bmw 318i m sport plus - any good?

OK folks.
You win.
£60 on its own isn't all that much cash.
A meal out in a bistro pub with the family, and that is about it.

I was just looking out for getting a BMW on the cheap, seeing as the main reason to swap is 'cos I dont get on with my Alfa and I was looking to see what else I could get for little pain. A nice new car seemed like a safe bet for heading off any surprise costs going forwards. Oh, maybe I forgot to mention, the dealers are offering 5 years free servicing on new bmw purchases at the moment too.

So, maybe I'll just stick with the 159 for now. Chop it in when I've had more use out of it.

Cheers then.
 
Paying £15,000 to borrow somebody elses BMW for 3 years is not 'getting a BMW on the cheap'.

I have demonstrated how you could actually own your OWN almost identical BMW for a third less than that, but you appeared to completely ignore me.

The '5 years free servicing' is worth £350 - as that is the usual cost of Service Inclusive.
 
The £5k saving might not be as straight forward as you illustrate though. There is no taking into account where the extra money is coming from to buy the 60 plate? Using your example here is another way of looking at it.

Buy a 60 plate model for £22k and put down the same £5k deposit leaving £17k to finance. Basing it over the same 3 year period a personal loan for £17k would cost around £545pcm (Total repayable around £24620). Add to that figure 3 years’ service costs and whatever may need doing for it’s for its first MOT and it will take it to over £25k. You estimated after 3 years the car would be worth around £12k. The total cost of ownership will probably bein excess of £13k.

Compare that to the BMW deal of £5k down and £260pcm. There is no additional cost for servicing as that is included in the deal and the car wouldn’t need MOT’ing. The total paid over the 3 years would be £14360.

So using the above estimates over the 3 years the 60 plate would cost around £13k compared to just over £14k for a new model on PCP.

Also if the difference in monthly payments (£545/£260) was banked over the period it would amount to £10260 plus minimal interest for the next deal compared to having a £12k car to sell or part ex.

I’m not saying that this PCP is the bees knees, but it’s not a bad one to get someone into a brand new 3 series.

Jack
 
Most of the used ones already have the service pack anyway - it aids resale and the 'used' stuff is just pre-reg anyway, so its pretty much brand new.

Either way there isnt much getting away from the fact £12-15k over 3 years to own a base 3 Series is just.. a waste of money, IMHO.
 
I think Fox is right, why would he want to rent one i just cant see the sense in that.
 
Neither are rental options though? just different ways to purchase. Bottom line I agree £12/15k over 3 years for a that three series would be too much for me to agree to.

What interested me was the optional final payment figure of £12400 which I’m sure they’d guarantee as a future value bearing in mind the F30 is expected to arrive in 2012. I know the value of my E36 dropped dramatically after the release of the E46.

Jack
 
PCP is a lease, ok sure there is an 'option to purchase' at the end but you can pop to the auction and purchase your conventional ex-lease car as well if you want ;)
 
@ Fox,
Not sure what you meant when I said I completely ignored you.
My final comment was that 'maybe I should stick to the 159 for now' which was based on your advice.

Anyway,
I'm still interested to hear how a 318i drives out of curiosity. So I'll pop over to a motors forum somewhere and ask there.

But, rest assured, when I'm next in need of financial advice, I'll come right back to these pages and fire some more questions off.

Cheers all.
 
Im not sure what you wanted to hear, but anyway my son had a 320, that was gutless, a 318 is going to be more so.

But go and give one a go.
 
benskia said:
I'm still interested to hear how a 318i drives out of curiosity. So I'll pop over to a motors forum somewhere and ask there.
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It drives like a 3 Series - so it handles well, there is plenty of feedback through the steering wheel but the ride is currupted by a combination of sports suspension and runflat tyres. The 2 litre petrol engine in the 318i delivers 143bhp, it's probably the least capable engine in the entire BMW range. It doesn't deliver outstanding economy but doesn't deliver outstanding performance either. I'm not really sure what the point of it is, really.

Of course the best way to find out how it drives is not to go onto another forum and ask - but to go to a dealer and drive one for yourself.
 
