Help, Im trying to see if this BMW is worth it.

[Denxity]

Im trying to buy a new BMW and this is what I found. 2007 328XI it has 119,000 miles on it. They are selling it for 5000. Sounds good right? but there is a catch. I quote "119,000 miles, clean title in hand, automatic transmission, heated seats, leather interior. Resonator/muffler delete and the car is wired for subs. SES light is on but can easily be fixed if you know how to work on these cars. It sometimes has a rough idle and white smoke out of the exhaust on start up(not every time). I'm 90% sure it's the CCV". I own a 2001 325i and i got screwed over because i didn't search the car before buying it. I don't want that to happen again. The person who is selling the car is able to negotiate a price for it. I was thinking around 4,500 no more than 4,999. If anybody can help me or give me suggestions or ideas that would be great! I like how the car looks but im not really good at mechanic things.

[builtinbetter]

If you're not good at "mechanical stuff" you should take it to a independent bmw repair shop and pay for a pre purchase inspection. It will be worth the money for you because if there are any issues you can either walk away or use it as leverage to negotiate. If the seller has a problem with you getting it looked at that means he has something to hide and you should walk.

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Looks good though

[slides]

just walk away, white smoke could be a coolant leak or turbo failure.

[d21spike]

You're going to be in for a bad experience at this mileage. Either get a PPI done or check for service records. With the aforementioned issue, suspension being worn, waterpump/thermostat potential, etc you're looking at a good chunk of change.

just walk away, white smoke could be a coolant leak or turbo failure.

Since when did E90 328's come with turbos?

[Denxity]

Around how much do you think it will cost to fix? I like the car i still need to go and check it out first though. It's also hard to find BMW's below 100,000 miles around where I live, this is one of the lowest miles I seen in a while

[cochise325]

The water pump and thermostat replacement cost is around $500 in parts.

White smoke could well be coolant getting into the combustion chamber. And that might mean a head gasket. That is major money. A compression and leak down test should be done to check it out.

Rebuilding the suspension is $1500 in parts.

[Denxity]

The water pump and thermostat replacement cost is around $500 in parts.

White smoke could well be coolant getting into the combustion chamber. And that might mean a head gasket. That is major money. A compression and leak down test should be done to check it out.

Rebuilding the suspension is $1500 in parts.

why the suspension? sorry im not good at mechanics im just wondering why i would need that?

[cochise325]

why the suspension? sorry im not good at mechanics im just wondering why i would need that?

Most BMWs need a suspension rebuild by 100k miles. There are rubber bushings that degrade and things get sloppy and tire wear gets severe. Front struts and rear shocks wear out.

[Pilgrim]

The price isn't bad, but it's a crapshoot and you could be inheriting up to $5000 in repairs if the turbo is bad. If you were a hard core DIY type I might feel different, but at the very least you'd need to take this to a BMW-skilled shop and have them go over the engine in detail. It would be worth it to spend $200-$300 to avoid buying a turbo replacement.

BTW, the statement about BMWs needing a suspension rebuild at 100K is total bunk, IMO. The car could probably use a set of shocks, but otherwise there's no reason to suspect anything is wrong. You can easily have a shop check that out.

Overall, don't buy any used car without having a good shop check it out.

My suggestion is to find a 328 with no turbo; then higher mileage is less of a crapshoot.

[cochise325]

The price isn't bad, but it's a crapshoot and you could be inheriting up to $5000 in repairs if the turbo is bad. If you were a hard core DIY type I might feel different, but at the very least you'd need to take this to a BMW-skilled shop and have them go over the engine in detail. It would be worth it to spend $200-$300 to avoid buying a turbo replacement.

BTW, the statement about BMWs needing a suspension rebuild at 100K is total bunk, IMO. The car could probably use a set of shocks, but otherwise there's no reason to suspect anything is wrong. You can easily have a shop check that out.

Overall, don't buy any used car without having a good shop check it out.

My suggestion is to find a 328 with no turbo; then higher mileage is less of a crapshoot.

It is not a turbo car. It is a 328 naturally aspirated engine.

[TonyAngel]

If you aren't good at turning wrenches, I'd walk away. Of course, getting a prepurchase inspection is always a good idea, it still won't guarantee that nothing is going to go wrong after you purchase the car. Some places will do a PPI and give you a 30-90 warranty on the car, but this still isn't any sort of guarantee that the car will be trouble free.

If you had at least some basic skills, my advice would be to get the PPI (which should include a diagnostic scan) and run the VIN through CarFax.

With the car that you're looking at, I'd walk away. I know that when I sell a car, the first thing I do is fix all of the simple stuff. I doubt that smoke is something as simple a the CCV. If you are serious about getting into older BMWs, I'd also suggest that you invest in some sort of diagnostic tool. A Carly is pretty inexpensive and works well. If you had a Carly, you could run a scan on the car and see if it's even worth getting the PPI.