BMW 123d or alternative

chet84

chet84

chet84

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I need your help motors - i've never been a massive fan of BMWs but I have recently been looking at a second car (the first being an 09 Audi A6 2.0 TDi), and I really like the look of the BMW 123d coupe. I have up to 15k to spend So, the bits I would like advice/assistance on please:

1. Is there any other car that has similar performance that you would recommend?
I'm going to be doing 18k a year so would prefer a diesel - happy for someone to advice on petrol but i've done the calculations and I 'think' diesel is a better route.
I'd like the car to be as 'fun' as possible.
There must be an iso-fix system in the car - just in case.

2. Anything I should look out for, i.e. any things that don't come as standard that I should look for as an option, or facelifts etc?

Cheers

3. BMW warranty - would this be the recommended route for warranty?

4. Anything else I should be thinking about?
 
18k isn't really diesel territory if you enjoy driving and want some fun. No, the 123d won't be slow but it won't have the same sparkle as a nice smooth 6 cylinder petrol either
 
If you are doing 18k a year why do you want a 1 Series? It's cramped, has a particularly joggly ride and especially if you are used to an A6 will get very tedious doing a few miles.

Alll 123d's are facelift cars. To get the lower priced warranty, pick a car with under 60k miles.
 
[TW]Fox;22881692 said:
If you are doing 18k a year why do you want a 1 Series? It's cramped, has a particularly joggly ride and especially if you are used to an A6 will get very tedious doing a few miles.

Alll 123d's are facelift cars. To get the lower priced warranty, pick a car with under 60k miles.
Click to expand...

I want something that I can have a bit of fun with, as well as use it for my daily commute. We only bought the Audi a couple of months ago to be honest, before that we (me and the wife) were doing that sort of mileage in a diesel Fiesta. I don't really want two big cars in the house either - we have a Focus as a second car at the moment and it's too big for what we use it for. I have looked at Seat Leon and thought it was too big, and didn't like the Ibiza (these were both new).
 
chet84 said:
I have looked at Seat Leon and thought it was too big
Click to expand...

I hate to break it to you, but:

Code: 
Measurement    BMW 123d     Leon 2.0TDI
Length         4360 mm      4315 mm
Width          1919 mm      1768 mm
Height         1423 mm      1458 mm

The 1-series is bigger, even if you express the car as a volume in m³

1-series 11.9m³
Leon 11.1m³
 
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paradigm said:
I hate to break it to you, but:

Code: 
Measurement    BMW 123d     Leon 2.0TDI
Length         4360 mm      4315 mm
Width          1919 mm      1768 mm
Height         1423 mm      1458 mm

The 1-series is bigger, even if you express the car as a volume in m³

1-series 11.9m³
Leon 11.1m³
Click to expand...

Haha, trust you :D
 
paradigm said:
I hate to break it to you, but:

Code: 
Measurement    BMW 123d     Leon 2.0TDI
Length         4360 mm      4315 mm
Width          1919 mm      1768 mm
Height         1423 mm      1458 mm

The 1-series is bigger, even if you express the car as a volume in m³

1-series 11.9m³
Leon 11.1m³
Click to expand...

I have to say i'm shocked - I drove the Leon and it felt a lot bigger :p. Based on the info provided then i'm going to change my original statement. I want a BMW 123d, is there anything I need to look out for? :p
 
18k a year isn't a huge amount.

The difference in your annual fuel bill for a 123d vs a 135i might not actually be as enormous as you think.

Too many people go for diesels without doing the math.
 
Have you considered the Alfa Giulietta? Could pick one up for budget and the 1.4 petrol is a fantastic engine as far as fun goes.

The 2l diesel has better economy and is still a fairly decent drive as far as alternatives go.
 
scott212 said:
18k a year isn't a huge amount.

The difference in your annual fuel bill for a 123d vs a 135i might not actually be as enormous as you think.

Too many people go for diesels without doing the math.
Click to expand...

Right, if I say both cars are going to cost me 15k.

Diesel - 143.7p (average current price per litre), 54.3mpg (quoted, not real) = £2165.55 + servicing + warranty + insurance

Petrol - 139.0p (average current price per litre), 33.2mpg (quoted, not real) = £3,446.82 + servicing + warranty + insurance

So unless the other costs amount to over £1200 on a diesel, surely it's cheaper?
 
The fact he misses the point means that he probably doesn't really need the 135i meaning it would be silly to pay the extra.
 
chet84 said:
So unless the other costs amount to over £1200 on a diesel, surely it's cheaper?
Click to expand...

But, another way to look at it is that for a whole £23/week extra, you can drive something that has a proper engine and some decent performance.

[TW]Fox;22882413 said:
The fact he misses the point means that he probably doesn't really need the 135i meaning it would be silly to pay the extra.
Click to expand...

However, this is probably the case.
 
[TW]Fox;22882421 said:
Plus its probably going to be on finance so the extra fuel costs might push it over what's affordable per month.
Click to expand...

I haven't decided how much to pay up front, and how much to have on finance (if any). We have a little one joining us soon so I wanted to be semi-sensible. I am quite lucky in that if I wanted something really fast for the weekend I can borrow a car from work (I can't do this too many times and it is for testing only ;))

*semi-sensible from a financial aspect
 
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chet84 said:
Right, if I say both cars are going to cost me 15k.

Diesel - 143.7p (average current price per litre), 54.3mpg (quoted, not real) = £2165.55 + servicing + warranty + insurance

Petrol - 139.0p (average current price per litre), 33.2mpg (quoted, not real) = £3,446.82 + servicing + warranty + insurance

So unless the other costs amount to over £1200 on a diesel, surely it's cheaper?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't believe those figures.

In fact you could probably do better with the 135i.
 
scott212 said:
I wouldn't believe those figures.

In fact you could probably do better with the 135i.
Click to expand...

I don't, that's why I put quoted figures! In my experience of driving large engined petrols, i've never got close to the quoted mpg in over a week of my normal driving conditions. :(
 
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