Going to look at this tomorrow...

[bungle]

www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/auc/car_details/0,,1260_159980106__,00.html?currentCh=WBAUF92010P010106

What do you think is do-able on the price? Have to say I haven't had much time to research prices, so would welcome any views, many thanks.

[CatherineJ]

I would say £500 - £750 if you are lucky.

Most of the Y plate late model/low mileage BMW's are ex management and have been registered at Thorne. The dealers buy them at great prices off BMW so I think you will find haggling margin may be limited on it.

Edited by CatherineJ on Sunday 6th May 17:12

[olf]

Suggest you have a look at some of the BMW AUC cars on autotrader. Going price seems to be 19,995 and you could get another 500 off that.

[olf]

e.g.

130i M Sport 5 dr
5 Doors, Manual, Hatchback, Petrol, 1,543 miles, Le Mans Blue, Black Flashpoint Cloth/Sensatec, Bluetooth Telephone Preparation, BMW Prof Radio/CD, CD Preparation, Floor Mats, Metallic paint, M-Aerodynamic Bodystyling I, M Double Spoke Style 208M 7.5Jx18/8Jx18, De-chroming, Anthracite Headlining, Sports Seats, M-Sports Suspension, Aluminium Glacier Silver interior trim, M Steering Wheel, Front Foglamps, Park Distance Control (PDC) Rear, Automatic Air Conditioning, Front Centre Arm Rest, Extended Interior Light Package, Rear Electric Windows, Cup holder. £19,995
Seller:
Westerly Yeovil
Dealer's Website: Go to website
Contact number: 0871 7118362

[CatherineJ]

Cricky thats bloody cheap.

Mind you I do know when I was looking last September at the pre-facelift 120D M Sport I was offered £4,500 off list for a car with Leather, Bluetooth and Sun Protection Glass.

[olf]

CatherineJ said:

Cricky thats bloody cheap.

Mind you I do know when I was looking last September at the pre-facelift 120D M Sport I was offered £4,500 off list for a car with Leather, Bluetooth and Sun Protection Glass.

It's cheap compared to the original price but lets be realistic - you'd want your head testing if you spent 30k on a one series. I think you would anyway!

[CatherineJ]

Yes I agree. When I was choosing last week the Z4 replacement I did enquire about a 130i.

There was only one car on free release and it was £32k. To make matters worse it was the old car not a facelift one.

[bungle]

Thanks for the comments - I (mistakenly) only searched 40 miles on AUC so hadn't seen all of the other cheaper 1's. Will still go and have a look (it's a later plate) and see what they might do on the price / part-ex. They do seem to lose quite a bit in the 1st year (well, vs list anyway).

Dunno about a £32k 130i, how can it come to that????

Cheapest I've found a new one is £23.6k (which is £3.5k off list), and I do like a new car, but maybe I would be better off with a circa 1yr-old example (as per AUC) and pocket the extra cash?

Re the ex-management cars, are these likely to have been thrashed from the off / not run-in etc, or am I doing them a dis-service there? Any opinions gratefully received, cheers.

[CatherineJ]

bungle said:

Thanks for the comments - I (mistakenly) only searched 40 miles on AUC so hadn't seen all of the other cheaper 1's. Will still go and have a look (it's a later plate) and see what they might do on the price / part-ex. They do seem to lose quite a bit in the 1st year (well, vs list anyway).

Dunno about a £32k 130i, how can it come to that????

Cheapest I've found a new one is £23.6k (which is £3.5k off list), and I do like a new car, but maybe I would be better off with a circa 1yr-old example (as per AUC) and pocket the extra cash?

Re the ex-management cars, are these likely to have been thrashed from the off / not run-in etc, or am I doing them a dis-service there? Any opinions gratefully received, cheers.

No I don't believe the ex-management cars will have been thrashed and generally represent excellent value for money. The cars to possibly watch out for are those sold with "press preparation" in the spec on the auc website. The potentially could have had a good work out.

