Which ones the better buy?

[mikeknivett]

Hi

I am hoping to buy an m3 manual cab this week, I have narrowed it down to two options and would welcome some feedback

One is a standard silver

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3286652.htm

Seems to be well priced but 4 owners seemed quite high?

The other I think looks stunning

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3199259.htm

But it's way more money, yes it's lower mileage but I am not sure this justifies price also whilst I like the look of it as it will be based in Spain so the cream leather is much better in the sun than black I am not sure others would

Any opinions and also recommendations on good insurers who may do limited mileage policies as will only be a weekend car would be much appreciated.

Thanks and I look forward to being an M3 owner again very soon

Cheers

Mike

[DennisCooper]

Hi

Only you can decide which is the better buy.

Number of owners is becoming more and more irrelevant in logical terms. For people like me, I'd never even look at number of owners as I ALWAYS buy in the condition of the car and evidence it's been looked after.

Lighter leather is almost proportional to the amount of time and effort you need to put in to keep it looking good. As soon as you skimp on cleaning duties of lighter leather, the quicker they'll start to look tired, and they show up SO easily when maintenence has been skimped on. Black may well be 'boring' to some, but by hell is it the most easiest to look after !

If both cars check out mechanically as good and no issues etc then as I say above, only you can decide which to go for...

Cheers, Dennis!

[Pulse]

As above. ALWAYS buy on condition, not number of owners or anything arbitrary like that. My 06 plate Z4M has had SIX OWNERS including me, and it doesn't bother me at all. My car is absolutely mint, well looked after, perfect service history, etc.

[2thumbs]

I've noticed convertibles do tend to change hands more often than boring cars
So a few extra owners is quite normal & nothing I'd be concerned with.

[Nedz]

Depends on your budget.Second car is obviously the better buy and if you can get them down on price a touch,a couple of grand aint much of a difference these days.(A good set of tyres and a service will cost you £2k with one of these!!!)

The first car also looks like its had a cheap wheel refurb.Apart from looking crap it shows that the car has been driven by some carless nimrod(s) who like crashing into kerbs on a regular basis.

[mikeknivett]

Wow I'm impressed I thought the wheels had been done well but clearly I missed something, what gives them asawy as badly done???

Alsoany good ideas on insurance as I have just been told my no claims has expired after 2 years of not having a car in the uk which will massively hit my premium!!

[Nedz]

The 19in alloys on the M3 have a pollished finnish which you can clearly see on the second car and is not easy to do come re-furb time.I might be wrong but on the first car it looks like they have just been painted silver which doesn't look anywhere near as good.

They are an easy wheel to kerb to be honest and most are usually in a right state or had some kind of re-furb.When i bought mine the alloys were still original with no sign of kerb damage which with over 40k miles on at the time went to show that the car had been driven with some degree of care.

[skeeterm5]

Why not check this out the AUC site - there is a 2004 on there for the same price as your higher priced indie.

http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/bmwauc/details/0,,1156_...


S

[PeteB]

For what is worth, the silverstone blue looking one looks very nice and is a little bit different, so i would choose that one and i would say the price difference is about right. In terms of owners for the silver one, everyone else has summed it up. When I bought my E46 coupe at 2 years old and 20k miles I was the fifth owner, one previous being a dealer demo, so I had the same thoughts as you. 60k miles later it has been totally faultless so the fact that 3 people decided to sell in a short space of time is rather irrelevant. As many others have said, buy on condition and evidence of it being looked after.

[BuzyG]

Silverstone Blue one, is indeed much better on the eye. Would be my choice. At 49000, and being a convertable, has it had a major service yet? Worth checking it has.