Newbie

Well I nevered owned a Eurpean car and wanted to know what i'm getting into. I place a order on a new 2003 325i sportwagon black sapphire metalic and black leather also with automatic and the bi-xeon lights. Questions........

1) how much more is the 2003 vs the 2002? (sales person did not know and said not much)
2) how depedable is this 3 seriers?
3) is the free maintenance any good?
4) what do I look for after the warranty is over? (i heard things start crapping out after 3-4 years or after the warranty's over) Is this true?

I'm in the car audio/security business for 15 years and know that European car are difficult or different than american/japanese mobiles to work on. I have all american cars and most of the mecanical work myself. I drove many Eurpean car but liked the BMW the best. Test drove it a few days ago and fell in love and also the wife (it for the wife though), put a down payment ($500) to have it special order but not oblicated and will not loose the down payment if decided not to get it.

Thanks in advance!:flash:

For reliability read this thread which I posted in:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t61364.html

The cost difference isn't much, BMW's don't loose their value, significant level till at least 5 yrs, about ~50% or less is around a good figure to work with.