Downgrading from M135i, 4k budget - Page 1 - Car Buying

Thursday 5th September 2019

Hi All

Downgrading my car (M135i) to something a lot cheaper due to a move into a bigger property. Looking for something around 4k max.

I commute 35 miles a day 4 days a week, mainly motorway - do maximum 10k a year, probably closer to 8k - due to this I’m assuming a petrol would be a much better choice.
4/5 doors, decent size (similar to M135 will do, happy with either hatchback or saloon)
Would like a bit of power but not a deal breaker.
Not too fussed about mpg, although anything south of what I get with the M135 (around 28mpg) will be hard to swallow!
Automatic preferably

I’ve been leaning towards Lexus IS200/250/300 however a good one is hard to come by it seems - they seem to be snapped up quickly, and unfortunately IS300s seem quite rare.

Any other suggestions? Thanks

ZX10R NIN

30,525 posts

154 months

Thursday 5th September 2019

s m

24,462 posts

232 months

Thursday 5th September 2019

Maybe not this one but one of these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-06-BMW-130i-3-0-au...

1,999 posts

126 months

Thursday 5th September 2019

FAM333 said:

Hi All

Downgrading my car (M135i) to something a lot cheaper due to a move into a bigger property. Looking for something around 4k max.

I commute 35 miles a day 4 days a week, mainly motorway - do maximum 10k a year, probably closer to 8k - due to this I’m assuming a petrol would be a much better choice.
4/5 doors, decent size (similar to M135 will do, happy with either hatchback or saloon)
Would like a bit of power but not a deal breaker.
Not too fussed about mpg, although anything south of what I get with the M135 (around 28mpg) will be hard to swallow!
Automatic preferably

I’ve been leaning towards Lexus IS200/250/300 however a good one is hard to come by it seems - they seem to be snapped up quickly, and unfortunately IS300s seem quite rare.

Any other suggestions? Thanks

A Lexus is250 is as dull as a dishwasher, I had one. My Subaru legacy on the other hand...

anonymous-user

83 months

Friday 6th September 2019

ericmcn said:

A Lexus is250 is as dull as a dishwasher, I had one. My Subaru legacy on the other hand...

Wagonwheel555

909 posts

85 months

Friday 6th September 2019

I would be looking at a 325i/330i personally.

grudas

1,407 posts

197 months

Friday 6th September 2019

I'd say 250 too.

had mine for over a year and it's a brilliant car, struggling to put it up for sale now it's replacement arrived..

it's been such a good car, always reliable and does everything it should.

Mine is a pretty much top-spec SE-L only missing the sunroof option, is a 2008 and has done 115k miles with only one thing going wrong in the last 8 years and that was a battery cable.

for a 2008 car it has -;

front/rear parking sensors
reverse camera
17 speaker system ML system
heated/cooled seats
sat nav
auto lights etc

and it's probably worth around 4-4.5k

thats why it would be my choice, you get a lot for you money with them!

finding one shouldn't be too hard either, but as said, good ones come and go quickly.

FAM333

Original Poster

2 posts

84 months

Friday 6th September 2019

Thanks for all the replies guys, good to see some varying opinions! And thanks for that huge selection ZX10R NIN! I must say I do like the look of the C230, the Audi A3 3.2 never crossed my mind either...

1,999 posts

126 months

Friday 6th September 2019

grudas said:

I'd say 250 too.

had mine for over a year and it's a brilliant car, struggling to put it up for sale now it's replacement arrived..

it's been such a good car, always reliable and does everything it should.

Mine is a pretty much top-spec SE-L only missing the sunroof option, is a 2008 and has done 115k miles with only one thing going wrong in the last 8 years and that was a battery cable.

for a 2008 car it has -;

front/rear parking sensors
reverse camera
17 speaker system ML system
heated/cooled seats
sat nav
auto lights etc

and it's probably worth around 4-4.5k

thats why it would be my choice, you get a lot for you money with them!

finding one shouldn't be too hard either, but as said, good ones come and go quickly.

I had a 2008 SEL, You get alot of money but it's not an engaging driving experience, depends what you want at the end of the day. For reliability you can't go wrong however and a 2008 Lexus of any type would be far more reliable than a VAG/BMW

grudas

1,407 posts

197 months

Friday 6th September 2019

ericmcn said:

I had a 2008 SEL, You get alot of money but it's not an engaging driving experience, depends what you want at the end of the day. For reliability you can't go wrong however and a 2008 Lexus of any type would be far more reliable than a VAG/BMW

agreed it isn't fun or fast it simply is a good CAR but not something that has character about it.

if you wanted something more fun I'd be looking at e46, accord etc.

StevieT735

103 posts

171 months

Friday 6th September 2019

GS300 if you want something comfy?

1,999 posts

126 months

Friday 6th September 2019

grudas said:

agreed it isn't fun or fast it simply is a good CAR but not something that has character about it.

if you wanted something more fun I'd be looking at e46, accord etc.

