Owned many aging, cheap and "shabby" BMWs have you?
Hell even good ones have a tendency to be money pits, let alone ones that have been mistreated, maintained on a shoestring, and left in "shabby" condition.
BMW 316i Compact's, Reliable?
- Thread starter Colbaker
- Start date
Owned many aging, cheap and "shabby" BMWs have you?
Hell even good ones have a tendency to be money pits, let alone ones that have been mistreated, maintained on a shoestring, and left in "shabby" condition.
[TW]Fox;16461939 said:
At the expense of floggin a dead horse, there's no reason why a £3k 316 of itself, should be unreliable.....
A Mk1 Focus is just old and slow. A £3k Seat/Golf/Audi isn't as nice to drive, and if you go for the 1.8T, you're looking a potential 'sludge of death' problems and at some point, a new turbo given its likely high mileage.
You'll never going to have a perfect used car, but to rule out a 316 because of overdone reliability concerns is a travesty.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
It's all about acceptable risk. By making the assumption that most 9 year old 3 Series at under £3k and are shabby are going to be a money pit, you might miss out on the one car thats the exception to the rule, but then, you'll also make sure you miss out on the 20 other cars that are NOT the exception to the rule.
You have to generalise, what other choice is there? Buy it and see what happens?
Well there is - its getting old. Stuff beings to go wrong if it isn't kept in check. Bits become life expired. Nothing lasts for ever! If you are happy to pay out to keep on top of things then great - it'll be a decent car perhaps - but then how many people who want a sub £3k 1.6 (I'll ignore the actual engine size of the 316i for the same of argument) hatchback are happy to shell out to keep it decent?
Not many, I'd wager.
You and me are happy to maintain older BMW's. But then you and me didn't have a requirement of buying a 1.6 hatchback for less than £3k when we bought our cars, did we, so we are in a different ownership profile..
Furthermore there is the seperate point that really, £3k isnt enough money for a '51 plate 316 anyway. Most of them are more than that - indeed, trade money on a 70k mile 51 plate 316Ti is just under £3k. Therefore you have the added complication on top of its age of 'Why is it so cheap? Why isnt it being sold for its true value?'.
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[TW]Fox;16462042 said:
Come on Fox, you're not even comparing like for like. 18 tyres on a Compact are just as expensive at 18 tyres on a Focus. Don't want 18s? Then get one with 15s and 16s. Not every Compact came with MV1s.
Did ANY focus in the price range come with anything larger than a 16"?
Even the ST170 only had pretty narrow (215?) 17" wheels.
When it comes to 316i compacts, I don't think everyone would agree with your one in twenty ratio. You don't just buy cars and see what happens, you can check the history and talk to the owner to see what has been done too. I'd understand if the OP was asking for a Ferrari, but a 316?
Do you own a used BMW? I'm interested to know what position you are speaking from here, what do you currently drive?
It would be helpful to know whether your opinion is merely from a 'its a 316, it must be super cheap!' point of view or whether you've actually been out and seen cars like this first hand? I'm a massive BMW fanboy. Do you honestly think I'd have come home with a Mazda3 if I could have got my sister a tidy 318i or similar instead?
Hang on....Mini-Me Fox has arrived! Either that or Fox has an echo everywhere he goes...
You have to be joking, right? IainD?!
Then don't buy a Compact with MV1s if you don't want the cost of tyres.
It's that simple.
He drives an automatic Vauxhall Vectra with completely the wrong engine for his needs and we clash frequently as a result whenever he brings it up, I dont think its me he looks up to car wise!
So not only are you looking for the proverbial "needle in a haystack" cheap, yet worth buying BMW, you are also now stipulating that you will only buy ones of certain spec?
They are not cheap cars to run, regardless of how cheap they are to buy, they retain the running costs (if you do it properly and not on a shoestring) of that from when they were new (when they were most certainly not cheap at all).
Hang on....Mini-Me Fox has arrived! Either that or Fox has an echo everywhere he goes...
Really, I don't, he's got no worries there
[TW]Fox;16462312 said:
Nuff sed
[TW]Fox;16462312 said:
I was thinking of you complaining about car interiors, and then him complaing about manufacturers using words on indicator stalks and how patronising it was.
Where you go, he follows!
(Though admittedly, there's usually a point to what you're saying, whereas his ranting is more of a caricature of your views. You need to train him better
)
