Car Suggestions - Around £10K

[TW]Fox;29968153 said:
Sort of, but the spec on that is crap and Business nav is awful with a tiny screen.

Saloon will be cheaper again than Coupe so is a better choice if you don't care about looks. Though you'll need to find one with optional Xenon's and facelift petrol 6 cylinder saloons are very, very rare.

Thanks if I want 2010+ and mileage under say 70K how much do you think I would be expecting to pay? Can I get one for £10Kish with the spec?

Cheers!
 
I'd be surprised if you can get one for £10k with that age/mileage requirement.

Compromise on the age requirement as from 2008 onwards the facelift saloons are all the same whether they are 2009 or 2011 cars with only minor changes such as the Combox introduction in 2010 which added Bluetooth streaming. Nice to have but not the end of the world.
 
[TW]Fox;29968181 said:
I'd be surprised if you can get one for £10k with that age/mileage requirement.

Compromise on the age requirement as from 2008 onwards the facelift saloons are all the same whether they are 2009 or 2011 cars with only minor changes such as the Combox introduction in 2010 which added Bluetooth streaming. Nice to have but not the end of the world.

Would they still have bluetooth handsfree? Or is that what you mean?

Cheers
 
Bluetooth handsfree has been available as a fitted option on BMW's since 2002!

Most will have it regardless of age but check each car as it was an optional extra on the E90's for most of the production life. Virtually every car with Pro Nav will have it. Though I did once manage to buy an MY09 335i M Sport with pro nav and no bluetooth :D

The Bluetooth everyone is on about for 2011 onwards is audio streaming for music, not calls.
 
[TW]Fox;29968199 said:
Bluetooth handsfree has been available as a fitted option on BMW's since 2002!

Most will have it regardless of age but check each car as it was an optional extra on the E90's for most of the production life. Virtually every car with Pro Nav will have it. Though I did once manage to buy an MY09 335i M Sport with pro nav and no bluetooth :D

The Bluetooth everyone is on about for 2011 onwards is audio streaming for music, not calls.

Ahh OK that makes sense.

How do I tell if a BMW has a business or professional nav? If it doesn't say in the description. There are different versions as well aren't they?

Thanks...
 
Thanks if I want 2010+ and mileage under say 70K how much do you think I would be expecting to pay? Can I get one for £10Kish with the spec?

Cheers!

Just to add to what Fox has been advising, if you are interested in running a warranty on the car, which on a 3 series is relatively cheap, try to aim for less than 60k on the mileage.

After 60k the warranty cost roughly doubles, but if you take it out before 60k, and pay monthly, it continues to roll on for as long as you pay it at the reduced cost, pretty much regardless of mileage.

And in the unlikely event you manage to find a BMW Approved Used in budget, it'll have 1 year warranty (2 if you can negotiate it), so it will be the mileage from the point at which that warranty runs out. So if you buy one on 40k, and do 15k per year, and you get 2 years warranty, you will be over that threshold. So be aware if warranty is a thing you fancy.

As an example of warranty costs, I think I was around £280 a year for the warranty on my 335d, which was sub 60k, on a 2010 LCI. But I think the cost is the same per series, regardless of if you go 318d or 335i.

As for differences between Business and Pro nav, the easiest way to tell is screen size. Pro nav has the widescreen, business doesn't. Different version can be seen by the iDrive controller. 2 buttons on the older CCC, and 8 (I think) on the newer CiC (and NBT, but that'll be on F30's out of your budget).
 
Just to add to what Fox has been advising, if you are interested in running a warranty on the car, which on a 3 series is relatively cheap, try to aim for less than 60k on the mileage.

After 60k the warranty cost roughly doubles, but if you take it out before 60k, and pay monthly, it continues to roll on for as long as you pay it at the reduced cost, pretty much regardless of mileage.

And in the unlikely event you manage to find a BMW Approved Used in budget, it'll have 1 year warranty (2 if you can negotiate it), so it will be the mileage from the point at which that warranty runs out. So if you buy one on 40k, and do 15k per year, and you get 2 years warranty, you will be over that threshold. So be aware if warranty is a thing you fancy.

As an example of warranty costs, I think I was around £280 a year for the warranty on my 335d, which was sub 60k, on a 2010 LCI. But I think the cost is the same per series, regardless of if you go 318d or 335i.

As for differences between Business and Pro nav, the easiest way to tell is screen size. Pro nav has the widescreen, business doesn't. Different version can be seen by the iDrive controller. 2 buttons on the older CCC, and 8 (I think) on the newer CiC (and NBT, but that'll be on F30's out of your budget).

Thanks for that, very helpful.

I hadn't considered warranty but that is probably something I would be interested in for peace of mind. 60K mileage is about what I want to buy anyway, so if I find cars below that I can get warranty for them from BMW? Cheaper than if it was over 60K..
 
Your prices are somewhat out, it's about 500-600 a year now for comprehensive on a 3 Series. 280 is less even than a Mini policy :D
 
To be fair, I took mine out with the maximum £250 excess, as I figured I'd have to claim more than once per year to get that money back. And was willing to take that chance.

I assume you are talking about zero excess (or £100 as it is now).
 
Id imagine almost all of them Fox... If you know how to drive them properly. That ST180 for example should be easily capable of 50MPG on a run if driven right. Hell, I almost got 50MPG out of both my 2ZZ Toyotas, and they are not known for their economy! Things must have moved on since 2001 in terms of efficiency from a 200~HP engine!

No, 44mpg is my best on a run, maybe would have been 46mpg if it wasn't raining. When you give it beans or lots of slowing down/speeding up, that figure plummets. These are real measurements, not off the computer - I can get 60-70mpg to show up easy when cruising but everything else knocks off the average.

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Fiesta is cheap to run, and 11k would just about get you one with a years warranty still on it. If you could be swayed away from a BMW, completely different cars though.
 
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I wish manufacturer claimed figures weren't so inaccurate for most driving scenarios. :p

But yes fine, i've moved on. :D
 
[TW]Fox;29968199 said:
Bluetooth handsfree has been available as a fitted option on BMW's since 2002!

The Bluetooth everyone is on about for 2011 onwards is audio streaming for music, not calls.

Yeah, forgot to mention that, i have the 2005 version of voice activated bluetooth (which is a wonderful loop of "sorry, i didnt catch that" every time i try to set it up), having gone backwards from the google controlled setup i had in the fabia no music is a backstep i didnt think of.

Thought that msport had the extras bundled in, learning experience here sorry for the dud advice.
 
I wish manufacturer claimed figures weren't so inaccurate for most driving scenarios. :p

But yes fine, i've moved on. :D

Quoted consumption is 47mpg and 434 miles to a tank, I can just about get that and 400 miles before the fuel light comes on - so not a million miles off.
 
[TW]Fox;29968680 said:
Not since my 530i have I driven a car that gets near its extra urban figure.

I've managed to meet and exceed the figure for all of my cars :p But only when I actively tried to get the best consumption I could.
 
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