Buying a BMW

Just to make sure you know about it, but before buying a car you should always check out edmunds.com.  You can get pricing information, dealer information, and reviews on cars.  Also, ALWAYS find a polular forum for the car you are interested in.  I am sure there are several for the 3 series.  You can find out all the issues with the cars people are having and often find out what people are paying.

The only thing I know about the 3 series are constant problems with window regulators and they are not cheap to fix after warranty.  And general interior issues over time. 

 I own a 2001 330ci which I bought brand new. I still have it and at 70,000 miles, it's still running strong. Original clutch and brake shoes. I drive fairly easy on the car because I like to increase it's longevity and to conserve fuel. But when you put your foot in it, it's revs very nicely and handles!

The only problems have been small ones. And nothing to write home about. I had the water pump replaced at 60,000 miles. The dealer found it was leaking, or weeping during the 60K service. No window problems, but sometimes the power window will close, then open down a few inches after it reaches the closed position. I just have to hold the button to fully close it. I figure that could be a dirty sensor. I have not looked into it yet.

Here's a great site you should join: http://www.bimmerfest.com/

And this one too, though I don't go here much: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/index.php

In terms of dealing for a good price. When I bought my car, it was a total custom order. I didn't know any better really. I think some people managed to get a better deal then me. I just went to the dealer, and ordered the car. The color, leather, xenon lights (New at the time), Harmon Kardon sound system, moon roof, 17" M wheels, blah, blah, blah. I wished I ordered the navigation, but I thought I'd be prudent. Then I waited 3 months and it was shipped here.

It was my first BMW. So I went in and the car is priced based on what you want on the car. I suppose now in our current economic environment, you could try to deal with what they have sitting on the lot and get what you get.

One last thing, it was my first BMW. Before, I had a couple of new American cars. The experience of delivery probably varies from dealer to dealer, but the salesman spent about an hour going over the whole car and explaining all the features and how they work. That was nice. Though I paid for it of course!

Good luck!

Hi Carl-

To be honest, I don't know what it's like to order a BMW today, but I suspect it's the same. Back then, in all the web searches and discussion of the BMW forums, it was typical to wait 3 months. No matter how custom you ordered the car. It wasn't really custom, it was build to order. I thought at the time that is how you buy a BMW! Later on , I realized that some dealers have cars on the lot and you could go and buy those too.

I can say that a year later, my friend bought a Mini the same way. Went to the dealer, put some money down and she ordered it as she wanted, 3 months later, she got it. Made sense since BMW builds the Mini.

I just took a look at bmwusa.com. Their site still has a Build Your Own section where you can select colors and features, packages and it will update the price of the car. I did that back in 2001 to help me decide on features and pricing. But I went to the dealer to do the actual purchase.

I see they still have European delivery too. You could plan a vacation, pick up the car there at the factory, drive it around and then they ship it back to the US when you're done.

A BMW is a solid car! Some purists will say that the last generation of e90 and e92 3 series has veered away from the Driving Machine experience and moved too far to luxury. The car did get heavier and more laden with gadgets. But it's still an incredible machine. If I needed a new car, and I had some extra money, I'd be looking at the M3! But it's kind of over the top.

Congratulations Carl and good luck with the purchase!

Are you going to order the car or get one off the lot? Either way, you'll be having a great time with a really great car!

The Edmunds TMV is just a loose guideline.  What's valuable there are the actual dealer pricing numbers including direct to dealer incentives.  Cars.com also has this kind of information.

Congratulations in advance, please post a picture of your new car when you get it.  I have some extended family that swears by the brand and have had very good ownership experiences.  My Audi ownership experience was such that I would hesitate to buy the brand again or recommended it.

 Hey Philip, I'm not ready to replace my BMW coupe, but I really like the new A5 coupe. If I need a car, I would consider that car as one option.

Carl, if you do get the 328, and you're a car nut, it's really hard to not do things like change wheels or some other thing! I replaced the original steering wheel with an M3 steering wheel, it's thicker and looked cooler! And at the time, the turn signal lights were amber. I replaced them with the clears, as they called them. I might do a body kit too now that my car is getting older.

I had a 2000 Audi A4 2.8, sport package with 5 speed transmission.  It drove extremely well and the interior was gorgeous.  However I had some complaints and troubles.

The seats were very uncomfortable for me for long trips.  This is something that no test drive can help you learn.  The first long trip I went on was intolerable, it only got worse after that.

I had various weird failures.  The water pump failed at 26K miles.  An ignition coil went at under 20K, effectively stranding me.  The cruise control electronic switches went kaflooey.  There were more.

