F31 320i Touring Purchase Advice

[Wildfire]

We have been prolonging the life of our trusty VW Golf Mk5 2.0GT. He's not getting any younger and is at 132k and despite being ULEZ compliant. We talked about getting a new car, maybe a 20+ Mazda CX-30, but the OH isn't keen on something that new as she said she would be worried about dinging it.

I have been offered an F31 320i Touring, LCI (so B48 engine) model, "Luxury" spec, with FSH and only 32k on the clock and full MOT, private seller who has said "just give me what Motorway want", as he has a new car incoming and needs the space and dislikes selling to traders. Another forum member has offered me a dog kit for free too.

It seems to fit our needs, not too old, not too young, an estate we can put the dog in and I can put my MTB's in without dropping the seats and having to clean the interior.

Anything specific I should look out for, in addition to the usual checks (check it all works, check it doesn't rattle from cold)?

[Rusty Old-Banger]

You can get an MTB in the boot of a 3 series estate without dropping the seats? Are you sure? They're not that big, at all.

[Gin and Ultrasonic]

Rusty Old-Banger said:

You can get an MTB in the boot of a 3 series estate without dropping the seats? Are you sure? They're not that big, at all.

Yeah, surely you'd have to drop the seats in all estate cars to fit a mountain bike in? I had a Volvo V60 (same class of car) and could just squeeze an XL Road bike in with the back seats folded. MTBs tend to be much longer.

On the plus side, it's relatively easy to put bikes on the roof of an estate (unless you're so small your MTB fits in the boot!).

[danb79]

Wildfire said:

We have been prolonging the life of our trusty VW Golf Mk5 2.0GT. He's not getting any younger and is at 132k and despite being ULEZ compliant. We talked about getting a new car, maybe a 20+ Mazda CX-30, but the OH isn't keen on something that new as she said she would be worried about dinging it.

I have been offered an F31 320i Touring, LCI (so B48 engine) model, "Luxury" spec, with FSH and only 32k on the clock and full MOT, private seller who has said "just give me what Motorway want", as he has a new car incoming and needs the space and dislikes selling to traders. Another forum member has offered me a dog kit for free too.

It seems to fit our needs, not too old, not too young, an estate we can put the dog in and I can put my MTB's in without dropping the seats and having to clean the interior.

Anything specific I should look out for, in addition to the usual checks (check it all works, check it doesn't rattle from cold)?

We've an F31 and you'd absolutely have to drop the rear seats to get an MB in... It's a good load space; but it's not that long

Superb car otherwise; the Luxury spec is on the softer SE suspension which will take the UK roads well

I'd highly recommend getting the F31 BMW boot liner as it covers the backs of the rear seats perfectly when they're down; a good way to keep the clean if you're loading the car up etc (we use an old, thick curtain as well when it gets used in anger (ie collecting the Christmas tree tomorrow)

[sortedcossie]

You won't get a MTB in the back of an F31 without folding the seats down, or taking the wheels off the MTB.

[Wildfire]

Cheers all, I did mean with the wheels off. I have to do that at the moment, but have to drop the seats.