Am I asking for too much?

[vinnie83]

Here's a quick one for the experts amongst you.

I have recently sold my car and have cash in the bank - maximum budget £14,000.

I want a 320d M-sport coupe with no more than 60k miles on the clock.

It must have bluetooth, heated seats, and xenon lights.

I am reluctant to buy from independant dealers as I always feel there's a chance that they may be dodgy - and without knowing their reputation I could end up with a dud.

There's only about 2 cars for sale that seem to meet my requirements but they are very slightly over budget!

Am I asking for too much from my budget?

[martin mrt]

I don't think you are, but I dont follow the prices for E92s like I do the E90/91

Xenons are standard on the E92 so all you really want is Bluetooth and hot seats

[vinnie83]

martin mrt said:

I don't think you are, but I dont follow the prices for E92s like I do the E90/91

Xenons are standard on the E92 so all you really want is Bluetooth and hot seats

Ah, I didn't realise that xenons were standard, I was looking at saloons originally so assumed the basic spec was like for like.

Is there anything else standard on the coupe that was an option on the saloon?

I wonder why there are so few of them for sale! there's hundreds of saloons!

[Fox-]

There are loads of them for sale, they just cost more than £14k?

[vinnie83]

Fox- said:

There are loads of them for sale, they just cost more than £14k?

Well yes, but since my budget is £14k, that's not really any good for me

I have been searching for cars up to £15k - there really aren't very many, whereas there's literally hundreds of saloons.

I didn't realise the coupes commanded such a premium.

[Deerfoot]

It doesn't have bluetooth (fit a Parrot?) or heated seats and isn't a BMW approved car but this looks OK? Massively undercuts your mileage limit as well......

http://www.prestigesportscars.com/bmw-320d-m-sport...

[vinnie83]

Deerfoot said:

It doesn't have bluetooth (fit a Parrot?) or heated seats and isn't a BMW approved car but this looks OK? Massively undercuts your mileage limit as well......

http://www.prestigesportscars.com/bmw-320d-m-sport...

It looks good, but I doubt that they would take a grand off the asking price, and then I have to factor in the cost of fitting a parrot.

I'm not concerned about BMW approved - I know that my requirements to be met from a main dealer would not be possible with my budget.

But as mentioned I'm always a little concerned about buying from indipendent dealers if I don't know anything about them - maybe I'm being paranoid!

[Deerfoot]

vinnie83 said:

It looks good, but I doubt that they would take a grand off the asking price

Perhaps not but they've had it while now (I've been looking at a few of thier cars over th last few weeks) and have already reduced it. It might be worth a phone call to see if they're up for a deal....

[Deerfoot]

I've just had another look and it's now showing as sold!

[vinnie83]

Deerfoot said:

I've just had another look and it's now showing as sold!

Yep you're right, it was showing for sale earlier!

[sparkythecat]

vinnie83 said:

But as mentioned I'm always a little concerned about buying from indipendent dealers if I don't know anything about them - maybe I'm being paranoid!

Just do a little homework. If they are a firm who've been in business for decades on the same site, and have workshops and repair facilities chances are they are OK. Just talk to the locals.

On the other hand, if they are in a low rent unit on an industrial estate off the beaten track that contains nothing more than some cars, a desk and a laptop chances are they might not be there next week.