Upgrading from first car to a 1 series

[jbenington86]

sell you my 2008 128i for 19.5k

[syenisch]

I think you're stretching the funds a bit. For comparison, I pay $350 a month for my 135i, and with the house payment, which I split with the fiancée, my car is 6.5% of my salary, and I still feel the burn sometimes!

Keep in mind that you're at a point in your life that things can change rapidly. 2.5 years ago I was fresh out of college and living at home to save some cash. Figured the 135i would be easy to swing. Now I am engaged and have my own house. I am still living comfortably, but my bank account is by no means rising as quickly as I would like to see it rise. I would at least save up for a larger down payment so you're not putting down $500 a month.

[Diver]

Originally Posted by Spoetzl

I paid $36.2k for my 2011 135 in November. But she only has leather, and the M sports package. I think MSRP was around $39k. I was going to get 128 with the sport package and 6mt but after driving the 135 I had to have it.

You made a smart move, but this deal is no longer available. A 2012 like this would be over $4k more.

[jkp1187]

How is the 128i in the snow? I've only driven FWD. With snow tires will I be alright to drive around a city/suburbs like Pittsburgh?

Yes, you should be fine for most situations. For the truly hairy situations that it can't handle, you should probably just stay at home anyway. I was out near Carnegie the Friday night of the blizzard that struck the first week of February last year with my 135i. The parkway was closed due to accidents, so I ended up driving out to the airport Marriott to spend the night. I left a few FWD cars (with all-season tires, I'm guessing,) behind spinning their wheels in the snow. The only real problem I had was the next day, when I was driving on still-unplowed city streets near my house, where the car got stuck because of snow clearance issues.

(For the record: I did go out and buy a set of snow chains, in light of the surprising amount of snow we've been getting the past few winters, just to be safe. Haven't needed them.)

That said, if you have a job that requires you to get there no matter what, the IS250 with AWD would obviously be a safer option.

Regarding reliability, the 128i has not had the chronic fuel pump issues that the 135i is known for. I think Consumer Reports (if you believe them) rates it as 'average'. Manual transmission preferred over automatic for long-term reliability.

I've been looking at used 2009-2011 used 128i on auto trader. Is there a big difference between these models?

I don't believe so. There was a change for the 135i for the MY 2011 - N55 engine instead of N54 and DCT instead of regular automatic.

If you're looking at a 2009 made before...I think it was March?...you will have a keyhole for the trunk. After that, you will not be able to open the trunk with the key.

Regarding finances....$500/month sounds a bit much for the kind of income range you're talking about. If I were you, I'd hold off for another year or two at least, and save some more money.

If the Honda is about to die, maybe consider getting a 2002-05 E46 M3. You can probably get one of those cheaper than a 2009 128i. (Of course, maintenance/repairs on that will be more expensive, but it's still a hell of a car.)

[amancuso]

Hi Steelers, I'm late to the game here, but I HIGHLY recommend finding a nice low mile late In Service date CPO'd 128i from a dealership. I was going through the same thing as you when I was looking back in November. I was trying to decided between a 135i and a 128i but chose the 128i for maintenance reasons. I am keeping the car for 5-6 years as well and wanted ease of ownership as well as long a warranty as possible. The 128i is MORE then adequate for daily driving, and if you find one with the M-Sport or Sport package they ride on the same sport suspensions as the 135i's. So far mine has been a pleasure to own. For some reason my car had a very late in-service date so I'm covered under factory warranty till 1-09-2013 or 50,000 miles, then I have the CPO warranty till 1-09-2015 or 100,000 miles. I found my 128i equipped with Sport Package, Cold Weather Package, Premium Package, iPod/Aux in and hi-fi stereo. Pretty much loaded except for Nav and comfort access all for the grand sum of 24,900.00 All in all I love the car and wouldn't change a thing.

Good luck in your search.

Al.

[alexckma]

just find a 128 with the right options and price then go for it.