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Not that easy! Last year I fractured my spine and driving my manual BMW 3 series was no fun. In fact I preferred driving my wife's 83 automatic MB300D.
My stick enthusiasm is dependent on my back remaining unbroken!
Obviously well-built, though....
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Interesting reply, I myself am in a similar situation where I will be driving 20-22k miles per year. I am torn whether I should lease or buy as well. I have always purchased my autos.
Your point on the depreciation of the car over the first and second year sounds accurate but contradicts with the leasing idea. For example, you are saying it will be more expensive to lease a car for 20k miles per year on a 3 year lease rather then a 15k miles per year on a 3 year lease. This is obviously correct, however you can prepay miles up front at a discounted amount to save yourself the higher mileage cost at the end of the lease. So, you lease that car for 3 years with 20k ( prebuy the extra 5,000 miles per year )and pay around .08 cents per mile or an additional $34.00 per month. Keep it for 3 years and end up paying approx. $1200 more for the life of the lease in extra mileage. Essentially you turn the car over at 60k mileage at 36 months.
Your financing/buying example shows in 2 years your 43k car depreciated $15k. My leasing example shows you increase your payment around $34 per month for the extra miles. Seems like the bigger loss is buying if you are keeping the car only 3 years at 60k mileage.
Now, if someone is going to keep there car more than 3 years I believe they should finance that baby, if they want something new every 3 years they should lease it.
Am i making an sense at all?
BMW site says otherwise: http://fs.bmwusa.com/BMWFSPulp/CSTTLS_Glossary.htm
Extra Mileage Purchase Policy
Customers may purchase extra mileage up front (above the standard 15,000 miles/year) at a rate of 20 cents per mile for 7 Series vehicles and 15 cents per mile for all other BMW vehicles. The customer may receive a refund if they do not use all of the extra miles during their lease term. Please see your local BMW center for further details.
Hmmm.
BTW, I leased my 330i because of the depreciation. BMW claims the car will be worth 25k in May of 06. Don't see that happening.
My problem with leasing is due to the fact that it limits your ability to get out of car if your lifestyle changes-- ie, if you move to a city and don't need a car. Getting out of a lease can be financially painful.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
That is the tough question. I wouldn't so I would love to hear any options out there.
Thanks
Thank you both for your replies. As I have never leased before, i appreciate these answers to better educate me on my future decision. Blue dude, I can call you dude cause I live in No. Cal myself so we are dude neighbors. Anyway, I didn't realize it was .15 cents per mile, I was misinformed and sounds like that would add $63 per month instead of the $32 per month. Not the end of the world but definitely a consideration.
Nyccarguy, your reply is also appreciated, your right, the cost could be higher on the monthly payment if BMWFS determines more of a depreciation for more miles burned on a car.
I guess it will come down to what type of pricing there leases will show, then determine if financing or leasing is a better option.
Thanks
Are you saying you can buy additional miles towards the end of your lease ( in your example at the 27 month time frame ) to make up for the overages you have incurred?
Are these purchased at the .15 per mile pre buying rate or a higher rate? If that is the case, you are right, the car would be valued based on the 45k 36 month term where a 60k mile 36 month term would be worth less.
Thanks
p.s. have you done this before?
It is amazing how many people want to buy my wife's MB300D. I am almost tempted to put a sign on the rear window saying: "This Car is Not for Sale, please do not inquire".
I have done this before, sort of. Last Feb. my Dad leased an '04 X5 3.0iA. He builds in 20K per year to all his leases. I think the 15K residual was 54%, but when he added in the extra miles it comes out to 51%. H etook the 20K per year because he writes the lease of his truck off as a business expense.
Just this past December my Mom leased an '05 530iA. We took the 15K per year lease with a 60% residual. BMWFS says we can always add miles if we need them.
Leasing still may be to your benefit even if you do drive more than 15,000 miles per year. Say the new E90 residuals come out and the residual value set by BMWFS is 60%. BMWs traditionally have excellent resale value (have you seen the price on some CPO cars...WHOOOO?). You are guaranteed that the car will still be worth 60% of it's original value, regardless of the miles you put on it (that is BMWFS' problem). YOur payments will be much higher if you finance the car as opposed to leasing it. Let's say 3 years down the road you want to trade your E90 in. With high mileage, you'll get killed on a trade-in.
My best friend drives between 36,000 & 40,000 miles per year. He just leased an '05 Pathfinder LE for $485 per month for 39 months ($0 cap cost reduction) and gets 17,500 miles per year included in his lease. If he were to finance the $38,000 truck for 4 years with nothing down, his payments would be in the neighborhood of $800 per month. Even with the excess mileage charges he'll have to pay, it still comes out cheaper to lease.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
I'm still waiting to get a production date for my car, but I saw the German version this weekend and it looks sweet. Their version is called a 320i but looks very nice.
I got the sparkling graphite, black leatherette, black interior with aluminum trim and the sports package. I went with leatherette because it in more durable. With the sports seats a friend of mine has seen wear on his leather seats on the wrap around sides.
Does anyone know when delivery of the '06 will be in the states?
(Now, if someone is going to keep there car more than 3 years I believe they should finance that baby, if they want something new every 3 years they should lease it.)
Autumn - what tires for winter?
Spring - Lease vs. Purchase
Summer - Best performance tires
Winter - Driving experiences with snow tires and i vs xi
-Paul
A G35 is an infiniti. I assume in Germany they do not sell Infintis(that would be a shame).
e90 is the new 06 BMW 3 series
e46 is the current model of the 3 series.
I loved my '03 325i. BMW's love the road. They really handle well in the curves around the mountains.
