Wii60

I'm looking at a BMW 328xi now from 2007.

I love the RL, and I feel that this model was sort of inspired from it. All wheel drive, bluetooth nav, and keyless entry. Plus I've never owned a BMW before.

What do you think?

mg7726

make sure it's under warranty!

Wii60

Sitting at 40k, CPO to 100k

tnobori1

I wouldn't do it but at least it's under warranty. Glad to see you got taken care of by your insurance company, though!

merlin the wrench

there is a guy here, nmany places have them - paintless dent repair. I have seen them take a hail damaged car for three or four weeks that they can work on when they have no other jobs and you cannot tell a hailstone hit it when they are done. I dropped a Yakima roof rack on my Legend once. 15 minutes it took the guy to undo the dent - I swear the guy could do black magic - no dent and the scratch polished out.

23109VC

if you get a BMW... just get an M5...

tnobori1

Merlin,

Aside from the massive golf-ball sized dents present on every body panel of the OP's RL, there was also interior water damage that also ruined the electronic components on the rear deck.

sleepinxlionhart

I really wouldn't count on PDR. It seems to work well on perfectly round dents, but not on any other shaped dent, but it won't be perfect. Seeing that a lot of Wii's dents are like numerous dents connected to each other. I had PDR done on my car...and I have to say, I expected more perfection(and the guy was rated 5 stars on yelp). And also the aluminum panels of the car will make it more difficult. I say that because I had PDR done on the fender, and the dent came back a year later. The PDR guy even said inexperienced PDR techs don't know how to properly handle aluminum, so the dent will come back...ironic isn't it, hah.

Anyway, I do wonder if the non damaged inside of the car will be parted out, I bet it would be a good price if it does.

oo7spy

I would take a good, thorough look into the reliability of said BMW. I have heard of relatively frequent repairs needed for BMWs and have read multiple accounts on here of people who claim buying a BMW was a terrible decision. Even if it is under warranty, you have to ask yourself if it is worth spending time going to the dealer, however often it may be. Then once your warranty is up, will all of your problems already be fixed, or will they continue to pop-up. Maybe you would plan to ditch it before the warranty expires; what is the resale value of this car 7 years old?

Maybe my generalization of BMW is inaccurate, or maybe this model was built sufficiently well. Nonetheless, this is what I would be sure to cover before taking the leap on a BMW.

tnobori1

+1 and if you must, get the 335xi!

Professor

I had a friend who owned an old 750 or 735 BMW... got charged $750 to replace the battery only. I like the BMWs as they are made in my hometown, but the cost of ownership is crazy.

If I ever go German, number 1 will be an Audi, then Merc, then BMW, then Porsche.

eyi

iTrader: (2)

I used to own a 2004 BMW 760Li and a 2003 BMW 330Ci before that. Nothing but trouble. When we bought the 7 series, it came with warranty. A year later, the car would turn off out of nowhere. When we tried to use the warranty, they said that it didn't transfer over from the previous owner. We ended up selling it at an auction for $25,000. MSRP is about $120,000 lol. But in all fairness, the RL has had a lot of problems too.

merlin the wrench

you need a new PDR guy if you can still see the dents. Not everyone who says they can do it have the magic. Like I said - my first experience was on a cobalt blue Legend I dropped a roof rack that weighed about 35 pounds onto one area.

CFoote

Make sure the 328 is a CPO car and extend the warranty as far as you can. With the technology in todays are you have no choice but to go to the dealer for service and diagnosis.

Chris

23109VC

I used to have a porsche boxster.... it was an older one...but given how RARELY I drove it, and how MANY things broke and how $$$ anything is to fix.. I sold it. it was a fun fun car..but if I did it again, i'd buy an S2k....

go test drive a whole bunch of cars and see what makes you excited. there is a lot to choose from and if you are willing to go slightly used / CPO - there are TONS of cars to pick from!

how much you gonna spend? need 4 doors? need rear seats? need AWD?

Not_Rice

Get a used 05 or 06 RL and use the extra money to SC it. Tis what I would do! (I bought my 05 with 85k on it for 14,000... after searching for 6 months however...)

Crazy Bimmer

Depends where you live I suppose. Here we have plenty of independent shops that can even service my M3.

Used to own a 08 328i, great car and damn reliable. IMO

Check out e90post.com to do more research on them. I wouldnt recommend a 335i if you are concern about reliability though.

RL Chi-town

Crazy Acura has a sexy Bimmer just saying...

Wii60

Thanks for the tips guys. Picked up an Infiniti ex35. My first car was a Lexus, my second the RL, so I figured why not complete the Japanese luxury set.

Funny story about the test drives, I started out in a Mini! Was a blast but too narrow. I'm 6'3", so when I get to have a little fun car, I jump at the chance. After I finished playing, I looked at some 3 series, checked out a very well maintained 06 RL (former owner was a honda dealer and had changed the wheel and shifter with their wood counterparts, gorgeous). X3's and RDX's too.

Here's where it got funny. Local dealer had a fully loaded Vector-torque AWD Nissan Juke. Leather interior. I'm not kidding guys, it was a lot of fun. Nissan is onto something there. But I just couldn't do it, not when I could walk across the street, and land an Infiniti ex35. Its a great car, landed it for 23,300 (sticker was 29, but they mislabelled a discount, and I nailed them on it).

Its a different car, but I'm already enjoying it. Doesn't handle like the RL, but then, what does?

oo7spy

Congrats! Does it have a sun-roof? I park next to a M45 and I don't think it has one. Seems weird for a luxury.

Wii60

Thanks and yup! Got the sunroof. Black on tan, need to air it out a bit!

tnobori1

Sweet! Congrats!

oo7spy

Definitely come back after a couple of months and give us a breakdown of the diferences. I'm most interested in the ride. All of the sportier Nissans sound like the Z, and I've always wondered if the suspensions were close to the Z also. After driving my Mom's Z to Houston, I have really appreciated my legendary rides.

Good luck with the car. Find a car port to park it under.