Wish To Have A Bimmer.

luckey007 · July 21, 2011

Dear friends,

I am badly fallen love with an Euro,actually a Bimmer.But I have never used or even driven one.All the money I have is 2mil rupees.So pls advise me regarding these.

1. What are the Diesel powered Bimmers I can go?

2.What are the main differences in maintenance comparing to the japs?

3.How much should I keep ready in hand for sudden repairs-roughly-?(This question may look stupid,but have to reduce my budget accordingly.Eg.If you say it is 2 lakhs I have only 1.8 mil for the car.)

4.What are the special concerns when using an Euro?

5.Do you have any advices to a new Euro/Bimmer user?

Thanks in advance.

The Don · July 22, 2011

Dear friends,

I am badly fallen love with an Euro,actually a Bimmer.But I have never used or even driven one.All the money I have is 2mil rupees.So pls advise me regarding these.

1. What are the Diesel powered Bimmers I can go?

2.What are the main differences in maintenance comparing to the japs?

3.How much should I keep ready in hand for sudden repairs-roughly-?(This question may look stupid,but have to reduce my budget accordingly.Eg.If you say it is 2 lakhs I have only 1.8 mil for the car.)

4.What are the special concerns when using an Euro?

5.Do you have any advices to a new Euro/Bimmer user?

Thanks in advance.

Lucky007, do a search as lots more information is available as this has been discussed many times over.

My advice is

1. Don't buy a BMW if you are cost concious. It is a "premium" vehicle after all. Even in Europe servicing a BMW, Mercedes or Audi costs a bit more than others.

2. I can't think of a Diesel BMW widely available in SL for 2 million (The 320D is available for about 3 million). Your best bet would be an Audi A4.

3. All cars need to be maintained by people who understand them and this holds true for both Japs and German cars. The only difference is there are lot more mechanics who understand Japanese cars than BMW. So such specialists will charge you a premium for their services.

4. BMWs when maintained well are very reliable. What you will find is often (like Japanese cars) some have been maintained by people who don't understand them, or haven't put the effort and you will have to spend a bit initially on the car to bring it up to good condition. So it is advisable to keep about 200K at hand when you buy one but also have it thoroughly inspected by a specialist before purchase.

5. Try to buy a brand new import when buying a Euro as you will get a car that was climatised to SL conditions. Some grey imports suffered terribly in our weather.

6. Maintain your BMW properly and it won't let you down. Please do some research on the car you are buying so you understand what to expect. It is impossible to make general comments about Euros in general.

rangerover · July 23, 2011

Just to add to what don mentioned, the BMW's avialable for your price range would be the later versions of the E36 and E34. Whilst most of these could cost way below your budget of 2.0 mil, a very well maintained and cared for one could fetch closer to the budget. If you can stretch it for about 300k you can also go for the 1996/97 5 series e39.

Just a word of caution; if the price is too good to be true, it probably is. and also don't be penny wise pound foolish when it comes maintaining these cars. It can be expensive to maintain if you rely on the agents and experts to source parts. But there are so many other channels for importing parts, which would bring the maintanance cost almost on par with a jap. When it comes to the actual part replacement get it done by someone who knows about the car.