1. For a family car, a BMW 4x4 would be a good choice.

2. Maintenance is high when compared to japanese car brands... however, it depends which BMW vehicle you're going for... 5-series is known to give a lot of problems and from what i've heard, it stays more at the BMW garage than with the owner where as 3-series and 7-series are mostly trouble-free..

i would advise you to check www.drivearabia.com... they have good listings from technical specs to trouble spots for all car brands...