[Durham M135i]

Hello guys
First thread new on here
I have owned number of BMWs over the years, e46 325i(fantastic car, brilliant, owned it for 7 years, had to go due to old age!)F11 523i(bought AUC, very good value for money at the time, luxury and refinement at a very high level, too big for my garage, had to go after six months with a tear in my eyes)and F21 m135i(brand new, PCP since December 2012), all of these cars have been six- cylinder auto petrols
Getting the itch to get rid of my car and get a diesel three touring
Reasons
- have three kids(and a wife!), hate using the Smax- my wife on family outings, F 31 would be more practical
-economy- getting 32MPG, not brilliant with the cost of fuel being what it is
-not fully comfortable with the one series image, although m135i is not your ordinary oner

Doubts
-fearful of missing the performance, thinking of getting a 320d, so performance not comparable
-worried about missing the beautiful soundtrack of the petrol six cylinder
- finance, would like leather, xenon, pronav, sports auto, heated seats, folding mirrors(have I missed any essential bits there?), i'm paying £570 on three year PCP, do you think I can get a car of my requirements without a considerable deposit for such a monthly figure?want to keep or reduce my monthlies if possible, however I didn't put a big deposit on the m135, negative equity? From your experience how generous are stealers in appraising your equity when they are keen to get you on a new deal?
Your thoughts and advice appreciated

[ewanmac]

I think you will find it very hard to change. The 6cyl petrol is a peach of an engine and, while the 4cyl diesel is very good, it is noisy and unrefined compared to the 6cyl petrol. I have had a 320d and 335i in the past so this comes from personal experience.

I would look at a 6cyl diesel (330d or even better 335d). They aren't as nice as the petrol but much more powerful than the 4cyl and they sound pretty good too. Also, some of the spec you want (leather sports auto) are standard on the 6cyl but not the 4 so the price differential might not be as much as you think. There are some great deals out there and I think you should be able to get a 330d within your budget.

[F30AM]

The F31 328i M Sport sDrive is excellent value for money.

[F30AM]

Check these Lease Deals from Cars2Vans:
Example - F30 M Sport with Pro Media £285.99 pcm and many others .......

http://www.cars2vans.com/any-contrac...855&fueltype=D

[Durham M135i]

Very competitive these lease deals at the moment
Probably more so than PCP, i wonder why my local dealer hasn't been able to match my current PCP. Payment for an 320d xdrive when I asked recently?
Possibly due to negative equity?
335d xdrive must be a hooligan! I have noticed diasspointing MPG of forum members with big diesels, is that down to a very dynamic driving style or are these 6 cyl diesels not frugal?ideally I would like to get over 40mpg

[GEP77]

As you are getting 32mpg out of the M135i then 40 mpg out of a 330d or 335d shouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility. The real issue is going to be trade in value of your 1er. If you didn't have a big deposit then you might well be in negative equity on it, that will be your main sticking point. My recent car choice (F31 335d on order) starting with me looking at getting an M135i earlier in the year. By my calculation and I did a lot the overall cost of ownership between the M135i and 335d will be very similar despite the large difference in RRP. I do about 25000-30000 miles a year so I don't know how you'll compare.
If you can cope with the cost of changing then I'm sure you'll enjoy the three. Do take some test drives, but only drive a 330d or 335d if you can make the numbers work as you won't want to look back!

[davyk31]

Big discounts on 335d at the moment, up to 18 to 20%.

[Durham M135i]

Thanks for the input guys
Just got back from the dealers, settlement figure on my m135i is 27k, they want to give me 24k in part ex
If you go for a 330d with basic nav, visibility, heated seats, foldable mirrors my monthlies would jump to £680 on 36 month PCP with £500 deposit, dealer didn't say how big a discount he was offering on this deal, didn't push him as it is miles from what I am prepared to pay for a 330d

[Chrishumes]

so your 3k out to start with. not the best position to be in, but I would say push for the best pcp deal possible as at 3.9%apr, your unlikely to get a better finance package from elsewhere. work with other dealers to secure best price.

eg I got a good 6k off a 40k car

[GEP77]

Even so that is a big difference, even with quite a bit of money off you'd need to find quite a sizeable deposit to get payment down to the £500 mark. It really shows the pitfalls of changing a car in the first half of a pcp. Of course the other option might be to sell the M135i privately and go for a lease deal, but this might not suit your circumstances and seriously increases the amount of hassle for you.

[Durham M135i]

It is a shame BMW doesn't offer good finance deals on the X3 as it is competitively priced in the first place with few things which come as standard like leather, parking sensors, and they hold on to their value much better
However they don't handle as well as a touring (probably, as I only drove x5 before) and economy is worse.
The dealer was trying to push me to go for a saloon because of lower APR and (his) claim of better residuals on the saloon(which I. Find difficult to believe BTW)

[JohnM]

I have made the change from a M135i to a 330D with PPk I was lucky that I did the deal on a stock car in September when they were chasing target & at that time BMW were putting more money in behind the scenes to shift metal.

My M135i was new dec 2012 with good spec 7k on the clock mint condition they gave me £26250 for it which is what I owed on the BMW 4yr pcp. I originally put in £1500 I never put big Deposits into a pcp contract. The also gave me £5k off the new car & supplied & fitted the PPK kit for £1100 which I was very happy with.

I would suggest you wait for March when there could be again some additional support from BMW to shift the metal.

The 330 with PPK will give you 90% of what the M135i had in a strait line & the in gear performance is lovely, but having had a 325D for 2 days as a loaner you will be very disappointed with the gruff nature of the 4 pot IMHO

Best of luck I would also shop around as well

[Durham M135i]

Thanks John
What is PPk by the way?
What were your monthly payments on the M135i and what are they now? Did you have to put another deposit on the three series?

[TMP]

I am not sure an f31 would be big enough for three kids either?

[JohnM]

PPK is BMW's own performance pack includes up rated intercooler & new ecu another 28bhp & 50ltbs of torque with full BMW warranty.

My payments on the M135i were £460 a month, payments on the new 330 are £553 over 48 months with £1500 down but it is a very high spec car hope this helps.

[Durham M135i]

Originally Posted by TMP

I am not sure an f31 would be big enough for three kids either?

Not the ideal car to carry three children and two adults regularly true
TBH even the F 11 is not ideal for that purpose(been there-owned one for six months), unfortunately run of the mill MPVs are much more accommodating but crap to drive and be in
An X5 might be better in this regard but fat more expensive to own and run, also attract the wrong sort of attention and project the wrong image if you know what I mean!