What's best way to finance a Used Car ?

[lilelvis2000]

BMW's were only cool when 'Baader-Meinhof' drove them in the 60's & 70's they used to call them 'Baader Meinhof Wagen'. Among younger Germans BMW became hip and cool, concurrent with the rising prominence of the Baader-Meinhof Gang BMW turned the corner financially and went on to become one of the world's most prominent, respected, and financially successful auto makers.

Since then its 'Break My Windows' ...hardly the same is it

Interesting read on BMW's history

Okay, so that made them cool. So what's the deal now? One guy at the office will only drive BMW. He hates Japanese cars too. I wind him up every other day by saying something like "I saw the most gorgeous Honda estate on the way in today." What makes people like that? He says its the prestige...Am I stupid because I don't get it.

[Alf W]

I quized the old boys at my local garage on the merits of various cars if you practice 'bangernomics' and their pet manafacturuer seems to be Nissan, they don't break but they can fix anything for peanuts if they do. They also rated Vauxhall and Ford, not that keen on German stuff despite its reputation of reliability, and they almost fell off their chairs when I mentioned buying an old BMW, half shock, half laughter

To be fair here, the 'boys at the local garage' probably think shelling out £2k on a car is pushing the boat out and by the time even a Beemer's got down that far it's going to be getting ropey.

Go for quality every time. Some chav in a Focus managed to side swipe the front corner of my 3-series a while back and f*cked the side of his car. I only had to wash his paint off my bumper.

For £12-15k you'll be able to pick up a BMW with 5+ years and 100k+ miles still easily left in it and you should be able to get at least a 2.5l so it'll have some grunt. It will also have been a £25-30k car from new so it will be nicely kitted out. For the same money you'll get a 2.0l £17k new Mondeo, lower spec and with less life in it.

[OwlHoot]

I suppose I could have tried that when the motor in my dad's 740i blew up. The garage wanted $13,000 just for the motor! My dad sold the remains of the car to the garage for $3,500, after paying $90,000 for in new '94.[..]

Someone I know bought a BMW 3 series convertable (the Bauer type, where a third party, called Bauer presumably, basically saws off the roof and installs a retractable hood in its place). He paid £5000 for it back in 2000, and an expert in the garage where he recently had it serviced reckons it's still worth about that now!

[threaded]

I suppose I could have tried that when the motor in my dad's 740i blew up. The garage wanted $13,000 just for the motor! My dad sold the remains of the car to the garage for $3,500, after paying $90,000 for in new '94.

In '94, $90,000 where my dad lives could have easily bought a nice house with change left over.

BMW denies that there was a serious flaw with the engine in his ex-car. He even had an extended warranty - apparently it didn't cover his specific problem.

I guess that by talking in Dollars your dad is in America? IIRC there were several cases in the US about the faults on the 7 series. I had one of the lemons myself. Gave it back as I considered it too dangerous to be on the road, and had to fight real hard to get nowhere. But of a pity for the poor sucker who had the car after me. I understand it killed him.

[milanbenes]

what a about a 2001 (last of the old shape) Merc E320cdi ?

Milan.

[threaded]

what a about a 2001 (last of the old shape) Merc E320cdi ?

Milan.

Isn't that the one with the fancy pre-injection setup to reduce the diesel bucket-of-bolts noise? Whenever I see one I wonder if the design is like that to mask that the panels are not matching up properly.

[rootsnall]

To be fair here, the 'boys at the local garage' probably think shelling out £2k on a car is pushing the boat out and by the time even a Beemer's got down that far it's going to be getting ropey

Yes we are talking the sub £2k market ! The 'boys at the local garage' have actually just got planning permission to build houses on their plot so they'll probably be moving upmarket soon, I'll watch what they buy.

[milanbenes]

threaded,

I am talking about the (2001) W210 E320cdi (common rail diesel) 200hp

Milan.

[milanbenes]

congratulations to 'The 'boys at the local garage'',

it's always nice to hear when someone gets planning permission

Milan.

[rootsnall]

congratulations to 'The 'boys at the local garage'',

it's always nice to hear when someone gets planning permission

Milan.

They've done well, its land nobody would of bothered with 10 years ago but it's getting some 'affordable housing'. Local planners/councillors can't really stop high density development anymore so they are just waving it through.

I'm just about to apply for an extension in the greenbelt, should be fun !