My biggest compliant was that the brakes were designed such that the rotors and pads had to be replaced, at great expense, very often.  I never got to 30K miles on a set and I'm a conservative driver.  This is an egregious maintenance burden IMO.  When it was in for some service at about 60K miles, my local shop, which specializes in performance and is very well regarded, told me that the seal between my transmission and engine was very slightly seeping oil.  The mechanic said that they see this in most Audi and VW products - oil seals are notorious.  They tend to say that Audi is a "four letter word" there.

So I'm done with Audi/VW products, at least for now.  In striking contrast, my brother-in-law had a previous generation 323 BMW that he put 150K miles on with no major problems that he ever shared.  He loved it so much he bought another, and plans on buying yet another for his wife to replace her Lexus.  I replaced my Audi with a Subaru which has also been very disappointing from a maintenance expense POV.  We replaced my wife's VW with a little Mercedes C coupe and that thing (now 5 years old with 65K+ miles) has been bulletproof and shockingly inexpensive to maintain (a lot less expensive than my Subaru).
Edited by Philip Hamm - 11/24/09 at 10:28am

 I'm surprised to hear that about Audi. Those service issues do sound extreme. My BMW just turned over to 70K miles and still running strong. Original brakes and clutch.

Thanks for the feedback about the A5. it is a very beautiful design, but I guess if you want the crisp handling, you have to pay for the higher end S5 for the sport package.

Carl:

All I can say is that I am jealous. I have wanted a Bimmer forever. The 328i xDrive and the 335i xDrive kick major ass in handling and performance. I couldn't stop smiling after I drove one for a test drive. I just can't afford a 30K+ car. I actually liked the 3 series over the 5 series. I have a lot of physician friends that have them for their personal cars and I haven't heard one complaint. One gal had a tire go flat on her (actually being a run flat it didn't go flat) that cost her a couple hundred to replace so she was a bit bummed about that.

Good luck on getting your new BMW. Post some pictures of your new toy when you get it.

Parker

I will say that the interior of my Audi A4 was a lot nicer than any BMW 3 series interior I've seen.  Absolutely no contest, it was so much more attractive.  If only the seats were comfortable.  Also, my wife's Mercedes C coupe has a much nicer interior as well, of course IMO.  I think BMW interiors are fairly ugly.

So my father works at at a Honda Dealership. He has a 2006 BMW SUV. Forget the Model number. It's got like 20,000 miles on it. He's offering it to us apparently for invoice which is like 26,000. One of our cars has gotten pretty on in years and is about at the time where we should replace it (for example, we don't consider it reliable anymore for long trips)

It test drove nice, but there are a couple of things that concern me.

1. What is maitenence like with BMWs. I am anticipating that it could be expensive and that's not counting any unexpected repairs that might crop up.
 

Apparently the BMW requires premium fuel so I am anticipating near $100 fillups (and who knows how worse it could get)

Since the car is a 2006 there is no audio auxillary jack nor tape deck, so there is currently, as far as I know, no way to hook up my satellite radio or MP3 player. It appears the audio console is fairly hard built in, so it's not like I can just swap out the stereo with more recent features (a least without having to have it done by a dealer and pay God knows what. I can't imagine driving without being able to hook up a satellite radio or an MP3 device anymore. 

We were also looking at an Acura TL (or something..I wish car companies would stop with not giving cars easilly descenable names instead of just some numbers or letters like some do now) It's a sedan and has about 50k miles on it. It's selling for around $22k, but I'm hoping my Father In Law might be able to discount it to sub 20K. It's got the in dash navigation package and while it may not have an input jack. It at least has a tape deck so I can use an adapter for my MP3 player. 50K miles may seem like a lot, but neither my wife nor I have long daily commutes (I currently have a 2001 Integra that only had a little over 80k miles on it) and Hondas and Acuras practically run forever with good care (I still have yet to have a single significant problem with my Integra in 8+ years). And any repair I figure would be less expensive than a BMW. So I believe in general cost of ownership would be a lot less with an Acura. 

I wonder if anyone can give me any advice. If I do decide to move on something, I need to decide by somewhat early tomorrow morning as my Wife and I are heading home then.

Will, you can hook up satellite radio via a casette adapter if you have an aftermarket unit like my Sky-Fi 2 so there is that and yes, premium fuel can be a bitch as my wife drives a 2002 325i, good thing she only drives about 8K a year.
Oh yeah, maintenance can be expensive but since her warranty has expired we never take it to the dealer but to my mechanic who can do everything but stamp her warranty book. It is absurd what the dealer charges for repairs.

But that BMW doesn't have a tape deck. So the only option would be to somehow replace the stereo.