Had 2.4 Accord also, the Subaru legacy is a different league to that also. With a 4k budget i would get a Japanese car anyway if you dont want to be chucking loads of money away, any German car is very likely to end up with big bills in this price range- just like the Audi TT-RS on the other thread and that is probably worth over 2 x the cost

1,999 posts

126 months

Friday 6th September 2019

StevieT735 said:

GS300 if you want something comfy?

good shout, or a 450h, not mad about a CVT box myself but you cant argue with what car you get for pittance

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/lexus/le...

from 2007

'We’re not sure how much Tory-boy’s ‘celebrity’ endorsement is worth, but the Lexus GS450h is probably the most technically advanced ‘green’ car currently available as a standard-production model. It’s a big executive saloon with a premium badge and is priced accordingly, from £38,068. But that high price allows Lexus to include one of the most sophisticated powertrains offered in any car, at any price. Lexus doesn’t make much profit on these. The GS450h will hit 60mph in just 5.9 seconds (BMW 550i: 5.6 seconds) yet return a claimed 35.8mpg and emit just 186g/km of CO2 when most of its rivals are off the company car-tax dial.'

1,999 posts

126 months

Friday 6th September 2019

I came upon this car, same as my own a few years older but this looks absolutely mint and a perfect MOT aside from some wear and tear items and with 80k odd miles its hardly worn in - 5 minutes test drive sold me for my Subaru, that was over 3 years ago. Can you suck up mpg equal to or worse, (depending on your right foot angle) to a M135i.......

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Mr Tidy

31,233 posts

156 months

Friday 6th September 2019

That Subaru looks good - but £570 a year for road tax might make your eyes water. eek

I bought a BMW E90 330i within your budget earlier this year - but you might manage to find a 130i, which you ought to feel at home with!

Toed64

299 posts

149 months

Saturday 7th September 2019

I had a 135i for over 5 years, a 130i for the last 2 years. They followed 10 years of 3 litre Subaru Outbacks. My 3.0RN was so good that I sold my wife's low mileage Accord Estate (excellent, boringly bland - not a single fault in 4 years) and bought a 2nd Outback 3.0. In those 10 years the cars consumed 3 or 4 ARB drop links, 2 front suspension bushes and a few front CV joint gaiters. They just never broke down and always rewarded. Fun to drive when you boot them, especially when you turn off the traction control and they (and the Accord) were the most reliable cars we have owned. They were also enormously comfortable.

The BMWs were great fun, the N55 was spectacularly quick, but they cost £hundreds every year to fix all the bits that broke and fell off. The top rate road tax is a small price to pay for Japanese engineering reliability. A cheap BMW is highly likely to be a false economy, because even good ones break quite frequently.

I've got a cheap Lexus RX 350 now and I quite like it. It's comfortable, quiet, quite quick (so long as you don't expect too much from its soft suspension)...it's fine...but I wish I had waited for another good Subaru estate to come along.

1,999 posts

126 months

Monday 9th September 2019

Toed64 said:

I had a 135i for over 5 years, a 130i for the last 2 years. They followed 10 years of 3 litre Subaru Outbacks. My 3.0RN was so good that I sold my wife's low mileage Accord Estate (excellent, boringly bland - not a single fault in 4 years) and bought a 2nd Outback 3.0. In those 10 years the cars consumed 3 or 4 ARB drop links, 2 front suspension bushes and a few front CV joint gaiters. They just never broke down and always rewarded. Fun to drive when you boot them, especially when you turn off the traction control and they (and the Accord) were the most reliable cars we have owned. They were also enormously comfortable.

The BMWs were great fun, the N55 was spectacularly quick, but they cost £hundreds every year to fix all the bits that broke and fell off. The top rate road tax is a small price to pay for Japanese engineering reliability. A cheap BMW is highly likely to be a false economy, because even good ones break quite frequently.

I've got a cheap Lexus RX 350 now and I quite like it. It's comfortable, quiet, quite quick (so long as you don't expect too much from its soft suspension)...it's fine...but I wish I had waited for another good Subaru estate to come along.

the crazy thing is, if the OP drove that Subaru there would have to be something wrong with him NOT to want it. The VED scares 99.99% of the people away but thats just something you need to accept and move on. I never even considered VED as an obstacle, My old Lexus was over £500 a year on VED. Maybe coming from Ireland I have a more lax viewing of this - I can live with an extra £200 or so to get a car on the road a year, its not like it will bankrupt me. Now if VED was several thousand, that could be a problem!

Zebrs

461 posts

221 months

Tuesday 10th September 2019

Another vote for a 330i - I bought (a few years ago) an early manual E90 SE with Msport suspension, seats, radar cruise, Logic7, I drive, heated seats etc for less than your budget. Ok they’re probably going to be 100k miles plus but it’s a nice place to be and engines/drivetrains are strong (make sure water pump done) and will do 30+ on a run no problems.

Eta: just seen you want an auto, well there are even more of those around smile

Edited by Zebrs on Tuesday 10th September 19:38

cerb4.5lee

44,278 posts

209 months

Tuesday 10th September 2019

Zebrs said:

Another vote for a 330i - I bought (a few years ago) an early manual E90 SE with Msport suspension, seats, radar cruise, Logic7, I drive, heated seats etc for less than your budget. Ok they’re probably going to be 100k miles plus but it’s a nice place to be and engines/drivetrains are strong (make sure water pump done) and will do 30+ on a run no problems.

Eta: just seen you want an auto, well there are even more of those around smile

Talk him into going for the manual instead please!...the N52 engine mated to the ancient ZF6 auto is sacrilege for me(I had that combo myself for 4 years for my sins!!).

DoubleD

22,154 posts

137 months