Considering a BMW 3-series as my next car...opinions?

[d3v0]

I am going to be entering my senior year of undergrad in the fall and starting my graduate studies in 2010. I currently own a '97 Honda Civic LX 4 door with 95,000 miles and I would like to buy a used car that is slightly more late model, has less miles on it, and carries a certain prestige (it's BMWs, so clearly).

I am looking at the E46 2001-2005 BMW 3-series cars. I have a budget of about $10,000. What I want:

Must be Gray, black, blue, or green
Must have less than 75,000 miles on it from a single owner
Must have sunroof
Must be AWD
Must have decent stock sound system
Leather seats are a plus but not required

where/what should I be looking at here? I bought my current car from a local car dealership. There is a single BMW dealer in the Erie, Pennsylvania area who may have something I am looking for, but they mostly sell new cars.

Also this is my first post but I have wanted to join for a long time,so I hope someone can give some worthy advice.

Thanks!

[CassiesMan]

Excellent car. I miss my E46. I want my E46 back. All of the above can be had at about 10k, but the xi never sold as well as the RWD model, and you don't see as many for sale. Of course, outside of living on a mud pond or Alaska, I don't really get the whole "must have AWD" thing. Just me.

[d3v0]

I live in Erie Pennsylvania. We had something to the effect of 160" of snowfall this season.



Thanks for the vote of confidence. What's a good year for this car? I know they introduced power improvements in 2001 or something similar to that, and the E46 was done in 2005, which is why I am looking at this timeframe specifically.

[CassiesMan]

There were no real major changes after the '01 year. I'd go with at least an '03, though, to get the Aux In on the radio.

[d3v0]

I just received an increase in my possible spending money, up to $16,000. I wonder if I can get an E90 for that

[CassiesMan]

Originally Posted by d3v0

I just received an increase in my possible spending money, up to $16,000. I wonder if I can get an E90 for that

Unless you use it as a down payment (which, depending on your monthly pay you could use that as a down payment and get a HELLA cheap monthly lease on a 328 and possibly 335), you wouldn't be able to flat out buy one for $16k. But for that much you could pick up a pretty good E46 with very little left to pay off.

[d3v0]

Originally Posted by CassiesMan

Unless you use it as a down payment (which, depending on your monthly pay you could use that as a down payment and get a HELLA cheap monthly lease on a 328 and possibly 335), you wouldn't be able to flat out buy one for $16k. But for that much you could pick up a pretty good E46 with very little left to pay off.

Yeah I went to the local BMW dealer and had little success in finding something in my price range. I really would like to keep it under $21000 so I have small monthly payments after a large down payment.

Anyways, how important/good is the CPO certification? The price differential is huge, I can get a car for $5k cheaper without the CPO haha.

[CassiesMan]

Originally Posted by d3v0

Yeah I went to the local BMW dealer and had little success in finding something in my price range. I really would like to keep it under $21000 so I have small monthly payments after a large down payment.

Anyways, how important/good is the CPO certification? The price differential is huge, I can get a car for $5k cheaper without the CPO haha.

If you don't plan on modding it? Hell ya, I'd go with the CPO. Factory warranty is worth it.

[d3v0]

Originally Posted by CassiesMan

If you don't plan on modding it? Hell ya, I'd go with the CPO. Factory warranty is worth it.

Okay. With CPO the newest car I could afford is the 2005. Theoretically, it would only have about a year of the CPO warranty left on it, since it expires 6 years after it first hit the road as sold.

And I don't really plan on modding it

[CassiesMan]

You have to decide if the warranty is worth it for you. Also, don't just limit your search to your area. Whenever I do a search, I go out to unlimited distance. You can find better deals if you really look for them out in the rest of the 'States. Especially if you look in some of the southern states, where having AWD is not really an advantage so people might be willing to let go of them for a bit less.

[d3v0]

I see, yeah I don't mind driving at all. Is the 2005 325xi a pretty good buy for ~$16k, from either a private buyer or dealer (Non-CPO)? I am looking for one with ~35-50k miles or so.

Since I have sort of decided not to go the CPO route, how can I really tell how well the car was cared for other than physical inspection and carfax? I don't wanna carfax too many, since it's not free haha but I guess it's pretty important eh? Since I won't have any sort of warranty to cover me, I am concerned that if something wasn't taken care of or goes wrong, I could get stuck with thousands in repairs.

[CassiesMan]

Originally Posted by d3v0

I see, yeah I don't mind driving at all. Is the 2005 325xi a pretty good buy for ~$16k, from either a private buyer or dealer (Non-CPO)? I am looking for one with ~35-50k miles or so.

Since I have sort of decided not to go the CPO route, how can I really tell how well the car was cared for other than physical inspection and carfax? I don't wanna carfax too many, since it's not free haha but I guess it's pretty important eh? Since I won't have any sort of warranty to cover me, I am concerned that if something wasn't taken care of or goes wrong, I could get stuck with thousands in repairs.

Get a trusted, local, independent garage to take a look at it. Carfax, as well. Price really depends on the condition of the car. Do you have a link to it? If its under 50k miles, and its 16k, that is a pretty good deal.

[d3v0]

I am considering quite a few, varying from 90-1000mi away.

How far should I travel for a good deal? If it's closer then its easier to have my mechanic take a look at it before I actually purchase. If it's farther, say in the south, then the price on an AWD may be better, at least enough to travel to get it but my mechanic would only see it after I actually purchase.

[d3v0]

Looking at these three:

2006 325xi

2004 325xi

2004 325xi

Which of these is the better deal, and why? I would imagine the 2006 is, though I prefer the E46 body style and the color of the two 2004s.

[CassiesMan]

The last one looks like the better deal to me. If you like the E46 better than the E90, it has the same miles, cost a grand less (you might be able to negotiate down a touch), and looks ok from the pictures.