 IIRC, the BMW models in 2006 should all be pre-wired or you can easily add the BMW iPod adaptor. I use an aftermarket iPod adaptor in my 2001 3 series because my car was 1 year too early for the BMW iPod adaptor.. It's called the D-ICE. Works really well, the song titles appear on the radio display and I can use the steering wheel controls to raise and lower volume and change tracks. 

 Of course, you may not be an iPod user.

I remember I met a guy who had a 2001 M3 at the time I got mine and he used another device that was essentially a hard drive to store all his MP3's called the Phat box and it was in the trunk connected via the CD changer wiring that's already there.

Check with the BMW forums if you're curious about the satellite radio, I don't use one myself.

As far as service, yes, BMW dealers will get you. If you're handy, you can do the oil changes and save big time, I'll be doing that next time. Plus all the other simple stuff. I will be looking for an indie shop shortly for the harder stuff. Up till now, I've used the BMW dealer simply because I like to use all BMW service parts. However, there are many BMW parts vendors to get parts from at lower cost.

For big stuff like the clutch, I may opt for the BMW dealer, easier stuff I'll use the indie guy.

Oh yeah, about the radio, I agree, don't change it. I've even pondered the idea of getting a navigation system from a wreaked 3 series and retrofitting mine. But that might be crazy, it has been done. I regret not ordering it.

My only advice, make sure you get a bumper-to-bumper warranty. I got one with mine and had to use it 9 times in the 18 months I owned it, a MINI Cooper. I sold the car shortly after.

Congratulations Carl! 6 to 8 weeks sounds fast!

Let us know when you get it and what you think and post some pictures!

I wonder if the Holiday and it being end of the month helped with getting a good deal!? I hear end of the month is a good time.

We decided to go with the Acura. I have always liked Acuras/Hondas. We had a 4+ hour drive home with it and we are very satisfied with it so far. It's very nice and has a lot of neat features.

I don't have any usefull advice. I don't have/need  a car and I live about a mile from BMW!

I remember 10 years ago??  when I was negotiating with the BMW sales guy... i had my checkbook in hand and pen ready to write the check.... but the $500 destination charge... i wasn't going to pay it.  He said, "we don't get that money... blah blah blah..."

I said, "I don't get the money. Its just another fee... I'm not paying"

I remember him saying, "your buying a BMW, not a chevy"--- in response to something I said.

Actually, I'm glad he didn't sell me the car, as I bought a used one (basically NEW) from some guy I found online??? forget how I found it.  anyway, I own a 1997 BMW 328i --- I LOVE my car...  the few times its been in the shop and i get a loaner  (eekkkk!!!  they suck!!!)
REcently, I drove a loaner 528i... I can say they are getting better "made" as of now?   my car feels good.  the others... didn't! for several reasons.

my car has 107K miles on it... its awesome!

good luck!

PS. we finally got a mini van :)   had too.. .got the kids.
anyway... DO THIS.. we had GREAT, GREAT luck doing this.
KNOW the price and the exact BMW you want.  KNOW it to the 'T'
get a list of dealerships within 500 + - miles around you....  [print from website]
call them one by one... and say this:

I want to buy a ______________________   be specific, make, model, color, upgrades, etc. etc. etc.
for X amount "out the door".

out the door means including TTL and any other fees, etc.

so you will say to the person who answers the phone:
I want to buy a black 2009 328i with the sport package for 31K out the door.

the sales guy who says, well come down and see me --- they are no help.
the guy who says, uhm.. let me check (or talk to manager) ... listen to what they say.

i went through SEVERAL dealerships... and it was the BEST thing I could have done.

PLUS you will learn a lot about how dealerships work by the responses various sales guy say... its really a learning experience :)

Carl:

What model did you end up getting?

Hey Carl- That's a funny story about your daughter. They're teaching them well in school about green matters.

Just for your information, when I'm cruising on the freeway in my BMW, I often like to cruise at 60 or 65 when traffic will allow me to go that slow in order to see how high my mileage can get. My car is the 3.0 liter 6 cylinder, an already really efficiently designed engine. The car's on-board computer (OBC) can be cycled to show miles per gallon calculated on the fly, but it usually settles to average out based on driving conditions over the time I last reset it. When I get up to speed and am cruising in 5th gear, I'll reset it and it will calculate what the car is doing that instant. I find it amusing to watch it jump around and settle down after a few seconds. I've got the OBC to tell me that I'm getting 40 to 45 miles a gallon! Of course, it drops once I get off the freeway. But it was a fun experiment with that and learn how good the actual mileage is on the highway. With tires at proper inflation of course.