Tips/Advice - BMW 3 Series

[cdos92]

Hey everyone, first time poster.
Had a question to see what the community thought, been looking for a new car as my current car has reached the end of her life. I have been looking at a BMW 3 series (2014 320d M Sport 2.0L diesel), but the ad almost seems too good to be true. The car has around 46k miles on the clock, but she has had 4 previous owners. I've looked over the MOT history of the vehicle and the mileages does seem to add it. my only concern is that she has had 4 owners and has only covered 46k miles, which to me doesn't add up. I was wondering how easy it is to clock these cars back. I've read that the mileages is record on the ECU and the key fob.
The paint work for the car and interior does seem to be in excellent condition, but it's the owners and mileage that seems a bit fishy.
Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks

[GreatGranny]

4 owners in 10 years isn't that many.

46k miles is low for a 3 series BMW, most are normally company cars but it may have been owned by someone who just commuted 20 miles per day in it.

Check on a site such as Car Vertical.
It will show if there's anything dodgy with the mileage etc..

Is it priced cheap?

[blue_haddock]

Over the course of 10 years having 4 owners really isnt a big thing.

First owner has it on lease for 3 years then it changes hands every two years or so.

If it had 4 owners in 4 years i'd be worried but over 4 years its nothing.

[cdos92]

GreatGranny said:

4 owners in 10 years isn't that many.

46k miles is low for a 3 series BMW, most are normally company cars but it may have been owned by someone who just commuted 20 miles per day in it.

Check on a site such as Car Vertical.
It will show if there's anything dodgy with the mileage etc..

Is it priced cheap?

Hey GreatGranny, thanks for the reply! She's around 12k, which is pretty reasonable from what I seen on the market. I'll check out Car Vertical. I've checked some free HPI checkers and the miles checks out.

Thanks for the reply, everyone, i'll check her out and see what I think of it in person

Had a look at Car vertical and looks like the mileage adds up, seems to do around 4-5k miles per year roughly

Edited by cdos92 on Wednesday 17th January 17:49

[georgeyboy12345]

So for the F30 series BMW 320d, you are better going for post 2015 models, as they switched from using the troublesome and unreliable N47 engines to the much more reliable B47 engines.

So my advice is to walk away from this car and try to find a better model.


In terms of number of owners, I think you are right - it is slightly high. I like to buy a car that has an owner change on average every 3 years or longer, as a general rule. Any less than that can point towards people wanting to get shot of it due to it being problematic, etc. Of course it doesn't mean that this has been the case, but it makes it more likely that it has, and when spending thousands on a new car, it makes sense to mitigate your risks as much as reasonably possible.

In terms of apps for checking vehicle history, I'd pick VCheck over carvertical, as VCheck also checks salvage records for unrecorded damage.

Here's what I'd be looking at

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202311274...

edit: but this car above has an outstanding safety recall, so actually I'd look at something else, probably with higher mileage.

edit2: maybe this one
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308200...

Edited by georgeyboy12345 on Wednesday 17th January 20:19

[Ezra]

My suggestion would be to go with your instinct. There's loads of 3 series BMW's out there at your price point with good service/owner histories. As there's so many, pick one that doesn't raise any red flags for you.

[Belle427]

Id agree the mileage seems low especially for a car like this but im not sure how you could verify it?
If a previous owner were very clever you would never know.

[ZX10R NIN]

cdos92 said:

Hey everyone, first time poster.
Had a question to see what the community thought, been looking for a new car as my current car has reached the end of her life. I have been looking at a BMW 3 series (2014 320d M Sport 2.0L diesel), but the ad almost seems too good to be true. The car has around 46k miles on the clock, but she has had 4 previous owners. I've looked over the MOT history of the vehicle and the mileages does seem to add it. my only concern is that she has had 4 owners and has only covered 46k miles, which to me doesn't add up. I was wondering how easy it is to clock these cars back. I've read that the mileages is record on the ECU and the key fob.
The paint work for the car and interior does seem to be in excellent condition, but it's the owners and mileage that seems a bit fishy.
Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks

Buy on condition if it's MOT/Service History matches up & the car looks like it's genuine then take it as so.

I'd try & avoid the N47 diesel a lot are fine but they do have a few issues, how much is it?

[cdos92]

hey everyone, sorry for the late reply.
So, the car dealership was looking 12k, but I decided to look else where. In terms of 320ds I couldn't find one I liked, so I've went with a 2011 vw scirocco 2.0 GT 211 BHP, she has a full service history and the car dealership was a 110%, happy with what I got. Thanks for all the advice and replies