Critique a car someone wants me to look at (3 series Beemer init)

Sanchez

Sanchez

Sanchez

Soldato
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Despite my best efforts to persuade my parents that I want the car I want (and not they one they want) they keep sticking car ads under my nose. Their idea of a good car for a 29 year old is a sensible Honda or maybe a Ford Focus (nothing wrong with them, just not for me).

This is their latest offering of what I've agreed to go along and look at.

BMW 3 Series 320 Cd SE

I don't mind the car in all honesty. Larger wheels would be nice and perhaps a sport over an SE but I don't find it to be particularly exciting to look at although I'm sure it will deliver a comfortable and solid drive.

I know there is a wealth of BMW/3 series knowledge on here so what are everyone views on it, or even the 320d as a whole? It seems rather a lot for a 7 year old car. Their (my parents) main concern over the car I'm looking at is reliability (can you guess what it is?) but I don't see this being some ultra reliable and cheap alternative.

Anyway, discuss.
 
It's your money, your choice. Why are your parents getting involved, you are 29?!
 
Morba said:
It's your money, your choice. Why are your parents getting involved, you are 29?!
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Ha, I knew this would come up. Ultimately yes, it's my money and I'll spend it how I want to. I'm doing this more to humor them than anything else, although I'm open to the idea of other cars. I can't blame them for trying to 'Help' me though.
 
I was thinking its actually quite cheap for a low mileage diesel facelift E46 Coupe.

Do you do the miles to warrant a diesel? The 320d suffers from a massive design flaw in which the plastic swirl flaps around in the inlet manifold break up and are ingested by the engine. This writes the engine off, and a replacement engine and fitting will cost at least £2000. You can blank the flaps off but due to the location of the flaps it's quite a time consuming job which itself costs £300ish at a specialist. The 320d is also known for eating turbocharger units as well.

An older BMW is something you need to really want. If you don't, you'll soon tire of spending money on it.
 
My honest opinion of BMWs is this:

They are clearly very good cars. No one really can dispute this.

But they are BORING BORING BORING

Sadly that is all I have to offer on this subject.
 
paradigm said:
In what way?

They are a far more rewarding drive (even a 318i) than it's rivals.
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I suspect he's simply judging the entire package based on how it looks, and comparing it with how other cars look. As asthetics are pretty much the only area a BMW can be described as 'boring'.
 
paradigm said:
In what way?

They are a far more rewarding drive (even a 318i) than it's rivals.
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I'm sure they're fantastic to drive, I'm sure they're fantastic at tons of stuff. They're built to a high standard by a firm that have proved time and time again that they know exactly what they're doing. I haven't and will never call into question the actual quality or ability of the cars.

[TW]Fox;17027147 said:
I suspect he's simply judging the entire package based on how it looks, and comparing it with how other cars look. As asthetics are pretty much the only area a BMW can be described as 'boring'.
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Maybe. Although I don't think it's that - I think they look nice. It's just that there are so many of them. It might be because I live in Essex, and when you live in Essex, when you make it you buy a BMW. And when you don't make it, well you buy one anyway.

Victim of their own success. No matter how good they are I just don't have it in me to get excited by them, because they're everywhere.

I'd quite happily have one, no doubt about it, there are just more interesting or rather less common cars that would catch my eye first. As I said, it might be my area that's spoilt them for me. EVERYONE has one here. There's a house just down my street with three navy blue BMWs on the drive. A soft top, an estate, and a 4 door.
 
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I know very little about 3 series prices but I'm more than happy to take your word for it Fox. The swirl flaps and turbocharger both sound like serious points to consider, thanks.

At the moment I'm doing in excess of 20k a year so I'm well into oil burner territory.

The old 1 series we had was ultra reliable and so is our current 535i and this is obviously what they have based their opinions on, although their also fortunate enough to be in a position to pay large car bills if they come in.

I'm seriously considering a warrant with whichever car I purchase as quite honestly the thought of a £2000 bill scares the crap out of me.

I'll just go along and give it a try, after all it could totally change my mind.
 
PardonTheWait said:
Victim of their own success. No matter how good they are I just don't have it in me to get excited by them, because they're everywhere.
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I can totally see your point here. The problem is that its difficult to make something thats very good and then not have loads of people buy it. Anything thats similar but considerably rarer will have a reason for being considerably rarer - usually something that puts people off.

When you end up with a combination of loads of great factors the sideeffect is that.. everyone will buy one.

Which I agree is annoying. I am finding it tremendously irritating that for every 300bhp twin turbocharged 335i I see, there are 30 identical looking clattery oil burners leased to people who wanted a badge.
 
[TW]Fox;17027231 said:
I can totally see your point here. The problem is that its difficult to make something thats very good and then not have loads of people buy it. Anything thats similar but considerably rarer will have a reason for being considerably rarer - usually something that puts people off.

When you end up with a combination of loads of great factors the sideeffect is that.. everyone will buy one.

Which I agree is annoying. I am finding it tremendously irritating that for every 300bhp twin turbocharged 335i I see, there are 30 identical looking clattery oil burners leased to people who wanted a badge.
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Absolutely, and that's why if I'm honest, I'll probably never have one ever. I know they're great cars, but I'll never really want one.

Even when I see the Alpina B3 on the commute back from work sometimes and it gives me a little twitch because I know what it is, I know it's not really that different to most people, and if I'm honest, if I spend a reasonable amount of money on a car/bike, I want people to look at me. I want everyone to look at me.

My Fazer 1000 (bike) was a great case in point. Amazing bike. Powerful, fast, super capable, probably the best bike I'll ever own, but no one EVER looked at me. Upset me a bit. Made me miss my Z750, which by all accounts was a tiny bit crap but it made a great noise and everyone looked at me when I went past with my aching testicles and bad back. I then bought an RSV which was again, for my needs, not as good, but it looked amazing, sounded amazing. Just because the Fazer was better didn't make it.... better.

paradigm said:
Boring isn't the right word here I feel, he is more describing visual monotony.
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You're right. The car in itself isn't boring, it's the fact that they're so common that makes them boring. But monotony is boring, in fairness.
 
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This is only going to get worse and worse as BMW's core product range moves away from 6 cylinder rear drive saloons and coupes to... 4 cylinder diesel fleet cars. Almost all BMW's sold, despite the fact that the previous core cars remain available to order, are now 4 cylinder diesels and they sell by the bucketload based on the premium reputation the company built when it pretty much only made... decent, higher end cars.

There are many BMW dealers in the country now who do not have a single car on the demonstration fleet that isnt a diesel. BMW have discontinued the 330i saloon - the 330i saloon! For years and years there has been the winning combination of a big powerful petrol six, rear drive saloon in the 3 Series range and now its gone because everyone wants a 4 cylinder oil burner.

The customerbase is changing - most of the newer buyers dont even know what RWD is - it's just a posh badge that doesnt cost much to tax.

It winds me up even though I cannot blame BMW for it. They are absolutely doing what is right for a company.

But wow it hurts as an enthusiast.
 
Morba said:
Everyone looked at you because it was noisy? Crap reason to want to be looked at.
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No, I can see his point. Perhaps he isnt explaining it very well but I totally get where it's coming from.

I sometimes get it in the Z4 as it looks different to all the other Z4's. People turn around and look at it. Sometimes people even ask what it is (!?!?!?).

I won't get this with any of the cars I plan to get next. I will simply blend into the traffic with all the other diesels - nobody but me will know how 'special' the one i chose was. Which I'm pretty ok with, I think, but it is nice to have people interested in and admiring of whatever it is you've chosen.
 
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