Cruis3r

1. The car is a 2009 model Mazda 3. It appears to have the infamous 'dashboard melting' issue plagued with Toyotas and other brands during the timeframe. The owner has wrapped the dashboard with a cloth like material to hide the sticky and ugly dashboard. It actually looks nice. However, during the pre purchase inspection, the garage advised that this wrap could severely affect the airbag deployment and recommended to buy a new dashboard which has the issue fixed. What are your thoughts on this? 2. The car is a UK spec, so the speedometer and mileage are in miles and the turn signal lever is switched. Are these considered a major turn off in our market that it would affect my resale?

Thanks for your reply. I am pretty obsessive on maintenance so I think I would have the discipline to maintain a Euro vehicle. I understand that these vehicles need more attention than our regular Japanese vehicles (partly that's the charm to it). While I am completely fine with it , my concern is having issues every month for one thing or another. I've seen in many forums that people who are maintaining their cars well, still face issues with their BMWs. The guy at M-y made it sound like I was going to make a stupid decision by looking at E46s. He mentioned that there are constant leaks on the n42 engine. However, to be fair he sounded genuine and didn't seem off the cuff. Thanks for your reply. Any chance you are planning to sell one of your E46s ? Would love to get a BMW which has been taken care properly by the previous owner. Its really difficult to find E46s with day one service records. I too was looking at petrols as I read in AL that they are relatively easier to maintain. The E46 I was looking at was actually maintained at Berlin Motor world (i think we are referring to the same place). Is the place reliable?

Lets assume the car has service records and a pre purchase inspection reveals the bmw is in good working condition. Is it still a good idea to get these older BMWs? I checked with Milroy and they say they no long work on these models and there are no spare parts with them (they seem to work on 2010+ models). What are your thoughts?

This thread has been invaluable for me as I am looking to buy a Civic. Thank you for everyone that has contributed. Can I ask the following questions from the long term owners of civic 2017/18 models? Apart from the AC condenser issue, are there any other defects that I need to keep an eye on before purchasing? Once the condenser is replaced (using a Thailand condenser part?) is the issue resolved? Or is this a recurring issue even after replacing the defected unit with an aftermarket condenser? I am hearing some owners having turbo issues. Are the turbo issues widespread or are they due to poor maintenance? What are the best practices for the turbo longevity? If the potential civic I am interested in is using semi-synthetic engine oil, should I avoid the car completely or can I flush it and use fully synthetic oil immediately after purchase? TIA