Should I buy a used BMW 328? >20K miles, $17K

[Jayjay1976]

My wife and I are looking to buy a second car, we currently share our 10 year old Nissan, which has been great with zero unscheduled maintenance, and cheap to maintain partly because I've replaced brakes, shocks, etc. myself. It has 145K and we have no plans to sell it but we need another vehicle. This next car will be a great convenience to us but we would also like something zoomy and fun to drive that we can be proud to own, and though we've never owned one, we love German cars.

I've heard horror stories that bimmers are expensive to maintain but this one has really low miles for its age, not even 20K @ ~5 years old, only one owner, no accidents reported, and comes with maintenance logs. Doesn't seem like I could go too far wrong with this car, and though we will be financing it, we could likely get most of our money back out of it if we decided to sell it in a year or two.

This particular car ticks every single box with features we want, and other than it being a SULEV vehicle, it seems perfect for us. It's even the xdrive model with AWD. I really want to pull the trigger but I need outside opinion from others who have owned one.

Thanks in advance!

 

[satph]

I bought a used 2013 328i xdrive 2 years ago with 24k miles on it. It now has 44k miles. It's great fun to drive. It's more expensive to operate than the 2003 Acura it replaced (which had ~110,000 miles when the transmission blew and the repair was more than the car was worth). High octane fuel is required for the high compression engine. Insurance is higher. I replaced the brake pads and shoes at 30k miles. And now I need to replace the tires. Both are more expensive than on the Acura. So it probably costs $50 to $100 more per month to operate. Only you can answer if this is worth it to you.

I found a local independent shop run by two guys who worked for BMW for years. They use OEM parts, have reasonable rates and I trust them. I think this is a key to my enjoying the car. If you're going to buy a performance vehicle, why would you put random brakes and tires on it? But dealership pricing is just too high.

The SULEV specific parts are warrantied by the manufacturer for 15 years or 150,000 miles, although some people have had to fight to get the warranty honored according to the Internet. Most of what I've read said they drive the same as the ULEV. In the end it's a negative, but I think it's a small negative.

The owner has put 4k miles per year on the car. Did they drive it regularly for short distances, or did it sit for extended periods of time? It sounds great if they drove it. I'd be a little wary if it sat for months on end.

Do you live in Chicago? I live in the suburbs (of NY), it's a bit of a pain looking for big parking spaces preferably on the end where I can park away from people opening their doors into my car. This was not a worry with the 10 year old Acrua.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Properly maintained, a bimmer should not be any more of a burden than most any other car under 100k miles. sure, there will be differences in routine costs based on tires, fuel type, oil volume/type, etc...

IF you are the type to DIY auto repairs, even then bimmers are not insurmountable.

The warning are generally only pertinent to high mileage cars, poorly maintained by people who are forced to go to a dealership for repairs.

 

[Jayjay1976]

@satph I don't know if I can find out how regularly is has been driven, I wonder if it was a weekend toy belonging to someone who worked too much to enjoy it. Either way at >20K even if it did miss routine maintenance, it didn't miss much. Guess I could replace the tires and have the fluids changed to be on the safe side. What other signs should I look for to tell if it has spent lots of time sitting?

I don't live in the city anymore, I live out in the west burbs and this car would be driven 3-4 times a week and perhaps on weekends, but I doubt we would be parking it in the city very often. Other than this car I'm looking at ~2 year old Altimas which are reliable but not very much fun.

@GilaMinumBeer I definitely intend to do some of the oil changes myself, and taking it to a shop from time to time for an inspection. I can also swap out brake pads and discs when needed since having them cut seems to be a thing of the past. I use carquest gold replacements on my Nissan since they are made by Raybestos, and since I don't intend to take it to the track I have little interest in the exotic carbon fiber race car nonsense. I have changed shocks/struts and springs myself and if I get in too deep my brother was a certified master Nissan mechanic before he went to work for the union, but he has also worked on all kinds of imports when he was a collision frame mechanic. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty anymore but can be bribed with beer. He used to be here on HBT when he was still brewing.

 

[CodeSection]

We bought a new 2008 BMW 328i convertible (first year it was a hardtop convertible) and loved it. Though over the years we got tired of how low it was to the ground and getting in and out of it was a pain (knee problems and seat way too low). We ended up giving it to our son last Fall with about 21k miles on it.

Routine maintenance and operation (premium gas) costs were higher. But that is what comes with BMWs. It was a fun car to drive!

Good luck with it!

 

[Jayjay1976]

We bought a new 2008 BMW 328i convertible (first year it was a hardtop convertible) and loved it. Though over the years we got tired of how low it was to the ground and getting in and out of it was a pain (knee problems and seat way too low). We ended up giving it to our son last Fall with about 21k miles on it.

Routine maintenance and operation (premium gas) costs were higher. But that is what comes with BMWs. It was a fun car to drive!