Look forward to reading the posts.
It the first look I have had of the new car (in person).
They say the E90's are larger than the E46's, but it looks the same size to me, only a little thicker and taller. It certainly can't be confused with the size of a 5 Series.
Anyway...there were fields of them, all headed for the distribution facility, Upstate. They're totally covered in a waxy coat, with a film on the headlights.
Five weeks to go and we'll own one.
Its funny.... When I see all of those cars, I get the overwhelming feeling that they could just give me one of them, and no one would know the difference.... ;-)
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On BMW resale I can post my experience:
1999 323i Sport,
New sales price $30,100.00
Sold for $20,000.00
After 40 months and about 40k on the clock.
So including $450.00 for a set of tires and all maintence I spent aprox $10,550 for 40 months OR about $263 per month.
fwiw I could not have leased a honda for that amount per month..
DL
I am planning to pull the trigger on the 330xi when it comes out for the Mrs, but I don't just want to rely on journalists test drives. I want to hear from people like us that will be driving this car daily.
Please report experience.... anyone!!!!!
R
I am unaware of ANY 5-Series owner who has claimed that iDrive is annoying. That said, I have heard from many folks who have test driven a 5-Series who have not liked iDrive. FWIW, I don't consider a criticism from a test driver to be a valid complaint.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Good point!
Anybody who never touch a computer mouse before, hated using it the first few seconds until they got a hang of it!
Same is applicable for idrive. Handling idrive for an experienced user should become as easy as a reflex.
Even with the low miles, that is amazing.. You sold it privately, I assume?
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Stying on topic, Amt ?anyone order a car yet, we just got back from Fl or South NY that is, and are catching up on 100+ post...
DL
You had me going there.. I was going to grab the wife's keys and go get me a new 330 ZHP...
regards,
kyfdx
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Okay and suddenly your first post is massively misleading. There's a big difference selling a car 3 years old and at the height of the model's popularity v. selling at the end of the product cycle when the replacement is forthcoming and competitors abound.
DL
Not yet. I am waiting for the new series to come out. I think I read that you have ordered one already?
AMT
let me know if your attending,
DL
The website above argues the following:
As BMW becomes a more popular car worldwide will it lose it's distinctiveness and become a firm with "middle of the road" cars.
The above argument sounds silly. Damned BMW if they do increase sales :mad: and damned BMW if they do not increase sales :mad: . I thing the former is better than the latter since increased sales does indicate health
It sounds like you still have a lot of tough choices..
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Shipo, I would suggest that you go to the 5 series forum and type "idrive" on the search field. Then let me know if you are still unaware that there is not 5 series owners that find the idrive anoying. I also found the article which was mentioned in one of the post from the NY times, in which BWM owners that had the idrive, many did not care for it or found it to be totally anoying. BMW designers, I believe would agree with me, at least if you have noticed they have made changes since it was first introduce, and don't be totally surprise if you dont see it in the very near future. Or perhaps you did not noticed that at least BMW was smart enough to offer it as an option in the new 330 as supposed to shove it down our throats as a standard equipment. I give the designers credit on that decision since they did not want to do the same stupid mistake that they did with the 5 (ugly design, and inclusion of the idrive). This will be a topic for the 5 series forum, but just to give you and idea, the 5 sold 3,250 less car through the 3rd quarter of 2004 because of two blunders according to BMW research (ugliest design ever, and yes you guessed it-the idrive).
Now to give you a little bit of background about me, I love gadgets and bells and whistles in a car. and I know that if I buy the 330xi (when it comes out) with the idrive, I will adjust to it and I will learn how to use. But that is missing the point. When we are buying a $40k plus car, we expect a lot from it, including ease of use and intuitive in design, and I am sorry shipo, but the idrive, from what I have researched, its neither of those. However, in all fairness, I will give those who are already driving with the idrive the benefit of the doubt, but the reseach that I have been doing so far about it (forums, newspaper articles, car magazines, etc) does not give me an indication that the idrive is not anoying.
In conclusion, I will most likely get it with the idrive since after coming back from the NY auto show today and seing the 325i without the navi system (idrive), it loooks so bland that I rather have it even if it is just for show. There is no way in hell that I will buy that car with that plain interior. I just dream that by the time the xi comes out, they redesign the interior and the idrive just become a stand alone navi system with no other functions.............just dreaming
Just my silly opinion
R
On the I drive: I drove quite a few 5er in test car situations and was perplexed and hated it. Then after i was given a good tutorial on how it works was not so bad. The maintence features for example are pretty cool. Really once its set the radio is the onlyl thing you will be using it for. Whats nice is theres several setting you used to have to take to dealer to have changed reset..
DL
Errr, that is a tad condescending for this otherwise civil discussion don't you think?
Considering that I've spent the bulk of the last three years driving a 5-Series (less time out for a badly broken leg and now time out again because I turned it in last week), and considering that I've been quite active in that discussion as well, I actually HAVE read the posts over there. Have you?
However, just to keep it as accurate as possible, I just checked again, and read through every post that was listed in the first two (most recent) pages of search results. With possibly one exception where the owner was a bit ambivalent about iDrive, the only complaints were from folks who had test driven the car and were not actual owners. Now, are there a few 5-Series owners out there who really HATE it? Probably. Do I remember reading a post from an owner who disliked iDrive AND who had taken the time to learn to learn the system? No. As such, I will repeat my statement:
I am unaware of ANY 5-Series owner who has claimed that iDrive is annoying. That said, I have heard from many folks who have test driven a 5-Series who have not liked iDrive. FWIW, I don't consider a criticism from a test driver to be a valid complaint.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Yes, I plan to attend.
AMT-