I'm pretty much going to brain dump into this thread to get some opinions on what I want for my next car, spec me a F30 328i basically.
I've been looking for a while and have pretty much settled on a 328i as my ideal car right now, have £15-17k to put to it so more than likely would be a 2012/13 model from what I have found in my limited search. I love the styling of the M-Sport and more than anything the sport steering wheel, so more than likely would be looking for that trim level, but the optional extras available are hard to fathom. I fancy the wide screen, but is this worth it over the standard? Does iDrive functionality change depending on the screen or is it purely cosmetic? I could take or leave nav to be honest, more than likely will continue using TomTom GO on my phone unless the BMW nav really surprises me. Apart from that, I would like PDC, maybe heated seats. Am I missing anything obvious, are there any extras on the F30 that are basically essential? I would be after the automatic gearbox, moving from manual is one of the main reasons I want to switch.
Obviously the car I'm after seems quite rare, am I mad for looking at an early 328i at the lower end of the market rather than just getting a 320d like everyone else? Is there a decent alternative I should be looking at? My current car is a 2012 Mondeo MK4 2.0 TDCI, nice enough car but more than anything I want some power to play with. Currently doing 15000-20000 miles a year so I could maybe benefit from a Diesel, but I wouldn't be hurting by paying a bit more for fuel. I wouldn't mind a diesel really, the torquey power delivery is quite nice but it's still horrible stuff. The only diesel BMW I have ever driven was a 2014 535d and that was obviously lovely, but are the less powerful diesels any good? 184bhp from the 320 is hardly worth bothering with over the 140bhp from the mondeo.
Having never owned a BMW, how scary are the costs likely to be on a car of this age? I'm assuming £300 for a service which is fine, maybe £200 per tyre every 10000 miles? Obviously if it goes bang it's likely to be expensive but is that offset by buying directly from BMW and getting some sort of Warranty? There are a few Douglas Park BMW garages around me and I would very much like to buy from them, more than anything because I assume the approved used cars are well checked out, but if I see the perfect car privately can I then get a once over done by BMW and a warranty of some sort, and is it really worth it?
Thanks guys.
TL/DR: Am I mad for wanting an early F30 328i?