2003 BMW 318i Auto - your thoughts?

[Waaib]

I'm looking at buying this car. 2003 BMW 318i Automatic Touring. 96000kms. White in color.

I know the owner. She's had it since new. I'm not phased about the price but I'm sure you'l ask: R100k. Seems a fair deal based on similar cars for sale online and she's willing to negotiate a bit.

I'm looking for advice or opinion on what to look out for on this car/model sepicifically? I specifically want a station wagon. It will be an everyday run around car. Are there specific things that break or should be checked?

Please try to hold of the buy a this or buy a that comments. I know there are other cars in the R100k price range but i'm specifically interested in this one. As said I've known the car since the owner bought it new. It's interior and bodywork are immaculate for it's age.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

I can't comment on what is likely to break, but I do know that if something does break then it will set you back quite a bit.

It's one of the reasons why I'd never consider a BMW/Audi/Merc that is out of it's maintenance plan. Sure it might not give any hassles at all, but I'm not the type that will risk being saddled with a R50k bill when the gearbox, diff, etc. goes.

I guess if you have your heart set on it then go for it, and hope that nothing breaks

 

[Grimspoon]

I also really like the BMW touring so would be interested to see some comments. Saw one the other day that I was quite interested in.

 

[Waaib]

I can't comment on what is likely to break, but I do know that if something does break then it will set you back quite a bit.

It's one of the reasons why I'd never consider a BMW/Audi/Merc that is out of it's maintenance plan. Sure it might not give any hassles at all, but I'm not the type that will risk being saddled with a R50k bill when the gearbox, diff, etc. goes.

I guess if you have your heart set on it then go for it, and hope that nothing breaks

Not picking a fight but I just don't buy the maintenance plan agruement that the new car sales people have brainwashed us with. Sure if you use the dealer for service and repairs after the maintenance plan is done it will be expensive but there are lots of mechanics and sparkies you can use that that won't charge you a fortune to fix stuff for you. I've had an entire gearbox replaced on a Jeep Cherokee and the whole job was R16k for a refurbished gearbox. R16k is not nothing but it's cheaper than a few monthly installments on a 'under motorplan type car'. Just my view.

I'm a bit worried about expensive parts though. The few used car dealers (non-BMW) I've spoken to reckon there are tons of used and new parts available for this make and model.

 

[purejimcn]

i had a 2002 manual model from 07 til about 4 months ago, basically never had problems with the engine itself. during my +-4years of ownership the only costly problems I had to fix excluding maintenance like break pads etc were the following:

-water leaking from the radiator which cost about 3K
-oil leak which cost about 3.5k
-driver window mechanism broke which cost 1.5K
-general maintenance i.e services came up to about 2k over the years but I didn't drive it enough to have a major service done.
-the 3 probs above as far as I know are all common probs with the E46

note that I did fix up a lot of things after i bought the car but given you know the driver the car should be in decent condition. my costs above were all using genuine bmw parts but done with a mechanic privately so official bmw labour would cost a lot more.

hope it helps

 

[purejimcn]

by the way, if you can put down 100K for a car then I don't see a prob with you affording the maintenance of the car, it really isn't much compared to the cost of the car. I also have a lady friend that has a 2000 318 and aside from the window problem she hasn't had any problems with the car. so if you like it and you know the seller then go for it

EDIT: i think 90k would be a fair final price but then again 95 should be fine too as long as it wasn't a january 2003 car