was used in the Freelander, thankfully sans flaps). Water pumps would seize and take the engine with it (though that was more of a 318i thing). Water bottles would crack and do the same (again, more prevalent on the E60 5-series).
The climate control would fail about once a year with the mentioned hedgehog resistor. This still happens in newer Land Rover, Range Rover, and even some Ford vehicles.
Window regulators would fail every three years (seriously, what idiot thought plastic parts on a tension-flexing cable and pulley system is a good idea?). BMW later uprated these parts and made them from metal.
The part that didn’t fail, but which I decided not to wait for, was the LCABs (Lower Control Arm Brackets). There are aftermarket bushings for these.
Of course, early pre-facelift E46s would start an electrical fire in the fan wiring and take the house with it too. Rare, but happened to someone I know.
How’s the E90 doing? 
I’ve had endless problems with oil leaks to the point where I’ve made peace with the oil puddle in my garage. The steering mechanism as well as the radio has broken, but luckily that happened while still under motorplan.
Since the motorplan has expired three of the door locks have broken, I’ve had to replace the timing chain, vanos gears, the differential, the lights control unit, the oil pump and the power steering pump. These are just the things I can recall from recent history. The signs are there that the clutch may be the next big item to go.
Some of the plastic trim inside is peeling. It’s an issue that started when the car was still under motorplan, and some of the trim was replaced when the car was only a few years old. The new trim didn’t last long either, so it seems to be an issue with the materials.
It’s got 180k kilometres on the clock and I’ve been spending on average between R30k and R40k per year to keep it on the road. I try to avoid thinking about it too much. When I do, I try to console myself with the thought that a new(er) car may be even more expensive.
O man, your car sounds like a Monday car. Vanos… yes, that’s a swear word. And on Euro cars, not only the timing chain, they all have plastic timing chain guides.
At 180k, doing a clutch might not be too bad. Though, listening to the tales of oil-leaking-woe, you may well have a leaking rear main oil seal. That’s not even BMW specific. At least two of the four Toyotas we’ve owned did the same: They developed a rear main oil leak long before the clutch was gone, necessitating both to be replaced.
Reading all these stories make me scared. I’ve driven three cars, a Ford, Mazda and a Honda to over 10 years in age each and never had a day’s trouble, just the annual service. Our new Ford is only two year’s old, but also no niggles yet… I really don’t want to get to a point where I have issues like those, might reevaluate whether I want to be a car owner at all then… perhaps hire purchase is better! 
O my.
And that is why I like a 1999 280TD. You replace the parts when they are worn out … ±18 years the repairs started here and there. In my case, a new car WILL be more expensive. You get that lekka vehicle, you KEEP IT.
I was going to reply but won’t anymore… not tempting fate.
Isuzu KB240 2004 DC (250000 km) … that’s all I will say.
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Those Isuzus go for 1m kms with but a wiper blade change. You aren’t tempting fate on 240k km yet. Not even fate can give those things issues.
quietly, quietly - please tog! 
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I sadly drive a lot more than what I want (daily commute is at least 33km) to work and back and on the weekends we drive 40km to visit friends / family.
This has caused my little VW Up to accumulate 120k km in about 6 years, now sitting on 137k km
The only expensive thing I have replaced was the waterpump and timing chain at 120k km for R12k
The sad thing is the Up is cheap as chips to run which ruins my EV calculations…
I sadly drive too much to take a chance on a i3 that already has 80k+ km on the clock.
I will probably keep it going for a couple more years till we have decent EV options in the R400-R500k range.
Make no mistake, this is not a money-saving exercise. We were considering a new vehicle for my wife, I’ve been moaning about having to do oil changes after only 3500km for too long, and we fell in love with the vehicle. It is that simple really.
In broader terms…
It certainly makes way more sense to wait for the orange phase to start.
Graphic stolen from here.
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I know, I have also made peace with that, I just don’t want to pay in “too much” 
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Just in time for @plonkster! 
RSA, the only country where there are more EV Chargers than EV’s…
OpgechargdeGroetnis
Just discovered my first issue with EV ownership in SA…
Those low profile, low rolling resistance tyres are not made for SA roads. Already managed to destroy one tyre on a pothole.
But that is not the real issue. To fix it, I bought the ONLY remaining EV tyre of that size available in SA. Fortunately it was one of the original Volvo tyres, and there is not enough wear yet, so I could only change one.
But the next person to damage a tyre is going to have a looong wait.
As far as I can tell, the tyre suppliers do not bring in any EV tyres - only a handful of OEM replacement tyres.
And that is what I’ve been waiting to hear … the “O my” situations of owning (in SA) cutting-edge tech.
With the BMW, the first issue people report is when the 12V battery needs replacement. It leaves the car completely dead, and since it is such a small battery your average battery shop doesn’t have it.
Anyway… we’re in it now. Car arrived yesterday (more like, we fetched it from Century city). I don’t yet have a dedicated plug in the area where it is parked, and the closest socket is on the backup side. So I have to carefully manage charging at this point, unplugging the car whenever there is load shedding. That meant that from last night 6PM to this morning, I only managed to get the battery back to 80% (because I had to leave it unplugged overnight). But on any other day, it would have been fully charged by 4AM, despite the midnight load-shedding slot.
The trip home (the scenic route, not the one via Maitland) is 65km long, and we got home with about 25% battery left. Estimate of course.
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