Should I buy?? - BMW Forum

Jen · 03-31-2004, 03:51 AM

Hi everyone,
I need help. I'm looking into buying a 2000 323i. It's a very nice car and from what I can tell it seems to be in good shape but it has 145,000 miles!! The car's previous owner lived in Overton and drove to Vegas 5 times a week for work. (about 600miles a week) So they are highway miles. The guy wants 10k for it. Any advice would be helpful. I'm just a stupid girl and can't resist a cute car. I don't want to buy something that will break down a few months from now.

Thanks alot,

Jen

jaavaajoe · 03-31-2004, 08:15 AM

Hi Jen,
Welcome!

Personally, I think that you could get a car with many fewer miles on it for not a whole lot more money.

Check out Kelley Blue Book to get an idea of what that car is worth (with that many miles).

Let's put it this way, I wouldn't buy a diesel engine with that many miles.

Joe

jaavaajoe · 03-31-2004, 10:23 AM

jen,

ok, i checked kelley blue book (which isn't perfect, but is a decent way to figure roughly how much your car is worth).

I didn't know all of the options this car had on it, but 10k is around the price they are quoting.

You can go there and select the proper options and see.
www.kbb.com

Also, Edmunds.com has a good used car calculator to figure this out.

Again, bottom line to me is that 145,000 miles is just too much, especially if you don't know a lot about cars (to fix them yourself).

Look around and you can prob find a car with much better mileage.

Hope this helps
joe

Jen · 03-31-2004, 05:36 PM

Thank you for the quick reply. If I buy this car it'll be the 3rd from the same guy. My prob is that i have bad credit so I don't have much of a choice in cars, I have to buy from some place that has in house financing. This guy hasn't screwed me over yet so I'm hoping that this won't be the first. I'm going to take the car down to BMW and see what they think. I think your right though, a car with less miles would probably be better. Is it true that the rule for highway miles is to divide them in half?? Thanks for the replies.

Jen

MrM3 · 03-31-2004, 06:08 PM

Welcome Jen

the fact that it has alot of highway miles means nothing on the newer engines, but you do still have to look for things like front suspension parts that may be worn, paint blemishes, and a worn out smelly interior, like most used cars. if the car is in good shape and the engine is strong (which it should be) then it really isnt necessarily a bigger risk than buying the same car with 50k miles.

Section_8 · 03-31-2004, 07:37 PM

2000 323i's still sell easily for over 20k at dealerships as CPO's. You can get them under 20k from private sellers. You won't find a non-wrecked 2000 anything BMW for 10k, period.

If it rides smooth, and there are no other big issues (get a reputable euro or bmw only shop to check it out) then I'd say it's a pretty good deal. BMW engines get better with age if maintained correctly.

MrM3 said it best. As long as you don't have any big physical blemishes, no overly worn suspension parts, and the engine is sound.. it's a great car for the price. You might end up fixing some things that wear out sooner than other 2000 owners might, but that's the downside of the milage.

Lastly, if this guy has done you right with 2 cars previously, and you think he's honest, then that really is the cherry on top I think.

college_cars · 03-31-2004, 11:45 PM

Well...my 2000 323CI has been a great car. I dont think 145,000 miles is to many ...heck, I put 175k on a Mitsubishi Eclipse lol, and it never had a problem at all. And also, my neighbor has an old early 80's BMW with almost 400,000 miles on it that is his daily driver! Your in good shape.

///M Power · 04-01-2004, 12:23 AM

yep i hav an 89 e34 525i with 270,000 miles (yes furious i love to mention this) and it is still runnign great and passing emissions easily (in CALIFORNIA)

sp0rky · 04-01-2004, 01:37 AM

270k mi!?
original engine? original tranny?
thats amazing - my car has 124k and its starting to fall apart i think!!
wow.... nice

Jen · 04-01-2004, 03:15 AM

Ah, I feel so much better now! I was excited about the car at first but was beginning to second guess myself. The guy took the car to BMW and spent $1500 getting it all checked over. I saw the receipt and it looks like everything is in pretty good shape. He said there's a weird sound coming from the right front wheel but that he'd have it fixed before I took posession. I put a deposit on the car today. Now I just need to sell my POS car so I can make a full down payment. Yay! Thanks for all the imput. I really appreciate it.

Jen

Graphic Designer · 04-01-2004, 10:04 AM

another welcome to the site.....

so you are buying it?? since you know him, tell him to take it down i little bit more... bc you are going to need that money for repairs. Does he a Peace of Mind at his dealership where you can take it back to get it fixed if something happens to it?

pictures please.

Jen · 04-01-2004, 06:33 PM

Yes, I'm going to buy it. I put a deposit on it, I'm waiting for my car to sell. I saw a copy of the invoice from BMW where he got everything checked out. I'll have him give me a copy when I take the car. He also gave me the # of the guy at BMW he's been going through. I took my bf to go see the car yesterday. He doesn't know much about Beamers, he's a mustang man, but he said that the engine looks really clean and that from as far as he can tell there's no weird noises. As far as the price goes, I think I'm getting a pretty good deal. He put the car in the paper for 12k. I looked up the blue book and with all the miles it still goes for 16k. I'll keep everyone updated and as soon as I get pics I'll post em.

Thanks again everyone,

Jen

///M Power · 04-01-2004, 08:13 PM

Well, you can teach your bf a few things about BIMMERS. The first thing being that BIMMERS describes BMW cars while beamers describe BMW motorcycles.

yes sporky, my car is all original.

actually not ALL original. Replaced the obvious things like front shocks and such. Also elecs are goign haywire a bit but somethign that doesn't bother me that much. I COULD get it fixed, but im broke lol.

Graphic Designer · 04-01-2004, 08:34 PM

and of course that the german company started out making airplane engines...

and while getting the engine 95% complete and flying the engines and bombing all of europe, the perfectionist they were, they got it 100% complete but in turn lost the war. hehe

Jen · 04-03-2004, 05:15 PM

Thanks for the info M Power. You learn something new everyday.