130i... can I justify it?
Discussion
Vaud said:
MC Bodge said:
True. Blowing all your cash on a car isn't always the best option.
I'm in my early 40s. Looking back I would rather sacrificed a few seconds to 60 and a few years on the car and discovered the Stelvio pass and Col du Petit Saint-Bernard much earlier... 
MC Bodge said:
Vaud said:
MC Bodge said:
True. Blowing all your cash on a car isn't always the best option.
I'm in my early 40s. Looking back I would rather sacrificed a few seconds to 60 and a few years on the car and discovered the Stelvio pass and Col du Petit Saint-Bernard much earlier... 
Mr Tidy said:
No, no, no if that means discovering them in a diesel Ibiza you are surely missing the point!
No, read back - find a car that lets you do both. If the 130i for example left you counting pennies and thinking twice about a hoon, then find a car that allows both.The 328i would be a good example. A few £'000 in buying cost could make a big difference between life long memories of a really nice car and no road trips and a nice car and lots of road trips and much more hooning.
Point is, go on budget. If your budget and your hooning gets held back, get a cheaper, but still fun car and park the stats differences in the back of your mind. And do more things with still a great car.
Mr Tidy said:
Well I looked at your car history and sorry, but a 130i is a bit more special than any Toyota in the last decade (GT86 excepted, but it is short of power).
I would rather tell my grand kids I owned a RWD hatch with a N/A 3 litre straight6 than have to admit to having bought Japanese white goods.
I guess you're referring to the Supra's he owned. Toyota Supra... White goods? Have you even driven one? Have you even seen one? I think your grandkids would be more impressed if you turned up in a Supra than if you turned up in a pretty common repmobile.I would rather tell my grand kids I owned a RWD hatch with a N/A 3 litre straight6 than have to admit to having bought Japanese white goods.
OP - if you're certain you can live with the cost, then go for it. If you're not 100% certain then don't do it, buy something s
t for a grand, run it into the ground until you are in a better place financially, then buy the car you want. Your first car should be something crap and you should enjoy it for what it is, that way each subsequent car upgrade will bring you even more pleasure and you won't be absolutely devastated when your wife wants kids and you end up driving around in a Citroen Picasso filled with soft toys, bogeys and woe.BaronVonV8 said:
OP - if you're certain you can live with the cost, then go for it. If you're not 100% certain then don't do it, buy something st for a grand, run it into the ground until you are in a better place financially, then buy the car you want. Your first car should be something crap and you should enjoy it for what it is, that way each subsequent car upgrade will bring you even more pleasure and you won't be absolutely devastated when your wife wants kids and you end up driving around in a Citroen Picasso filled with soft toys, bogeys and woe.
True, but I tended to find the money to keep the car going at the expense of other things - depends how committed the OP is.t for a grand, run it into the ground until you are in a better place financially, then buy the car you want. Your first car should be something crap and you should enjoy it for what it is, that way each subsequent car upgrade will bring you even more pleasure and you won't be absolutely devastated when your wife wants kids and you end up driving around in a Citroen Picasso filled with soft toys, bogeys and woe.Also we don't know his personal circumstances - if soft toys, bogeys and woe are beckoning JUST DO IT NOW as he may never get another chance!
OP, if you're confident that your circumstances post-uni are going to be quiet steady then I'd go for it. I bought an Alfa GT when I got my grad scheme sorted, and loved every minute. Sadly, then moving house and doing 20,000 miles a year meant it had to go.
Sometimes work will mean you'll be doing a lot of mileage with your employment, and expenses won't always cover the costs!! (An '04 Audi S4 being a good example)
Sometimes work will mean you'll be doing a lot of mileage with your employment, and expenses won't always cover the costs!! (An '04 Audi S4 being a good example)
£500 pcm living costs? Jeez, where in the country is that?!
The petrolhead in me says go for it, but the responsible adult says hold fire for a few months until you are well up to speed on your living costs. If you can genuinely afford to save that cash for those first few months then go for it,with the added bonus that you now have almost a spare £1k to put towards it.
The petrolhead in me says go for it, but the responsible adult says hold fire for a few months until you are well up to speed on your living costs. If you can genuinely afford to save that cash for those first few months then go for it,with the added bonus that you now have almost a spare £1k to put towards it.
Don't do it.
Ignore everything in life that gives you pleasure, save money for a first home.
Buy a house, promise yourself you will buy something nice when you get it. Then start saving money to get a bigger and better house.
Await with glee a diesel Astra as a company car and talk about how quick it really is. Continue to save a bigger house.
Have some money set aside, promise yourself a nice car you'll enjoy. Send your kids to private school instead.
Kids leave home. Promise yourself you'll buy a nice you'll enjoy. Retire. Buy a beige Honda Jazz. Look back at your beige life, your beige wife and your beige lounge suite and slowly cry yourself to sleep over just boring and tedious you became.
Ignore everything in life that gives you pleasure, save money for a first home.
Buy a house, promise yourself you will buy something nice when you get it. Then start saving money to get a bigger and better house.
Await with glee a diesel Astra as a company car and talk about how quick it really is. Continue to save a bigger house.
Have some money set aside, promise yourself a nice car you'll enjoy. Send your kids to private school instead.
Kids leave home. Promise yourself you'll buy a nice you'll enjoy. Retire. Buy a beige Honda Jazz. Look back at your beige life, your beige wife and your beige lounge suite and slowly cry yourself to sleep over just boring and tedious you became.
Crafty_ said:
2 grand car, stick the rest somewhere to earn a bit of interest, save as much as you can and look at something like http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b... in a years time ?
Please share with us somewhere that you can 'earn a bit of interest' because so far I've drawn a blank! 
swanny71 said:
McSam said:
You reckon?
My ownership average in my E46 328i is 30.2mpg, which is a mix of town, B-road hooning and long runs. At a motorway cruise it does 36mpg. To be honest, I've heard no better from the 130i
Averaged almost 33mpg in over 58k miles in mine My ownership average in my E46 328i is 30.2mpg, which is a mix of town, B-road hooning and long runs. At a motorway cruise it does 36mpg. To be honest, I've heard no better from the 130i
with that kind of mileage, though, I'd wager you've got a much kinder duty cycle than me!MC Bodge said:
Mr Tidy said:
No, no, no if that means discovering them in a diesel Ibiza you are surely missing the point!
I'd prefer an Alpine road trip in an Ibiza diesel than poncing about around town in an immaculate 130i.t about in a diesel Ibiza for 50 weeks a year just to have a couple of weeks of fun, but each to their own!!!22Rgt said:
First car with no experience means the 130i will going backwards through a hedge/wall somewhere.A stty Ka or \Corsa being dented/smashed by a learner driver isnt so bad and will save a fortune in getting from A-B..
Have you driven one? Modern DSC system is pretty idiot-proof, as it needs to be if you look at BMW's typical demographic these days. The OP is not a learner anyway, and seems to have quite a bit of experience in widely varying cars, this is just the first he will buy himself.tty Ka or \Corsa being dented/smashed by a learner driver isnt so bad and will save a fortune in getting from A-B..What an odd post.
anon12 said:
I know the 130i isn't everyones cup of tea but I'm all about driving experience tbh, not really about the way it looks and I don't really see anything else that gives the all round experience that the 130i does for the money.
Buy a DC2 Integra with your cash. Make sure it's a solid one and you'll never lose any money on it, plus they're a darn sight more exciting than a 1 Series.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff