Used BMW 3 Series A Good Idea?

You may remember all my annoying posts about my wife and me searching for a car to replace our 99 Camry. I thought we had things narrowed down to two cars from the plethora of those we test drove. Either the new Kia Forte (great features, power, and price) or the Mazda 3 5door (hatchback, nice interior, wife's pick).

Then our friend who started my "you have to have a car with 4 doors and room for a stroller" themed nightmares suggested we look for a used BMW 3 series.

They are supposed to be sporty (don't look it to me), reliable (yeah but parts are expensive), and comfortable.

So what's the skinny on the BMWs?

No one suggested one before when I asked what cars we should consider, so I never considered one. Plus to me they are plain looking. I know they are regularly highly rated by the press, but they were always so expensive and bland looking I never considered one before.

Maybe I just need an education on BMWs.

You are new here, right?

The answer is either E30 or E36 BMW for all questions ;)

No advice on Bimmers, but the only thing worse than a car payment, is a payment on a car you don't like.

If you think they look plain now, it'll look down right ugly after sitting in your driveway after a year.

But hey, I have 2 mini vans in my driveway right now, so I may have lost my right to give car shopping advice.

e36, watch out for Automatics, the M50 6 cyclinders if i remember right, ate through valve cover gaskets, and head gaskets. Check the back of the block for a coolant trail, and if the onboard computer tells you to "Check Coolant Level", control arms, bushings going bad... thats about it for E36s that i can think of... E30s are bullet proof with the M20s...

If he is replacing a '99 Camry, I thinkl he'll want something newer than an E36...

Look for a used SAAB 9-3 as an alternative as well. Nice cars and less money than a bimmer. My wife has been driving an '07 9-3 for a little over a month now and she really likes it so far. I wish I could swap cars with her. The 2.0 turbo with 6spd manual is too much fun not to want to drive it. It has comfy seats too.

If the other cars you mentioned are 'new', then I would imagine you are considering a new or late model BMW, not an e30 or e36.

Drive one. They aren't for everyone. My experience has been that parts cost on par with Honda or Toyota but labor is somewhat higher. There are more DIY resources available, so you may be able to do some of your own service and overcome that.

To me, they are on a different level than a fwd compact, even a good one like the Mazda. But daddy raised me to be a German car snob, so I understand I'm not being totally objective.

I love my 2002 BMW 3-series wagon. It would be perfect for your needs.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/112/

I love mine, even though they're older. A pleasure to work on and service yourself, if that's your thing. (It does save a lot of money) There are lots of great online resources for affordable parts and DIY info, and I would argue that very few cars seem match their ability as "great all around cars". There are plenty of cheaper cars, or faster cars, but these seem to nail the happy medium IMHO. For what it's worth (though I can't drag her out of her E30's) my wife agrees.
Our "dream car" (at least, one of them) is an E46 wagon with the sport package and a nice set of wheels. Classy and understated...but I wouldn't call it boring.

dyintorace wrote: I love my 2002 BMW 3-series wagon. It would be perfect for your needs. http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/112/

...and you should. You have one of Per's "unicorns".

Not to take this off topic, but I just did a CPO search for 3-series wagons with manual transmission. There are 6 listed nationwide - only one has a sport package.

njansenv wrote: Our "dream car" (at least, one of them) is an E46 wagon with the sport package and a nice set of wheels. Classy and understated...but I wouldn't call it boring.

And one of the best looking car designs in recent memory.

bludroptop wrote:

dyintorace wrote: I love my 2002 BMW 3-series wagon. It would be perfect for your needs. http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/112/

...and you should. You have one of Per's "unicorns". Not to take this off topic, but I just did a CPO search for 3-series wagons with manual transmission. There are 6 listed nationwide - only one has a sport package.

In the notion of full disclosure, I did buy it based solely on pictures and a PPI, given that it was in Oregon. I then shipped it to FL. They are hard to find!

ditchdigger wrote:

njansenv wrote: Our "dream car" (at least, one of them) is an E46 wagon with the sport package and a nice set of wheels. Classy and understated...but I wouldn't call it boring.

And one of the best looking car designs in recent memory.

That is a fantastic car. Built by Rogue engineering, it has a full M3 drivetrain. I spoke to them about doing the same with my wagon and the ballpark quote, including motor, transmission, rear subframe, etc plus labor was $25k!

I loved my E46 328i. The only caveat I'll throw out there is to take your carseat with you and install it to see how small the rear seat is - it's pretty tight to fit a rear-facing carseat behind an averag adult. But yeah, you need to drive one to understand.

If you are looking late model used it's hard to look away from a used Volvo V70. Good combo of size, price, general reliability and a decent driving experience. It's no BMW but it doesn't pretend to be either.

The 3-series is a great car. I've heard it's wise when looking at a BMW to spend a little more for a Certified used one than something "undocumented" that's less expensive to buy. According to my friend who had an e36 M3 (an actual one, not GRM proxy-profanity!), and now has a newer 530i, a poorly-maintained used BMW is a colossal money pit. A well cared-for one is wonderful.

I bought a 2003 Passat V6 5-speed a year ago. Considered a 3-series; lusted after a 5-series. But the Passat was half the cost of a same-year 5, and can accommodate a baby seat in back.

The Passat is a great car. It's only a little duller than a BMW, but a LOT less expensive.

If this is for the wife and you have a baby and you need room for stuff, the Mazda 3 5 door hatchback sounds like the way to go.

The Mazda 3 is a nice, roomy car. Big hatch back trunk will swallow much more than the trunk of an e36. More reliable. Warranty. Loaner for when it needs service.

Service costs (particularly labor) are expensive for the BMW. I assume you have better things to do than to work on / fix your wife's car. The bushings and ball joints will probably need to be replaced along with the entire cooling system, O2 sensors, coils and cat if they haven't been already.

It really depends on what 3 series you're talking about. The E30 is solid and Model T simple. Parts are cheap, really. The E36 is more modern, a little less solid and more 'built to a price' but still very affordable to own. Neither of these requires a "BMW certified tech" to work on them. The E46 is a truly modern car, a return I think to a more upscale vehicle. These may, on occasion, need a BMW specific shop to work on them but I'd still say it's pretty rare. Aside from window regulators they seem to be well built and durable.

Couple things to check though...on hard driven cars, the E36 may suffer from tearing shock mounts in the back and the E46 has shown floorpan cracking at the rear suspension mounting points. These are pretty well documented on the BMW forums so you can see what to look for.

Swedish cars are going to be more expensive to repair than a 3 series BMW, guaranteed. The expenses really are in the 5 series and larger cars. The BMW aftermarket is absolutely huge as well, which can't be said for most of the other suggestions in this thread. There are enough independent specialists out there for BMWs that you should never have to set foot in a BMW stealership.

As a convert to the Roundel, I had no fanboi loyalty to them prior to getting one to race. Now having driven multiple examples, I don't know why people buy anything else. The 3 series really is one of the best cars made.

3 series is a great car but the back seat is tiny. Whatever you do make sure you let who ever is going to be spending time back there give it a try. A good friend of mine had a 2000 323 and the back seat was smaller than the back seat in my 99 SAAB 9-3.

I will second the SAAB idea, though if you think the BMW is bland they maybe not for you, mine has 188K miles on it and I have put an AC compressor and a fuel pump on mine. As far as being more expensive to repair I really find that hard to believe. As long as you don't buy stuff from the dealer II have not found it to be any more expensive than out Celica.

As with everything YMMV, but for me the hatch, the seats and the turbo you get with the SAAB on top of the price, I don't think they can be beat.

I'm not the person to talk you out of it. I recently bought a '97 328is from the second owner (who bought it as a CPO in '99). Prices on the E36s are very reasonable right now, and the E46s aren't that much more. I'll echo the comments of some others that there is a ton of DIY info out there and they're a pleasure to work on. I recently did a cooling system overhaul on my car (radiator, water pump, hoses, t-stat housing, t-stat, etc.) and the parts were very reasonable. There's enough competition between vendors on the forum that you can get a very good deal on most parts, the one exception being pieces that are only available through BMW (trim pieces, seats, etc.).

Whatever you're looking at, I'd suggest bringing along the car seats to see how they fit.

I've also owned a 2000 Saab 9-3, they're nice cars as well, but are not as sporty as the BMWs. The Saab liked 6-7 tenths, but at anything above that it was like "what are you doing?" The BMW just starts to come alive at 6-7 tenths, and says "now we're getting started." Up until that point, both cars feel a lot alike, and are very comfortable to drive.

With either marque, it pays to buy one with few owners and a stack of maintenance records, as both have the potential to eat you alive with deferred maintenance costs.

bludroptop wrote: Not to take this off topic, but I just did a CPO search for 3-series wagons with manual transmission. There are 6 listed nationwide - only one has a sport package.

If you can live with a regular sedan, that number goes up a bit, though I would love a wagon at that spec as well.

With the E90-92s out, E46s are cheap and plentiful, though the above-mentioned manual trans and ZSP sport package do restrict that quite a bit. They are available, though.

I love mine. I thought it was a good deal 3 years ago and they are a real bargain now that the newer versions are all over.

Parts are NOT expensive with a little shopping and as others have noted they are a pleasure to work on. I did all 4 brakes with new rotors in the parking lot at work over 2 consecutive lunch hours. It's reliable and a hoot to drive and I only wish they still made new E46s.