sea6speed

Nice car, but there's a reason they are so cheap to buy after a couple of years.

WALL-E

All mercedes/bmw's, atleast high end ones, are losing A LOT of their values fast! It has a lot to do with the economy, and the fact that 4-5 years ago when well off people purchased their vehicles, a lot of them now are in economic turmoil to a degree. Thus the car market has been flooded with real high end cars, that arent fetching shit of their purchased msrp.

Example,

In 2007, my bro bought a 2006 750il, fully loaded with 22k miles. He picked it up for $36,500. The car had a new car sticker in the trunk for $104,xxx, I believe. My other brother has a 03 e500 he bought with 43k on it, now has almost 150k, and the car is still running awesome with no major defects. Their is nothing wrong with buying a 04 e55 with 50/60k on it, as long as it has been maintained properly, and comes with a extended warranty. I doubt you have owned any new higher end German cars. There is no reason older benz/bmws cant last as long as a import, as long as you properly take care of your car.

Just my .02 from watching my brothers and dad run through bmw's and mercedes over the years.

Oh, my dad owns a 97 s500 which he personally wanted, due to last years of big body, has like 180k on it now, and still runs like a new car with no major maintenance issues than any other daily cars.

blackout

So I looked at the 335 and the S4, and I am thoroughly undecided. I actually verbally committed to buying both of these today at one point or another.... the complication of buying from a private seller kept me from committing to the 335 and an issue with the headlights and misconceptions about extended warranty plans kept me from buying the Audi.

I actually may end up waiting until the perfect car comes along... but I have begun to reconsider the camaro.

This is really a tough decision... wow.

WALL-E

go drive a e55 please.

blackout

find me one in a manual, and i will.

WALL-E

Really wont miss it once you drive the thing. Dont judge a book by its cover.

blackout

i've driven automatics that were fun, but for me personally, a true manual is a necessity. it does kind of suck, because this does pretty much eliminate the possibility of me ever having a benz.

can someone give me some more info on the hpfp issues on the 335i's? the most i can deduce is that there's a service campaign for it, but no recall. i want to know the details on what cars are affected, if i buy one and it starts fucking up out of warranty if i can take it to a dealer and have it replaced, and if the new parts are actually fixing the problem. what sucks with these super-common problems is that it's nearly impossible to get conclusive information via searches about them because people talk about them so much.

i've come to the decision that if i can get a near-perfect s4 for less than $22k out the door, i'll buy one... other than that, looks like i'm leaning towards 335i...

blackout

update... i was supposed to pick up the montego blue 07 335i with 33000 miles on it today, but the seller decided he didn't want to sell it anymore at 11am this morning. wtf???

but i have at least come to the conclusion that i will be getting a 335i. preferably montego blue, but black or white are other options. looking at a black one, bmw certified pre-owned on friday. it seems like a good deal, and i'll probably get it.

terrible advice

As far as the HPFPS go, some cars have failures, and others do not. it is extremely weird. Unfortunately, if you have one failure, it is very likely that you will have multiples. That said, BMW has extended the warranty on the HPFP to 10 years, 120,000 miles, so you don't have that cost to worry about. They have released a new part number (pump number 4, i believe) that seems to be doin work. I have that part in my car, and I haven't had any trouble yet. It is my 5th HPFP. Now something you have to watch out for is that if an HPFP goes out and doesn't get replaced quickly, it can take the top half of the engine with it. happened to me twice, because it didnt throw a code until it was too late. I think they're getting better about replacing them early.

bottom line...don't worry about it too much if you're patient and understanding. If youre easily irritated by a car and nitpicky, then it could be a problem. BMW WILL fix it for you, so you don't need to worry about that.


oh, and BMW black paint sucks. I'm partial to montego, myself, but AW is pretty good too.

blackout

Why do you say BMW black paint sucks? I know I don't have great experience with my m, but that's 14 yo paint that I had nothing to do with until 3 years ago, when it was already ruined.

I'm looking more at black now just because of its popularity, I'm having a hard time finding another blue one within any reasonable proximity.