If you want new and don't have a p/x you could look at Drive The Deal

[bungle]

CatherineJ said:

No I don't believe the ex-management cars will have been thrashed and generally represent excellent value for money. The cars to possibly watch out for are those sold with "press preparation" in the spec on the auc website. The potentially could have had a good work out.

If you want new and don't have a p/x you could look at Drive The Deal

Thanks Catherine - good point re the press prep cars!

Re Drive the Deal, they work out at £24k (I don't want finance, so have to add back £1k to their price), vs coast2coast's £23.6k, which as far as I know is the cheapest UK price (but would love to hear if anywhere else is cheaper!). Cheers.

[olf]

bungle said:

Thanks for the comments - I (mistakenly) only searched 40 miles on AUC so hadn't seen all of the other cheaper 1's. Will still go and have a look (it's a later plate) and see what they might do on the price / part-ex. They do seem to lose quite a bit in the 1st year (well, vs list anyway).

Dunno about a £32k 130i, how can it come to that????

Cheapest I've found a new one is £23.6k (which is £3.5k off list), and I do like a new car, but maybe I would be better off with a circa 1yr-old example (as per AUC) and pocket the extra cash?

Re the ex-management cars, are these likely to have been thrashed from the off / not run-in etc, or am I doing them a dis-service there? Any opinions gratefully received, cheers.

I really think anyone paying over 24k on a one series is burning their money. The bench mark being the golf GTi specced at 24k ish brand new. I and most of the universe would have a Golf Gti over a one series. The golf just represents better value for money and a better resale bet IMO. If you're going to go for the one'er don't pay more than that. The sense in this argument can be seen in the AUC website values!

Edited by olf on Sunday 6th May 20:57

[bungle]

olf said:

The bench mark being the golf GTi specced at 24k ish brand new. I and most of the universe would have a Golf Gti over a one series. The golf just represents better value for money and a better resale bet IMO.

lol, you are of course spot on there olf - we already have a Golf GTi on the drive, as we too recognised what a great buy it was for all the reasons you mention. The time has come to change our other car though, and much as I recognise that another GTi would entirely fill our needs, I just thought it was a bit dull to have 2 on the drive, hence looking for alternatives, and some 6-cyl RWD fun caught my eye so I thought I'd look into it. If the 1-er doesn't do it for me though, we may have 2 GTi's on the drive after all!!

[drivin_me_nuts]

... hopefully not off topic but when you come to test drive it - check it has lumber support. I have had several BMs without and I have found that the standard seats are a bloody nightmare without this 'feature' - the lower portion of the seats offer little by way of back support at all.

[Dunk76]

bungle said:

If the 1-er doesn't do it for me though, we may have 2 GTi's on the drive after all!!

The 1er is an acquired taste from a driving perspective. It is immensely direct, almost go-kart in it's behaviour, however it is an artificial/engineered feel rather than a natural E30-like directness.

On the downside, the rear suspension appears to have been designed by someone more used to making pogo sticks - it's utterly hopeless. When pushing on, it just bounces around behind you in an uncontrolled fashion until you hit a bump/depression out of synch with the bouncing - at which point the next impact absorbing element in the chain is your spine.

When pottering around it actually made me travel sick after 8 miles of rural a-road.

The only other gripe is visibility - the big C-Pillar and letterbox rear window aren't the cause though. It's the oddly thick B-Pillar which completely obliterates your O/S 3/4 vision - you glance over your shoulder and you simply see nowt but black plastic.

Other than that, it's a very nice thing

[Egbert Nobacon]

bungle said:

www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/auc/car_details/0,,1260_159980106__,00.html?currentCh=WBAUF92010P010106

What do you think is do-able on the price? Have to say I haven't had much time to research prices, so would welcome any views, many thanks.

I can't understand what people see in these 1 series.

Having had a couple as courtesy cars, from BMW, I think they are a triumph of marketing over reality. Small, badly built, very very expensive and the quality of the interior is not to BMW usual standards.

If I had c£20k to spend it would not be on a nearly new/new one of these - the depreciation will be horrendous and you can get any number of better cars for that price (or even half that price).

All IMHO of course