BMW 335i Advice needed

[KaMoS]

My first post yay!

I've been reading this forum for a while and been shopping for a nice beemer for a few months. I found this 335i coupe for sale which suits my budget and appears to be in good condition with low mileage for a 5 year old car:

BMW 335i 2007

What do you guys think? What are the things that I need to look out for when checking the car out. I'm in CPT, so I'll send one of my buddies in Jozie to go checkout the car initially. Also, how much does it cost to extend the motorplan? Not sure how that works but I don't really want to have any nasty surprises after I buy the car (I've heard the HPFP is an issue on this car). Rather be safe than sorry.

If I do decide to buy the car, I'll probably take a flight up and then sleep over @ my friends' place and drive around town for a bit. I want to make sure the car is OK before I bring it back to CPT.

 

[Twinz]

Your question is often asked. Do a quick search. My response is:

1. Good milage on the car.

2. Give the car a good look over and test drive.

3. The dealer (investment cars) you are buying the car from will not replace the parts that are normally suspect such as the HPFP, injectors, coils and the spark plugs. If the car is out of MP you will have to budget for these...fortunately the prices on these parts have dropped dramatically.

4. Have a good look at the service history of the car and check if some of the above parts have been replaced under the recent recal.

5. The 335 is a great car. With the low milage on it you should have many miles of trouble free driving. Enjoy the new beast.

 

[KaMoS]

Thanks for the advice.

I have searched the forum for things to look out for but they mostly mention the HPFP. ALSO what about the motor plan? Do you know if it can be extended and how much it will cost?

 

[Karthik]

Looks like this car is still under motorplan , saw same advert on Auto trader, has some nice extras and decent mileage , to extend motorplan won't cost too much because mileage is low , just need to extend the years , also try to shave the price just a little bit and it is a good buy , in my opinion .

 

[Twinz]

Yes, you can choose a one year or two year extension or more, from BMW...its not expensive. I will encourage you to get an MP on the car for one year so you can get to know the car and sort out any issues it may have.

 

[KaMoS]

The dealer email'd me and said BMW quoted 28k on a one year extension, is that right? Do you think it would be fair to ask them to include that in the price?

 

[Twinz]

That is very high.
I agree include it in the sales price. :thumbs:

 

[Rennzport]

I have a 2007 with 40,000km and recently extended the plan by a year.
The cost was R6k. There is no way 1 year with no mileage is gonna cost R28k.
Have you checked that the plan is still active?
Being an '07, it could have expired within the last 2 months (based on the 5 year period lapsing).

Get the seller to do the quality check at BMW, so that you can transfer the motorplan without having to take the car in to the dealer.
If anything's wrong when doing QC, you will have to pay for repairs before you can transfer the plan (this rule may have changed - so I stand under correction)

IIRC the QC is valid 2 weeks before it has to be redone for mplan transfer.
They also charge +- R1k for this check.

 

[Coisman]

imp:
I think the quote might be for adding a year plus adding 15k km's, that might push it up to R28k

 

[M3_devil]

My MP on 2006 Coupe 335 expired in Oct 2011. I paid to ext by another year and costed me R6k.

You only start paying those prices quoted by investment cars when you buying kilo's and not years. So if you car has 100000km's + then you pay a arm and leg for ext.

 

[prospect]

imp:
I think the quote might be for adding a year plus adding 15k km's, that might push it up to R28k

Correct.

 

[KaMoS]

Wow, it's been a while but after months of looking I finally found the car I want. It’s a private sale with financing from Wesbank. I'm in CPT and the car is JHB. It's a Le Man Blue 2007 e90 335i M-Sport model with 48k on the clock. I had a buddy of mine inspect the car, he says the car is in good condition.

http://www.autotrader.co.za/stock-item-id/at8a6a918836fce485013708d4210d2a6d/advert

I'm in the process of finalising the deal, finance is approved, RWC is done, BMW CIA report looks good, car is in for BMW quality check today (thanks for that advice Revo), Seller agreed to buy 2 new rear tires and split the cost of the quality check with me.

Now we wait for the bank to check the seller’s documents and to send me the final sale agreement. My concern is, what if the seller decides to thrash the car after I sign the sale agreement? It takes ~2 days for the money to get to the seller’s account, until i pick up the car, he could do anything with it. I could have the car inspected before I sign the sale agreement, but there will still be a delay from then to the day i take delivery. He sounds like a good person, so I don’t think this will happen but what can I do to get peace of mind? Or should I just hold thumbs?

Also, do you think it’s worth flying up to Jozi and driving the car down? The other option is getting down with the train, Shosholoza Meyl quoted R2850 with next day delivery. With the former, I have a chance to check out the car while I’m in Jozi, see my friends and then acquaint myself with the car for 1400km’s down to cape town. On other hand, the train is the cheaper option. I can get my buddy to inspect the car upon collection and then deliver the car to the station for the trip down. What do you think?

BTW-BMW quoted me R6700 for an extension of one year on the motorplan, I will be transferring it to my name and extending it when I get the car.

I'm SOOO excited :joy:

 

[Twinz]

I have done this before. Put it on the train. You will have enough opportunities to test the car once in your possession. :joy:

The one year MP is an excellent idea:thumbs:

 

[Philip Foglar]

Awesome colour! Reckon by train makes sense... :thumbs:

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

Awesome colour! Reckon by train makes sense... :thumbs:

+1

 

[XMAX]

+1 on the train.


p.s. welcome to the forum...

 

[KaMoS]

+1 on the train.


p.s. welcome to the forum...

Thanks. Seems like using the train is the best choice.

 

[herr bmw]

welcome to the forum,and nice choice on wheels:thumbs:

 

[NavZ]

Train may be logical, but who would say no to driving a 335i across the country? :inlove: I'd check tires, oil, water etc & drive it down. Some one on one bonding Budget for fines if u r a speeder hehe.

 

[KaMoS]

Train may be logical, but who would say no to driving a 335i across the country? :inlove: I'd check tires, oil, water etc & drive it down. Some one on one bonding Budget for fines if u r a speeder hehe.

If I do drive down, I will be driving with the temp registration. If it happens to come loose at one corners during some spirited driving, I probably won't get any fines coz they won't be able to identify the car :idea: