New Car Time - 325i Sport?

Andyt_uk · 15 Nov 2006 at 20:00

Just starting to look at replacing my current car, (99plate Mondeo 2.0, 72k) and have seen the following advertised in my local autotrader.

BMW 325i Sport - 2001 Y reg, 101k, Imola Red, 18" alloys, M-tech sports kit.
Advertised at £6,495.

From the pic it looks stunning, so just wondering if anyone has one already?

Also what are the important things to check up on when going to visit? Parkers have the guide price set at £9255 but thats for ones with only 50k on the clock.

Cheers,

Andyt_uk · 15 Nov 2006 at 20:29

doesn't say its a coupe, looks like a 4door to me from the pic.

Its the colour that makes it stand out to me, as well as the 18" MV3 alloys and M-tech kit

Andyt_uk · 15 Nov 2006 at 20:43

yeah, Parkers did have it nearer 8.5->9k i believe. Its a trade advert and not private as well.

What are the important things to check for then?

Managed to find a small pic of it online..

Andyt_uk · 15 Nov 2006 at 21:55

some quick insurance quotes put it at only a £100 or so a year more than what i'm currently paying.

Shall need to ring the place tomorrow, see if its still there

Cheers

Andyt_uk · 15 Nov 2006 at 22:03

says its got grey sports suede seats so no leather. Shall be interesting to see anyways. Doesn't say if its manual or auto either.

Cousins got a 323i with the trip-tronic box and that looks quite good - not had chance to drive one though.

[TW]Fox said:
but do your homework first - they are not cheap to run and will cost a bit if stuff goes wrong.

can i ask how much you estimated yearly services at?

Andyt_uk · 15 Nov 2006 at 22:29

not too bad then. Probably around £400 a year for servicing for me then as i'll be doing about 20k a year. Tyres will probably be interesting, especially as its on 18's.

Small loan from northern rock as well at just 5.9% should cover most of it as well. Pay that off in 2 years and then time to upgrade again

Cheers all

Andyt_uk · 16 Nov 2006 at 11:04

Any ideas wheres best to get HPI checks done on this. Just rang the guy and its still there which is good.

Got the reg but i think i need the VIN number and MOT certificate number as well?

Andyt_uk · 16 Nov 2006 at 11:27

Cool, what about checking the FSH with BMW? Is there a number you can ring to check that?

Andyt_uk · 16 Nov 2006 at 12:05

merlin said:
Ring the dealer that's serviced it last.

ok, basically when i talked to the guy he said that him and his dad have a sports car garage/dealership and the guy had part-exchanged it for another car. There was no service history that came with the car at the time so unfortunately we don't know what garage serviced it last.

BMW should have the details for it if its been serviced by a BMW garage but I can't find the number to check it out with them yet.

Andyt_uk · 16 Nov 2006 at 14:41

done and got the list now. Good thing being that its only been serviced by 2 places, both authorized BMW garages. Even though they may not be services there dealership visits at least. Quite a regular schedule as well.

04/2006
02/2004
10/2003
04/2003
03/2003
10/2002
03/2002
09/2001

Andyt_uk · 16 Nov 2006 at 15:54

Noxis said:
Very nice cars, I also am glad I got the Saloon over the coupe... better for giving lifts and family things

I've only scanned the thread so far so forgive me if this has already been mentioned but dont forget a HPI check. If you are really worried you can get an AA or RAC inspection etc on it too.

Cheers, still need to check with the garages about its Service history etc. Been stupidly busy at work which is stopping me

Insurance looks as though its only £100 more a year. Shall take a look into getting an AA inspection on it as well

Andyt_uk · 16 Nov 2006 at 17:40

well looks as though its going to be due its Inspection 2 service in about 20k after talking with the garages. £346 for that which covers parts and labour. Its last Inspection 2 was around 52k and has since had its oil service.

From what i understand as well the services for these go

Oil
Inspection 1
Oil
Inspection 2

Anyone know the mileage between each service and whether its actually only Inspection 1 thats needed?

Cheers,

Andyt_uk · 16 Nov 2006 at 22:47

hmm, anybody know whether its easy to change the trim inserts in these cars? Seen a nice blue 325i X reg thats only got 17k on the clock, full FSH, stamped log books but its got the wooden inserts which i'm not keen on.

Andyt_uk · 20 Nov 2006 at 13:13

Well after speaking to BMW i think this ones service history is a little patchy. According to them the last service was an Oil one at 60k, and its now done over 100k. Having no history or reciepts would probably make it much harder to sell on in the future.

Have just seen the following though which i may go and see as it comes with a full 2 years warranty and will p/x may current car.

1999 V Reg BMW 3 SERIES 328i CI SE 2 Doors, Manual, Coupe,

Advertised at £6,999 and its done ~98k with full history. The bonus being that I could get rid of my car at the same time, obviously dependent on the price and its got 2 years warranty.

Nice looking colour as well thats a little different to the typical black/silver/blue models you see about which is good.

Andyt_uk · 20 Nov 2006 at 16:35

Oakesy2001uk said:
2 year warrenty sounds good! Not a bad price including that, is it a BMW warrenty?

When i emailed the garage they replied with a list of virtually everything on of stuff that was covered by the warranty. I'm guessing that it basically means that if anything on the list of whats covered, breaks in those 2 years then they'll replace for free?

Colour wise, i'm quite liking it

Something a little different to the normal range as i said.