Well, I think you'll find it's a bittersweet relationship...well, more sweet than bitter, but when it comes to repairing and maintenance, it can be bitter on the wallet...
BUT, if you keep on top of the maintenance, you'll be able to keep ahead of the game on some things and it'll end up saving you money in the end.
Also, thought it was interesting that the manual never mentioned/recommended the use of synthetic oils. Only "longlife" or "special oils"...unless, "special oils" is refering to synthetic, but then it said about "special oils" that only use it where normal oil is not readily avaliable. Synthetic oils were around in 1999 and BMW seems to recommend 'normal' oils over synthetic...
In Jaguar's, for instance, synthetic oils will actually cause problems instead of cure them. An example was when after my dad sold his 89 XJ6 Sovereign, the next owner put synthetic differential oil in his car and it caused a mad whining noise...and the Jag manual said, in BOLD lettering, DO NOT USE SYNTHETIC OILS!
Thought this was worth pointing out...