Advice on buying a 335d with high mileage

[colly911]

I've done my research and I have my heart set on a 335d. I found one locally (I live in Ireland) and its almost perfect. Great spec, colour, fantastic nic. Problem is it has 133,000 miles on it. Now it does have a fairly immaculate service history with main dealer BMW garages. It drives like car with half the mileage. So seems to be very well looked after. Talking to lots of people some are saying that it's got slightly more than average mileage and it will go for another 100k no bother, and to buy it. Others are saying you are asking for problems buying a car with that mileage and when something breaks its going to cost a dam fortune, and I should wait to find one with sub 100k on the clock. Thing is the dealer will take my car in trade and give me a decent deal - but my mate thinks its expensive for this mileage. He imports cars into Ireland from the UK - you can usually get a better car and save a few quid. Problem is that looking online any that have low mileage are quite a bit more expensive. Most are £7-8k but anything under 100k miles is at least 10k.

I was thinking of getting a professional inspection on the car to see what condition its in and what is likely to need changing soon.

What do you guys think - would you advise to stay away as its risky or is there value to be had?

[colly911]

Thanks. What's funny is that when looking around right now - for very 10,000 miles less on the clock it seems to add €1000 to the cost of the car. To get an 09 with 80k would cost me about an extra 5k including all taxes etc (importing into Ireland) and I'm wondering if it's worth it...

[colly911]

That's what I'm doing. I'm getting a BMW Specialist to do an inspection and then check everything that has been done. If the news is now good I'll walk...

[colly911]

Guys can anyone advice about the timing chain? Does it usually need to be replaced at certain mileage? A mechanic said that it was above the tolerances and that it should be done soon - it's a risk to buy a car like this. What do you think?

[colly911]

Slippydiff said:

Agreed, they need using hard, as short runs/city driving kills them.

Is there anything you can do to prevent that? I do long journeys every week or two but I also do short journeys - 30 mins to work in slow traffic, and out to the shops etc. Is this a recipe for disaster?

[colly911]

Thanks, good to know. So my mother lives 50 miles away and about 40 of it is one motorway - I can sit at 70mph all the way more or less. I do this usually about every 2-4 weeks depending. Is this enough to keep problems at bay?

My mother will probably get a lot more visits when I get this car

[colly911]

Thanks for all the replies - I decided not to buy the one with high mileage. I'm on the lookout now for one with less than 100,000 miles. I had sale agreed on a perfect 335d, exact spec I want and agreed at £8,250 - but I got gazumped - he sold it the next day to a guy who came with cash. Gutted.

So now its just a waiting game for the right car to come up. I only want grey or blue, with black leather - kinda hard to come by at the right price!