Good luck with it!

Wow are you two looking to adopt another son? I really wanted a convertible but I would only consider a hard top, my wife thinks they are prone to leaking and is happy with a sun roof, which this car has. I'm fully prepared to pay more to maintain and fuel it, and since its such a nice car for so little money I think in the long run we will even save over buying something new and anyway we can't afford anything near as nice as this car. Okay so now I can tell my wife it's not a terrible idea and we can go test drive it

If we end up buying it I'll post photos. It really looks to be in phenomenal condition!

 

[Jayjay1976]

I'm starting to chicken out about buying a BMW, now I'm looking at 2015 INFINITI Q40. Not as exciting but I've owned nissans and know they are reliable.

 

[CodeSection]

My wife loves her 2006 Xterra.....absolutely no major problems.

 

[schematix]

Nissan reliability is highly variable in my experience.

I had a ‘05 Altima I sold at 179k after replacing every major part except engine and tranny.

My wife has a ‘10 Altima that had had every minor part replaced in its first 3 years, but has yet to have a major malfunction as of 90k. Still thousands deep in wheel bearings, power door lock actuators and brake switches is stupid stuff to replace on any car.

It’s all a roll of the dice though.

My dad had an ‘04 maxima that had 3 trannies before 100k and he sold it undrivable at 97k for $400 with a dead transmission.

 

[madscientist451]

[QUOTE="Jayjay1976, post: 8363962, member: 230769 This next car will be a great convenience to us but we would also like something zoomy and fun to drive that we can be proud to own, and though we've never owned one, we love German cars.

Doesn't seem like I could go too far wrong with this car, and though we will be financing it, we could likely get most of our money back out of it if we decided to sell it in a year or two.



Thanks in advance![/QUOTE]

I've never owned a BMW. I HAVE owed VW's, Volvos, a Saab, a Mercedes a bunch of different domestic Mini-vans and currently drive a Toyota.
My Toyota had 100K when I got it and now is getting close to 300K.
It has, BY FAR, been the cheapest car to own in my 42 years of car ownership. Nope, it doesn't drive as good as my Saab did, but the Saab blew a head gasket at 225K and the Toyota is still rolling.
I also worked for a time as a salesman at a dealership selling Toyotas, VW's and Audi. And I test drove lots of used cars including BMW's.
You're right about the zoom factor of German cars, the driving experience is superior to Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda.
However, (in my opinion) the cost to keep a BMW going will far outweigh
the fun of driving it.
Reading between the lines of the original post, since you are driving a 10 year old Nissan, and posted your question on HBT, I'll presume you don't have loads of extra cash laying around for car repairs.
Also, you can forget about selling the BMW in 2 years for what you paid for it. Do you really think a 7 year old, $17,000 car is easy to sell?
My 2 cents: Look around for what you can get in Honda or Toyota for $15,000. Avoid dealers, hunt around for owner/sellers on craigslist. You'll know a decent deal when it comes along.

Here's an example of a car that will last 200,000+ miles, only has 40K on it and costs $13,500. (note I didn't look up book value, so don't actually know if this is a good price)
https://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/cto/d/2015-toyota-camry-se/6669358991.html

Or...more Zoom factor:

https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/d/2012-toyota-scion-tc/6668753896.html

There are an incredible amount of used cars on the market at any one time, take you time finding one that is best for you.

 

[passedpawn]

I'm starting to chicken out about buying a BMW, now I'm looking at 2015 INFINITI Q40. Not as exciting but I've owned nissans and know they are reliable.

I own two Infinity g35 coupes and they are great cars. The engine is awesome, purrr.

I buy new cars and drive them forever. Also, 1997 Toy camry in the driveway with 220k miles (bought new). 2007 Toy Highlander with 280k (bought new). I change the oil etc and for whatever reason these cars just keep running.

 

[Jtk78]

Nissan reliability is highly variable in my experience.

I had an '09 Altima that i bought certified with about 30k miles. Did nothing but maintenance type things (oil, tires, brakes) for the 5 years and 70k miles i drove it. Sold it for $2k less than I paid for it, and bought a new '14 Altima. Have about 110k miles on this one and same reliability as the '09.

I've only had 1 brand of vehicle give me major service headaches and the brand got me twice. I won't say it was Dodge, but I won't say it wasn't either.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

We bought a new 2008 BMW 328i convertible (first year it was a hardtop convertible) and loved it. Though over the years we got tired of how low it was to the ground and getting in and out of it was a pain (knee problems and seat way too low). We ended up giving it to our son last Fall with about 21k miles on it.

My wife has a 328i and I completely agree with this. Granted, I'm 6'5", so it would be a pain for me pretty much any way. But she's 5'6" and complains about it being so low. Particularly when we park on our inclined driveway. A lot of other folks who have ridden in it have complained about this as well.

