Bmw 320d

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Amplifier

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Well my car was recently stolen and I am now looking for a new car.I came across a very good deal on a bmw 320 diesel that had done just 30000km's.The thing is it was repossessed and the current owner bought it from an auction but when a car is repossessed it loses it service plan.I have a few questions like how much are bmw diesels when it comes to servicing?
How are diesels in general?
What is the interval km's for servicing?
When your service plan is nearing finish you can usually renew it but now that this one has lost its service plan would I still be able to somehow "renew" it?
 
It's a BMW - afaik the motorplan stays with the vehicle unless it's been in an accident and they cancel the motorplan
 
They don't?

Really? strange then that diesels are selling more and more nowadays.
 
Sackboy said:
The car experts don't recommend diesel engines under any circumstances.
Click to expand...

Were did you hear that?? We own 2 diesels a 1.9dci and 2.0dci they are brilliant don't cost a thing to run and power and torque is amazing and they will do 900km/1000km on a tank. the only down side is service intervals are 10.000km.. otherwise i haven't owned a petrol car in 7 years, don't see the point really. if your getting a 320d without service plan, try see if you can get one when you get the car. Oh and another thing when people get diesels they seem to think that there petrols reving them to 5000rpm doesn't do them any good and will result in blow turbo's and faulty injectors, so if you do get one short shift is the key there's loads of power from 1500rpm to 2500rpm that way save diesel and engine's happy :D
 
DOOMIE61 said:
Were did you hear that?? We own 2 diesels a 1.9dci and 2.0dci they are brilliant don't cost a thing to run and power and torque is amazing and they will do 900km/1000km on a tank. the only down side is service intervals are 10.000km.. otherwise i haven't owned a petrol car in 7 years, don't see the point really. if your getting a 320d without service plan, try see if you can get one when you get the car. Oh and another thing when people get diesels they seem to think that there petrols reving them to 5000rpm doesn't do them any good and will result in blow turbo's and faulty injectors, so if you do get one short shift is the key there's loads of power from 1500rpm to 2500rpm that way save diesel and engine's happy :D
Click to expand...
Let me see ....
Top Gear, 5th Gear, Talk Radio Car Show (fridays & 9pm), The Argus Car Section ...
 
Has anyone ever done a cost/km comparison between petrol and diesel cars (including purchase cost) where the performance of the cars is similar?

I'm still of the opinion that when you take the higher price of a diesel car, the higher price of diesel fuel and the increased maintenance costs of diesels, petrol cars are cheaper to run (unless you do crazy mileage e.g. 70000km/year or more). This may not be true for performance cars, but most of us aren't driving high performance automobiles.
 
Diesels are either slightly more expensive, or the costs even out over a long enough period of time.

I don't think they're much cheaper to run in the long term.
 
Sackboy said:
Let me see ....
Top Gear, 5th Gear, Talk Radio Car Show (fridays & 9pm), The Argus Car Section ...
Click to expand...
You know you have to provide articles and / or links don't you? Can't just make statements like that....
 
Fiekus said:
You know you have to provide articles and / or links don't you? Can't just make statements like that....
Click to expand...
You can't come on and debate cars if you don't keep up with the latest programmes you know.:p
Just listen in on a Friday night and then you can come back and apologise for being sceptical.
 
Sackboy said:
You can't come on and debate cars if you don't keep up with the latest programmes you know.:p
Just listen in on a Friday night and then you can come back and apologise for being sceptical.
Click to expand...
Cool, understood, u don't have any... just had to say so. :confused:
And I'm not debating, all I'm asking is for you to show us the articles / links so we are all informed.
 
Fiekus said:
Cool, understood, u don't have any... just had to say so. :confused:
And I'm not debating, all I'm asking is for you to show us the articles / links so we are all informed.
Click to expand...

Thanks to your comments, I've spent a few minutes googling the petrol vs diesel topic and it seems that there is no right or wrong choice of engine. Diesel seems to be favoured for towing, high mileage use or if you do alot of city driving. Petrol is prefererred for low mileage drivers.

I'll probably always drive a petrol car although I know how far diesels have come. I just can't stand seeing an Audio, BMW or other expensive diesel car belching out a puff of smoke on pull off and I really don't like the sound of most diesel engines when idling or driving slowly.
 
Sackboy said:
Let me see ....
Top Gear, 5th Gear, Talk Radio Car Show (fridays & 9pm), The Argus Car Section ...
Click to expand...

We all know these presenters are petrolheads. :rolleyes: There was a thing about the quality of SA diesel a few years ago, but there's nothing wrong with the diesel cars. Diesel trucks have been around forever, why would the cars be worse?
 
I remember they did a test once with similar powered/class with petrol vs diesel and the diesel variant only appeared to be more economical after about 120 000km...
 
Sackboy said:
The car experts don't recommend diesel engines under any circumstances.
Click to expand...
Hahahahahahhahahaha!

Who are these "experts"? Not under "any circumstances" you say. Boy, have you got it wrong.

And it's not always about "saving" money because they're more economical.

I bought my diesel not because of it's better economy, but because of it's different nature i.e. HUMUNGOUS torque. (I bought a BMW E90 330d) :D
 
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EvoBunny said:
I remember they did a test once with similar powered/class with petrol vs diesel and the diesel variant only appeared to be more economical after about 120 000km...
Click to expand...
You're talking "financially" economical, right?

Because fuel economy is much better right off the bat.
 
Amplifier said:
Well my car was recently stolen and I am now looking for a new car.I came across a very good deal on a bmw 320 diesel that had done just 30000km's.The thing is it was repossessed and the current owner bought it from an auction but when a car is repossessed it loses it service plan.I have a few questions like how much are bmw diesels when it comes to servicing?
Click to expand...

I have a 320d and it will be my last. Sure, the fuel consumption is excellent, but you WILL end up replacing or rebuilding your turbo (very expensive). You WILL have problems with your injectors (also expensive). You will probably also have problems with your fuel pump (you guessed it, very expensive). New price for an alternator? R8,000. And when the things go wrong, expect to not have your car back anytime soon.

Unless you take it to BMW for repairs, you will also find it hard to find people able to service it. Almost all parts for the diesel are much more expensive than their petrol equivalent.

Right now my car is at a reputable BMW specialist and has been there for two weeks. And all I need done is to simply have an injector replaced. It seems the special tool needed to remove the injector is impossible to find.

Any fuel savings you may have is quickly negated by replacement parts and repairs.
 
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