I had a BMW 325 for 15 years before I got my Mystique, and I've never been happy trading down from the BMW. Yeah, insurance and maintenance costs are high, but the prestige of driving a BMW, not a Ford economy car, is worth a lot, to me. When I get rid of my Mystique (soon, I hope), my next car with be either a BMW or a Lexus. I put 253,000 miles on my BMW, and it still looked showroom fresh and ran like new. I really hated to trade it in. On my BMW, the engine was extremely easy to work on, as it was an inline six, and there was plenty of room to change the oil filter, spark plugs, etc. The factory stereo was infinitely better, too. Not to mention the seats and quality of the interior trim in general. And at 253,000 miles and 15 years old, I still got $2,750 out of it when I sold it. My five year old Mystique won't get that.
