Which BMW for £8K to £9K?
Discussion
My youngest son is looking to trade in his first car (2016 Mini Cooper) and is set on a BMW. He's favouring a 3 Series.. probably a manual 320i but he is open to other suggestions!
He only does around 6K miles a year (Uni plus part time job), doesn't need much boot space but ideally needs some semblance of rear seats.
I've only ever had an F32 335i coupe years ago so I'm no expert when it comes to BMW.
What would you guys be looking at in this price range? As a yardstick he's seen the following and is keen to get down there and check it out..
https://www.aspirecars.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-3-serie...
How does this look? I've told him maybe try and look for something slightly newer and be less worried if it's higher mileage. 330e's are starting to come under £10K now but the health of the battery would worry me somewhat. There's also some leggy (over 100k miles) but nicely specced circa 2018 320i's and 320d's coming close to being within budget as well as the odd 420.
Any thoughts you have would be great.
He only does around 6K miles a year (Uni plus part time job), doesn't need much boot space but ideally needs some semblance of rear seats.
I've only ever had an F32 335i coupe years ago so I'm no expert when it comes to BMW.
What would you guys be looking at in this price range? As a yardstick he's seen the following and is keen to get down there and check it out..
https://www.aspirecars.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-3-serie...
How does this look? I've told him maybe try and look for something slightly newer and be less worried if it's higher mileage. 330e's are starting to come under £10K now but the health of the battery would worry me somewhat. There's also some leggy (over 100k miles) but nicely specced circa 2018 320i's and 320d's coming close to being within budget as well as the odd 420.
Any thoughts you have would be great.
gregd said:
My youngest son is looking to trade in his first car (2016 Mini Cooper) and is set on a BMW. He's favouring a 3 Series.. probably a manual 320i but he is open to other suggestions!
He only does around 6K miles a year (Uni plus part time job), doesn't need much boot space but ideally needs some semblance of rear seats.
I've only ever had an F32 335i coupe years ago so I'm no expert when it comes to BMW.
What would you guys be looking at in this price range? As a yardstick he's seen the following and is keen to get down there and check it out..
https://www.aspirecars.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-3-serie...
How does this look? I've told him maybe try and look for something slightly newer and be less worried if it's higher mileage. 330e's are starting to come under £10K now but the health of the battery would worry me somewhat. There's also some leggy (over 100k miles) but nicely specced circa 2018 320i's and 320d's coming close to being within budget as well as the odd 420.
Any thoughts you have would be great.
Is he interested in an older BMW (E46, E39, E9x range)?He only does around 6K miles a year (Uni plus part time job), doesn't need much boot space but ideally needs some semblance of rear seats.
I've only ever had an F32 335i coupe years ago so I'm no expert when it comes to BMW.
What would you guys be looking at in this price range? As a yardstick he's seen the following and is keen to get down there and check it out..
https://www.aspirecars.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-3-serie...
How does this look? I've told him maybe try and look for something slightly newer and be less worried if it's higher mileage. 330e's are starting to come under £10K now but the health of the battery would worry me somewhat. There's also some leggy (over 100k miles) but nicely specced circa 2018 320i's and 320d's coming close to being within budget as well as the odd 420.
Any thoughts you have would be great.
Plenty of them about with the 3.0 straight 6 petrol engine. This is what you'll get advised to do on here
But if they're restrictive due to insurance then for me, an F30 320i or 328i would be the one to go for
M Sport with the M Sport suspension, ideally RWD over xDrive (less to go wrong and better suspension) HK stereo, pro nav and ideally the M Sport Brembo brakes and it's hell of a car
Will just have to understand that they'll be higher miles. So buy a well looked after, documented example with plenty of serfice history etc
That goes for the aforementioned cars too. Buy on condition / paperwork to prove that it's been taken care of etc
Triumph Man said:
If he's at all into cars tell him to get something slightly older with the correct number of cylinders.
The correct answer!6 cylinders just far more pleasant than 4 and synonymous with BMW.
E46 great but getting on (mine was brilliant and faultless mind you).
Someone has already posted a 125i coupe which is a good call.
Go for a post 2009 with the updated day nav. £300 gets it mapped back to 130i power.
s m said:
125i Coupe
This, don't rust , e90 interior in front, don't have turbos and lots of emission gear to go wrong with CIC sat nav reasonably uptodate media kit got brilliant 6 cylinder engine. A more modern E46 coupe.May need a water pump at some stage but cheap car to run and will get near 40mpg on decent run
danb79 said:
Mr E said:
I’ve looked at ~2013 640d grand coupe’s for 9k. I’m tempted.
Hell of a lot of car for not a lot of £££E63eeeeee... said:
danb79 said:
Mr E said:
I’ve looked at ~2013 640d grand coupe’s for 9k. I’m tempted.
Hell of a lot of car for not a lot of £££This is why I mentioned the E46s or E39s further up
M54 3.0 straight 6, easy engine to look after and maintain and a superb engine to boot. Find a decent example with that budget and it'll be heck of a car
E63eeeeee... said:
Very true, although not perhaps best suited for low mileage and short journeys, and not exactly cheap to run once in the six figure mileage zone. Electrics, glow plugs, sensors, suspension, pulleys, sooted-up intake, lots of bits are approaching end of life. All good fun and fixable but not exactly cheap or convenient. If my 640d had been my only car I'd have hated it. I'd personally be going 6-cyl petrol in a 1 or 3 series to suit taste. And get a decent diagnostic setup and a smoke tester because you'll need them.
Noted. A Mini to a 3 series can be quite a boring downgrade imo in terms of driving dynamics.
The heavy, stodgy feel of a German barge vs a nimble hatch is something older folk appreciate more than young whipper snapper yoooooouths, but then again, it just depends on what he wants from a car?
The F series 3ers are brilliant waft along in comfort machines, especially a nice 6 pot diesel with the super awesome ZF8 auto
Plenty of torque, and with the Harman Kardon audio option, your youngest will be super chilled and enjoying some thumping tunes.
How old is he? A base spec 2.0i might not float his boat. He will at minimum be requiring an M Sport flavour whether derv or petrol, otherwise it feel like a boring slug compared to the Mini.
The heavy, stodgy feel of a German barge vs a nimble hatch is something older folk appreciate more than young whipper snapper yoooooouths, but then again, it just depends on what he wants from a car?
The F series 3ers are brilliant waft along in comfort machines, especially a nice 6 pot diesel with the super awesome ZF8 auto
Plenty of torque, and with the Harman Kardon audio option, your youngest will be super chilled and enjoying some thumping tunes.How old is he? A base spec 2.0i might not float his boat. He will at minimum be requiring an M Sport flavour whether derv or petrol, otherwise it feel like a boring slug compared to the Mini.
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