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Thread: Going to buy my first 3-series, need experienced opinions please

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Ohio, USA
    Posts
    3
    My Cars
    2013 BMW 328i x-bri

    Going to buy my first 3-series, need experienced opinions please

    I'm going to look at a few 2013 328i's tomorrow. This would be my first BMW, and as I'm reading about the SULEV engines, I'd like to stay away from them (just personal preference - just in case this something that's often debated here - I'm new). I found two that are very clean, clean CarFax, both have had one owner. One has 25k miles, the other 46k.

    Here's the issue, the Carfax for the 25k car ID's it as an SULEV. The 46k car is the standard engine, but it's higher mileage than I was planning on (but it's listed $2,200 less).

    I suppose I'd be okay with the 46k car. I also own an old Land Rover Discovery 2 I will tool around in, especially in winter. So I should be able to keep the miles down on the 3-Series. I've searched these forums, read what I could, and I seem to think I'd rather stay away from what I consider to be a restricted engine. So, am I being stupid here? Should I value the lower miles and not worry about the SULEV?

    I realize this will ultimately be my choice, just looking for opinions. Looking forward to posting here and getting to know you guys. I plan to tune it etc.,

    Thanks,
    Eric
    Last edited by Muggs; 02-03-2017 at 10:12 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Ohio, USA
    Posts
    3
    My Cars
    2013 BMW 328i x-bri
    Also, even though the CarFax does not ID the 46k car as a SULEV, there is a decal on the rear passenger window that says "BMW Efficient Dynamics." Is that on all these cars, or only those with a restricted engine?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Ca
    Posts
    6,981
    My Cars
    2001 525it
    I would generally not give much value to car fax, get a pre purchase inspection. Read the vin number it will tell you what type of engine is in the car

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Tampa Florida
    Posts
    67
    My Cars
    2000 540i Dinan,2015650i
    My brother has a 2013 328i with the 2.0 liter twin scroll turbo. It runs and sounds great.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    9,933
    My Cars
    2018 BMW M240i
    First step is to ask for the maintenance records. Run away from the car if it has no or meager maintenance records as there's no such thing as a cheap BMW. Any BMW that's selling for a low price and has few maintenance records will likely cost you a bundle o $$$ to bring back to life. These cars are high maintenance.

    Next, get the vehicle identification number (VIN). Go to bimmer.work (it's a website) and enter the last 7 characters of the VIN. Prove that you're not a robot and then read the results. The car may or may not be an SULEV. A car that's an SULEV will be more expensive to maintain, generally, as the parts that "make" the car an SULEV were produced in lower quantities than the corresponding parts for a non-SULEV. Why? The cost of design and tooling are amortized over the production life of the part. Parts that are produced in low numbers have a higher per-part cost amortization.

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