Beyond that, however, it is a hoot to drive. Plenty of power, handles great. I do find that 3-series BMWs have a tactile feedback that is just really pleasing behind the wheel. It really is a driver's car.

Still, I don't trust them long-term for reliability. My wife's is going back in a couple month's (it was a "dream car" lease after a previous car was totalled in an accident; next car will be a purchase not a lease), and we'll probably end up with a Lexus. I feel a lot more comfortable with the reliability on that...

 

[Jayjay1976]

Thanks for the feedback. We've had fantastic luck with Nissan so I'm focused in on a Q40 or a Q50. At 6'2" I don't want to deal with the cramped quarters and low seat height. Even my wife at 5'4" might have a problem with that since she's had tendon problems in her left knee. I've been looking at 3-series during my commute and they just looks too small. Let's hope the INFINITI is a little more conventional in that regard.

EDIT: Interior/exterior dimensions between the 3-series and the Q40 look very nearly identical. Guess we need to go test drive both.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Thanks for the feedback. We've had fantastic luck with Nissan so I'm focused in on a Q40 or a Q50. At 6'2" I don't want to deal with the cramped quarters and low seat height. Even my wife at 5'4" might have a problem with that since she's had tendon problems in her left knee. I've been looking at 3-series during my commute and they just looks too small. Let's hope the INFINITI is a little more conventional in that regard.

EDIT: Interior/exterior dimensions between the 3-series and the Q40 look very nearly identical. Guess we need to go test drive both.

I JUST bought a 2015 Q40. Have had it for 3 weeks now. Love that car. It has a fair amount of tech that makes me nervous though.

Bought ours with 35k miles at $15k to finance.

IME, the navigation is useless compared to Google maps. Ours it outdated and it's about $200 in DVD's to update from the 2015 version to the 2018 version.

I am only 5'5". There is plenty of headroom but I do still feel a bit cramped unless I put the seat all the way down to the floor.

We were also seriously considering a BMW too but all we could find in my area were 4 cylinder. the 328hp of the V6 in the Q40 makes it a fun car to drive. Even my wife commented that it just feels like it wants to just GO!

 

[madscientist451]

That Q40 for 15K looks like a pretty good deal from here....

 

[triethylborane]

My wife and I are looking to buy a second car, we currently share our 10 year old Nissan, which has been great with zero unscheduled maintenance, and cheap to maintain partly because I've replaced brakes, shocks, etc. myself. It has 145K and we have no plans to sell it but we need another vehicle. This next car will be a great convenience to us but we would also like something zoomy and fun to drive that we can be proud to own, and though we've never owned one, we love German cars.

I've heard horror stories that bimmers are expensive to maintain but this one has really low miles for its age, not even 20K @ ~5 years old, only one owner, no accidents reported, and comes with maintenance logs. Doesn't seem like I could go too far wrong with this car, and though we will be financing it, we could likely get most of our money back out of it if we decided to sell it in a year or two.

This particular car ticks every single box with features we want, and other than it being a SULEV vehicle, it seems perfect for us. It's even the xdrive model with AWD. I really want to pull the trigger but I need outside opinion from others who have owned one.

Thanks in advance!

5 years old, hmm probably means it has the N20B20, which has direct injection, turbocharging, variable intake and exhaust lift/timing, and aluminum block/head. Fantastic engine. Hopefully you will get the 6spd manual (ZF is preferred over Getrag IMHO). Reliability seems fine on the E90s, be prepared to replace thrust arm bushings periodically, just a typical fault. If you get a 55mph shimmy, it is usually a thrust arm bushing.

I own several BMWs, all of older vintage, an 88 M5 and a pair of 91 M5s; the key is to drive the car. All of the cars have over 150k on the odo, they will last if you drive them, dont let them sit around for months. I owned an E60 M5 (2009) and even with some critical faults such as the OE crank bearing design, it still wasnt a wallet breaker. If you can do your own general maintenance, which you can easily find help via YT, bimmerforums, e90post etc, youll save some bucks. Online parts suppliers like FCPEuro, ECS Tuning, Turner, Pelican Parts, RMEuropean can all save you money versus the dealer prices, particularly with FCP . . . you can return used oil (just lol).

An alternative is to find a competent independent. There are plenty of good shops that do fine work, shouldnt be a problem to find one in Chicago.

As for value, realistically, dont expect to sell for more than you purchase it for, which is the rule of thumb for 99.999% of cars produced. A 328i is not a M car and even E90 M3s will lose value for the foreseeable future, even limited edition M3s like DTM/GTS/Lime Rock will depreciate further. Financing will affect this as well, as is the copious production numbers for E93 (3 series convertibles of the era you describe).

