Possibly buying 2007 BMW 520d SE

death_looms

death_looms

death_looms

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Well, after the fiasco that was my last mondeo, I'm getting well shot of it and looking a newer car that (hopefully) won't explode on me. Seeing as I'm now super paranoid, that means going approved used. Set a max budget of £14k over 3 years and went browsing, looking for diesel mondeo sized cars. A new mondeo was my first shout, but suprisingly, they diddnt have anything that suited (diesel, the 140bhp engine, Titanium). So, for a laugh, went to the BMW dealer to have a look, and saw a nice 2007 facelift (pre LCI) 520d SE for £14,500 ticket. So obviously I had to have a look at it. Offered me £1700 for my broken mondeo (more than I thought I'd ever get for it at auction), bringing the price to £12,800. Now, I'd have to finance £10,400 of this, but at under £350 a month it's affordable (around £1500 for finance costs, including gap insurance).

I've not signed for it yet, hopefully will this weekend unless there are any good reasons not to? (I've not been in my job too long, hence using finance btw). Any idea what the car would be worth in 3 years? Appreciate anything anyone has to say!

David
 
This doesnt really seem like the answer to a 'keep my motoring costs down' question.

Finance if you've not been in your job long might not be sensible either - are you still in that period whereby you can be easily got rid of?
 
@Fox I've been spending an average of £300/month to keep the mondeo running, and get 220 miles to a full tank. And its not really a keeping costs down, I need peace of mind more than anything! Main ford dealers cannot find the fault with the car, or I'd have had it fixed.

And no, I'll not be being got rid of, had a review the other day and they're very happy with my performance :)
 
Just seems a bit short sighted to take on a major long term financial commitment when you are fresh into a new role, especially as you are yet to have any of the protection you will get once you've been there a bit longer.

The 520d will not be a perfectly reliable car, so it would be prudent to factor in the cost of extending the warranty after the first years warranty expires. I beleive it's about £800 on a 520d.

The next question is that is the car facelift or not? Facelift and LCI are two names for the same thing, you cant have a facelift pre LCI E60. The pre LCI is not a car I'd want to buy for a ticket price of £15k thats for sure.
 
Why dont you just buy a decent 5k car instead of getting strapped up with a lump of finance?
 
Surely there can't be too many common faults that can cost £800? I'm always sceptical of the value of these after Market warranties. Surely better to just put the £800 to one side in case something goes wrong? Then if it doesn't you've still got your money there.
 
IvanDobskey said:
Surely there can't be too many common faults that can cost £800? I'm always sceptical of the value of these after Market warranties. Surely better to just put the £800 to one side in case something goes wrong? Then if it doesn't you've still got your money there.
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There are loads of potential issues all of which cost rather a lot more than £800. These cars are far too complex for their own good these days - just dont bother with one without a warranty.

I was talking about the BMW warranty not an aftermarket one.
 
I guess I'm not overly well up on the 520d and the cost / likelihood of problems. I've not considered a warranty for my z4. But I guess it's not as complex a car as a 5 series.
 
Lots of talk about spending less, but as I'm looking for larger cars sub 4 years old from a main dealer, with a decent bit of pull it's kind of hard to.

@Fox, I thought the facelift was in the January, then the LCI was later in the year (with a minor facelift and power increase?)

It's 32k miles btw, bout April '07 I think. Which makes it facelift, but pre-LCI. Or have I got it wrong?
 
death_looms said:
Lots of talk about spending less, but as I'm looking for larger cars sub 4 years old from a main dealer, with a decent bit of pull it's kind of hard to.

@Fox, I thought the facelift was in the January, then the LCI was later in the year (with a minor facelift and power increase?)

It's 32k miles btw, bout April '07 I think. Which makes it facelift, but pre-LCI. Or have I got it wrong?
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Facelift and LCI are the same thing. It's two words to describe the same event. The LCI/Facelift/Whatever you want to call it was March 07 built cars, not neccesarily registered ones.
 
death_looms said:
@Fox I've been spending an average of £300/month to keep the mondeo running, and get 220 miles to a full tank. And its not really a keeping costs down, I need peace of mind more than anything! Main ford dealers cannot find the fault with the car, or I'd have had it fixed.

And no, I'll not be being got rid of, had a review the other day and they're very happy with my performance :)
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What's actually wrong with the mondeo out of interest?
 
[TW]Fox;18256295 said:
Facelift and LCI are the same thing. It's two words to describe the same event. The LCI/Facelift/Whatever you want to call it was March 07 built cars, not neccesarily registered ones.
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They might be getting confused because although the LCI was released in March 2007 the 520d didnt get the new engine and gearbox until Sept 2007. So there were two major revisions for it that year.
 
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