I thought the advice he got was pretty good, some people just get hammered and leave in tears :)
 
TBH take the above advice and just test drive one if you really want to know how it drives.
I don't know how much they have changed the 2 litre petrol engine from the e46 on the newer models (if at all) but as far as the e46 goes... I've had my 318Ci Sport coupe for ~3 years (covering almost 40,000 miles) and it's been a few things which might be relevant to your interests:

1: Problem free other than part replacements from wear & tear (coil pack, for example).

2: Harsh suspension although not on runflats so expect even harsher ride on runflats.

3: Excellent handling and excellent steering feedback and chassis/weight control through any amount of cornering and braking.

4: Slow to gain speed under throttle in 4th/5th gear so you either need to be at above legal limits on the motorway to gain speed faster when applying throttle or drop to 4th/3rd when at a legal speed. At about 90 you're hitting about 4000rpm in 5th. Outside of the motorway you need to live above 4000rpm if you want to have any fun, imagine it's a Honda and while this isn't to everyone's taste, some people like rev happy engines and BMW advertised this engine as "rev happy" in their literature at dealerships.
The engine sounds bigger than your usual 4cylinder N/A engine under throttle as well. If you're happy staying in lower gears for longer then I suppose it's not going to really be a problem for you but this won't help economy or tyre life, my rears last 10k miles while fronts about double that.

5: Not really as cheap to run as you'd probably be expecting both in running economy and in servicing and regular maintenance, the gap between the 6cyl and this isn't that big in this area.
 
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benskia said:
@ Fox,
Not sure what you meant when I said I completely ignored you.
My final comment was that 'maybe I should stick to the 159 for now' which was based on your advice.

Anyway,
I'm still interested to hear how a 318i drives out of curiosity. So I'll pop over to a motors forum somewhere and ask there.

But, rest assured, when I'm next in need of financial advice, I'll come right back to these pages and fire some more questions off.

Cheers all.
Click to expand...

If you weren't interested in the finance, then why mention it?

You see, this is exactly what I don't understand about people asking for advice. If you want to know what the car is like, ask what it's like, don't mention what sort of finance deal you are going to use. Because if you mention it, it's not relevant. However you DID mention it, therefore it IS relevant:

So - I have the opportunity to trade it in as deposit against the 318i m sport plus, and also get some pennies back cash back too.
It's a bit scarey going into a pay monthly deal, I must admit. But for the right car, it makes sense to do it while I still have value in my current car, rather than let it depreciate to 0.
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You say it's scary, and it is, the cash-back is really just a loan, making your scary monthly payments even scarier. The first comment on the thread was that it's the worst engine in the current line-up. So why pay a premium for the worst engine?

You'll thank us later, honest.

:)
 
[TW]Fox;18996248 said:
Because its cheaper than hiring one? :confused:
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I agree with that, yes. I always feel that given the choice between two cars with the same TCO, one rented and one owned, people would always go for the owned option. Whenever there is a thread on PCP type deals people always say "omg you don't even own it" or "you pay all that money and it's never your car". Personally (cost aside) I'd much rarther rent anything over owning it, the important thing is that you get to use it.
 
Spamalot said:
I agree with that, yes. I always feel that given the choice between two cars with the same TCO, one rented and one owned, people would always go for the owned option. Whenever there is a thread on PCP type deals people always say "omg you don't even own it" or "you pay all that money and it's never your car". Personally (cost aside) I'd much rarther rent anything over owning it, the important thing is that you get to use it.
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I agree with that if its a pure work tool, or you got a few quid and its some sort of i dont know toy, or whatever and you just want a new one every 2 years.

Anyone wanting to climb the car ladder is surely better off buying one, getting the use out of it then moving up no?

There is another train of thought though that goes like this, until you intend to stop driving you need a car, so you always have money locked in a car, you never actually draw that capital out, so yea, so what if you always rent.

Horses for courses aint it.
 
[TW]Fox;18996933 said:
Why own a house when you can rent?
Why own a tv when you can rent?
Click to expand...

I dont know because i agree with you, but im just saying there are other points of view.
 
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