 

[Cyclman]

Lease German cars, buy Japanese. My dad absolutely loves BMWs, but every time he has bought one he has had high four figure bills at a minimum within five year time periods.He got so sick of shoveling out money for major repairs, he just decided to lease from now on. I have driven his five series, and love the experience.The ultimate driving machine is truly an apt description. It is just not something you want to take the risk of owning for.

 

[stosh]

I'm a retired BMW tech. I spent about 17 years with them. I spent time at a Lamborghini/Lotus dealer, worked on Ferrari, Mercedes, Maserati, Jaguar, Porsche, Audi, Land Rover, and other places but always went back to BMW. I believe you get what you pay for when you buy one. I feel all the high line car makers do a good job. I personally feel Audi is underrated but that's just me.

The Germans make extraordinary cars but I would never own one until I had a very large sum of money earmarked strictly for car repairs. My reasoning is that I would only have it serviced at a dealer. Factory parts and expertise make a huge difference. Another poster said finding a good independent shop in the Chicagoland area shouldn't be a problem and I tend to agree but how much time/money are you willing to spend trying to find that shop?

My wife had a Nissan Maxima she put a bazillion miles on and aside from brakes, oil and air filter changes had no problems. We miss that car.

I have owned Toyotas for a long time. My first pick up had over 350,000 miles on it when I donated it to a local high school auto shop and I currently drive a 4 Runner that has 250,000 miles on it and it runs like a swiss watch.

Infiniti also makes a great car. I think they are a little underrated too.

Infiniti or BMW either way you'll have a nice car to enjoy. Just make sure you have enough cash behind you to keep it on the road

 

[NitrogenWidget]

My buddy had one of those bmw’s he had to take the tire off to replace the headlight. Not a major deal but if you work on your own car might want to look up how to do the things you normally do.

 

[applescrap]

I own two Infinity g35 coupes and they are great cars. The engine is awesome, purrr.

I buy new cars and drive them forever. Also, 1997 Toy camry in the driveway with 220k miles (bought new). 2007 Toy Highlander with 280k (bought new). I change the oil etc and for whatever reason these cars just keep running.

Haha, me too. 99 camry v6, and 98 4runner. Funny all my speakers are from 99 to. I bought the 4runner only 5 years ago. It was kind of weird buying a 98 in 2013. It had 140k on it. My wife drove Subarus and they were all junky with no power. The in-laws Drive sweet Audi's because they dump them every few years. All depends on what you can afford. If you can't afford a lot of maintenance then Toyota is a pretty good bet. My wife had a Toyota Highlander and it was pretty sweet but it got ruined by hail damage. That's when I realized why buy a Toyota when you can buy a Lexus for just a little more. So I am a Lexus guy now. And I would be driving an LS 460 or whatever the old model is but the Camry won't die. My drive to work is stop and go 40 minutes each way so I don't want to buy a new car to beat it up on that drive. My reliable Camry takes me to and from work easily and has been maintenance-free since day one. I'm not sure Nissan's are that reliable. I have heard too many stories and many have been put on here even. Ultimately if you have a good job and make plenty of money you can drive whatever you want and just pay for whatever maintenance comes along. Leasing doesn't seem like the worst option if you can afford it. Seems like a lot of people do that. Since I haven't had a car payment in so long I'm reluctant to pick one up. Those Infinities look super nice. The new lexus ls 460 is like 80k. The 06, its ls 430, go for as low as 6k. I want one of these so bad, but I know when the Camry dies I'll just drive the 4Runner for the next 15 years.

Important to me is the speakers. All my cars except the 4Runner have DVD players installed. And all of them have aftermarket awesome speakers. Edit..that bmw looks nice. Call mechanics randomly and ask them for an honest no strings attached opinion on the 328. That's what I did with 4Runner. Kind of strange they were still going for $10,000. Turned out every mechanic said they were the best vehicle ever made possibly. Many referred to the 98 4Runner 5vzfe as the million mile engine. My mechanic turned out drives one as well. In my opinion all these newer cars seem pretty reliable. If you get some good mechanic advice and you love that car, might be worth considering. How long you are going to drive it, what kind of kids and daycare bills you have, disposable income for repairs, lifestyle needs, all play a role.

 

[schematix]

I bought a used Lexus RX350 with 37k miles last year for about what an average new car costs. The lightly used Lexus is better in every way than a brand new non-luxury brand car. I wasn’t a big fan of having an SUV at first but it is a very comfortable, super quiet, quick, handles well and is reasonably fuel efficient. Plus it has room for the kids and their junk.

I liked the Audi Q5 a little better but suspected it was going to cost as much in payments as in repairs. The sales guy told me as much too.

I wish Lexus would make an AWD version of the ES350. After having AWD I don’t think I can go back. In a car the IS is too small for me and the LS is too big and over priced for what it is. I will likely be buying used Lexus’ for the next decade or two.