Thinking of Buying a 2001 325i.

[srl1104]

Hey I am new to these forums and just looking for a little advice. I found a 2001 BMW 325i with 110,000 miles on it. The dealership is asking 12,000 for it. My first question is if that is a good price or not? The car seems to be in great shape and most of the miles are highway miles. Are these cars known to be a fairly durable car? I am not on a really tight budget but I wouldnt be able to afford alot of expensive repairs. Let me know what you think and maybe some of the things I should check for before I buy. Thanks

 

[Kirby]

For the mileage on it (almost 20K miles per year, that's quite a lot) I think it is a reasonable price. In my area, the same car with 60K miles would go around $14K-$16K. Is it auto or manual? There have been reports of auto transmission issues, but it's hard to know how frequent that is. A lot of people get 150K-175K miles on a BMW automatic, some have problems at 100K. Highway miles on an automatic are "good" miles, less shifting & heating.

The engines are almost bullet proof as long as they are maintained - synthetic oil change every 7500 miles (not 15,000 as suggested by BMW) , scheduled tune ups, etc. 250K - 300K miles on an engine with no major problems is common.

 

[srl1104]

It has an automatic transmission and the owner said that most of the miles were interstate and highway.

 

[Jaxguy87]

my 2003 325i has 81500 miles and still runs like a champ... I plan to keep her until about 250K... so in my opinion if you think its the right choice go for it... bmw's are simply put, the most beautiful car ever designed....

 

[Detrich]

wow... that means my 99 323i w/ 90k might still be worth around 10k? psyche...

well, to answer srl's question, u might want to check kbb.com and private partiy listings... dealers typically mark-up around 3 to 4K more, so i'd expect u can pickup a comparable car for around or under 10K...

 

[srl1104]

Thanks for the advice. One more Question I had was; if I was to buy it, what kind of things should I have done after i get it (fluid changes etc.)? Also, are BMW's pretty easy to get worked on? The reason I ask is that I live about 500 miles from the nearest dealership.

 

[Kirby]

Unless you know that it was serviced and tuned up, I would get the fluids changed and a tune up. If a BMW dealer is 500 miles away, I would definitely check around for local service BEFORE buying the car. They are not hard to work on, but they are in some way different from Japanese and American cars. A mechanic who makes his living on Ford and Chevy pickups would be lost.