Help with a purchase

[SipnEat]

Hi All!!!

My son is headed to college, and currently drives a lifted Chevy Colorado (really nice truck, but...) and I drive a INFINITI Q50S. I have the option of purchasing a 2008 BMW 328i for around $8000.00. It looks to be very well maintained and the owner has all the service records. The car will either go with my son to college (bay area, ca) or I will keep it as I dont drive a lot (I also have a Vespa that I use in the summer). The issue is two fold, first I have never owned a BMW though always wanted to, the second is the car has 136000 miles on it!!! Given that I have no idea if thats crazy mileage on a BMW, I thought I would reach out to the experts to get some feedback.

So, if I were to purchase it, am I looking at a end of life car, will the repairs be more then I want to get into, or does it have another 100K left in it.

Any feedback is very much appreciated...

thank you!

-b

[R Shaffner]

That model is known as an e90, in BMW lingo. It got strong reviews. Many called it the best 3 series ever, up to that time anyway. Others can speak to the specifics of that car better than I can. My comments are more generic about 15 year-old BMWs.

The answers to your questions are Yes and Yes. Sort of. Yes it can last another 100,000 miles. But to do so it will take more repairs than you're probably used to. More than your Infinity. Will that be more in repairs than you want to spend? Only you can answer that. Life is short. We spend a lot of time driving. I enjoy my BMW every time I drive it.

But I can also fix almost everything that goes wrong with it. That includes MANY little things and some pretty big ones. I wouldn't own my 2002 540i if I couldn't fix it. It would be too expensive for me to own if I had to pay someone else, even though I REALLY like driving it. (If I had to pay someone else to fix my cars, I'd probably drive something like a sporty Lexus. Life is also too short to take a car to the shop all the time.)

I also wouldn't send it off to school. Especially not a place like SF. It would be a hassle for your son when it breaks and needs attention. And if you're not going to drive it as much, it will hold up better with you.

Also, what everyone here will tell you is to find a good independent mechanic (not a dealer) to do a pre-purchase inspection. And finding a good, reasonable mechanic who knows about BMWs would also be real important if you decide to get one.

Hope that helps.

[R Shaffner]

No other replies? That's odd. Try posting your question on the e90 section.

[MauiM3Mania]

No other replies? That's odd. Try posting your question on the e90 section.

The discussion has been moved to the model specific sub-forum.

[zellamay]

E90 is a great car. We have a 2006 330i, 98k miles that we bought for $4700. We didn't get service records, but after a couple of years, it seems we did okay. I do all the maint. and fixing myself, which is how we afford to own such a great car to drive. 130k is not end of life for sure, but it is a time when things will start to go bad, and once-in-a-lifetime maintenance needs to be done. For a kid going to college, I'd opt for a more economy car. If he's in another city, and a shop gets hold of that car, it will cost big money.

[Old525i]

Mine is 300,000 miles old, from 2008. With good care, it should last a few more years.