Some E92 advise please :)

There is absolutely no reason for you to buy a 335d with that sort of annual mileage, the 335i is clearly the obvious candidate here.

With a 335, M Sport v SE is purely down to personal preference over the way the cars look as this is the ONLY real difference. All the important M Sport additions like seats and suspension are standard on all 335i regardless of trim level.

Pre 57 plate cars are not Efficient Dynamics cars and are therefore taxed at £440. Later ones have better economy and lower emissions but power and torque remains the same.

Peerzy is talking rubbish in saying that almost all 2007 cars are under 3 year warranty - we've only got 3 months left of 2007 so 75% of 2007 cars are therefore over 3 years old!

Do not buy one without a warranty. They are complicated cars and the potential for large bills is great. The high pressure fuel pumps are a particular bugbear, and there are stories of turbocharger failure as well. A warranty is a very sensible idea.

Buying from BMW gets you the best warranty you can get but don't be fooled into thinking it will be the best car you can get. It will be like any other car, only with a great warranty. The cosmetic condition etc etc of many AUC's is often not what you'd expect. Only pay a premium for the warranty - it isnt worth paying the premium for any other part of the AUC experience.

The one you've found at Sytner is a good price but there are two important buts with it:

a) It has the most dreary, boring interior combo available and makes the interior look very plain

but more importantly...

b) It has 70k.

Now you may be suprised to hear me mentioning mileage as a negative aspect but its important. Mechanically and cosmetically the mileage will make little difference but value wise it will make a big difference. The closer you get to 100k miles the harder this car will be to sell for good money. This matters when you are paying almost £20,000 for the car and this is why this car is priced keenly as Sytner know it has a limited audience at this mileage. Also check the condition, as I said not every AUC is mint - I had a nosey at a local 335i and was suprised to find quite deep scratches in the paint :eek:

As long as you are happy that you will lose perhaps £10k on this car on 3-4 years, then great.

One more thing..

To me, the appeal of a 335i is that its a fantastic all rounder. You already have another vehicle for day to day useage and therefore your car is simply a toy.

With this in mind, is an all rounder like a 335i really the right choice? Would you not prefer something a little less practical and a little more ridiculous? I will probably end up going the 335i route but it will be my only car and the reason I like it is because its as good at the daily grind and driving up the Motorway as it is at putting a smile on your face. This isn't part of your usage profile, mind.

It's very different to something like a VXR8. A better car, for sure, but a better toy?
 
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You are going to loose 8-10k on any car like that you buy regardless of mileage, in 3-4 years with his mileage he will have brought that down to a more average mileage anyway.
 
bazaarboy said:
with all due respect, don't hurry up!
Having spent a long time looking for a nice example, I have found the BMW dealer cars are about £3000 more that equivalent private sellers.
For the difference you can buy a warranty and have change left over

if you play the long game you will find right car for you - and IMHO the M-sport you're looking at has slightly too high miles...
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I'm impatient ;)

Re that 335, I didn't realise that had done 70k though. That's more than I'd want at this price range. But it does have excellent spec, if rather a dreary colour combo.
I don't know about 335s, but certainly finding a big spec E9x at a good price is hard.
 
So I guess I should be looking at lower mileage SE's then as they seem to be a bit cheaper than the M Sport equivalent. I read somewhere that BMW put a 10 year 100,000miles warrenty on the HPHP in the US market, is it the same here?
 
In 3 years time it will be a 6 year old car with 85,000 miles on it, which is still above average. I'm not saying don't buy it, I'm saying think about it carefully as it's much of the reason why its priced keenly.
 
Princey said:
So I guess I should be looking at lower mileage SE's then as they seem to be a bit cheaper than the M Sport equivalent. I read somewhere that BMW put a 10 year 100,000miles warrenty on the HPHP in the US market, is it the same here?
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No, its not. BMW US and BMW UK operate totally differently. BMW US replace instrument clusters on E39's and E53's with dead pixels as well :(
 
If you are going to keep the car 3+ years i wouldnt care how many miles its got as long as the condition is right.

Buying cheap now with more miles just means you get less back when you sell, or more now with less miles and more back at the end.

Me id rather spend less now and have the same driving experience.
 
DiamondMark said:
Sorry im lost? I thought you wanted a 335.
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I do. But as I said, it will be my only car and therefore I want a fantastic all rounder, which the 335i absolutely is.

However Princey is in the lucky situation that he has another vehicle provided by his employer, so any car he buys is purely a plaything that need not cope with the daily grind etc. Therefore more focused cars become an option.
 
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[TW]Fox;17406890 said:
I do. But as I said, it will be my only car and therefore I want a fantastic all rounder, which the 335i absolutely is.

However Peerzy is in the lucky situation that he has another vehicle provided by his employer, so any car he buys is purely a plaything that need not cope with the daily grind etc. Therefore more focused cars become an option.
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Ah i see now :)

In that case he should get a Maserati for weekends !
 
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My car just came out of the AUC warranty and was offered some options for extending it. I went for the full warranty (they offer 3 levels, drive train, drive train + other bits and same as AUC so everything like satnav etc) cost me £32 a month with £100 excess, which given I've had a turbo actuator fail on the small turbo and a couple of other bits done under the AUC warranty seemed like a good deal.
 
The AUC warranty extension on that car from Sytner will be very expensive - it gets expensive and the coverage reduces substantially after 60k miles for renewals.
 
I think I'd prefer a WD warranty than one of BMWs "Insured Warranties" (I assume the extension is one of these?), which are underwritten by another company anyway. The impression I get is that it's very expensive, just as fussy as any other company when it comes to claiming, and limited on coverage as mileage increases.
 
DannyDan said:
I think I'd prefer a WD warranty than one of BMWs "Insured Warranties" (I assume the extension is one of these?), which are underwritten by another company anyway. The impression I get is that it's very expensive, just as fussy as any other company when it comes to claiming, and limited on coverage as mileage increases.
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Warranty direct wanted nearly 40% more to cover mine if I choose to use a franchise dealer.
 
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