[kill4surf]

Ok, here is the deal. The car I am buying is an 06 325i / Sport / Premium / Active Steering / Blootooth / Satellite Radio / And the color combo I wanted. It is a demo car with 3K miles on it. It stickers for 41K and I am getting it for 35K. A hell of a deal. But it has halogens not xenons. I know the right thing to do, but damn its tough. I have been searching this site for alternatives but havent really found them. What would you do?

[Oz]

It sounds like a good deal but I personally wouldn't buy a demo car myself. The Xenon does add a lot to the car so I would think about this before making your purchase

I would honestly order a new car and pay a little more knowing I got what i wanted.

[Paul330d]

Agreed: the fastest car in the world is a rental, the second fastest is a demonstrator

[AW330i]

I would be really afraid of buying a demo, I have seen the way they are treated

[kill4surf]

I am not too worried. My wifes 03 e46 was a demo and the car is still amazing. Plus the car is covered if anything happens and I save 6K on the sticker price. Come to think of it, the xenons are over rated and the halogens will be good enough. I am not buying the car for the headlights.

[thd13]

There is no doubt in my mind that down the road, you would regret getting a demo; even worse, you would regret getting a demo without Xenons. Don't do it to yourself. As someone said earlier, spend a little more money on a new car. Remember, you get what you pay for.

[kill4surf]

Originally Posted by AW330i

I would be really afraid of buying a demo, I have seen the way they are treated

Why would you be afraid? Did you have a bad experience with a demo car? What did you see people do? This car was not a rental but it was a salespersons car

[thd13]

If you have had luck with demos, more power to you! I still would never get a BMW without the Xenons, but that is just me.

[cntlaw]

I would not bother with aftermarkets addon's BiXenon unless you are pretty sure someone ( or a pro shop) has done that successfully. This is simply because BiXenon headlamps always linked to the car's central computer signals processing system, which monitors the BiXenon electrical behaviors e.g. auto-levelling. The computer 's firmware requires special programming logic to handle car with BiXenon, and also car with adaptive cornering BiXenon headlamps feature. It is a pro shop's job even there exists aftermarkets inventory. If auto-levelling is not done properly, it is pointless to spend so much for a pair of aftermarkets BiXenon and they do not beam on the road correctly.

6K is a big saving, however, a reducd price demo car also means what you see is what you get. If you can bear with a demo car, it is logical that you should cope with whatever options are / are not on it. Even you can wait for another demo car with a BiXenon, it likely wont be a 325i because by default, it does not come with BiXenon. The 330i does. Good luck anyway.

[thd13]

Originally Posted by kill4surf

Why would you be afraid? Did you have a bad experience with a demo car? What did you see people do? This car was not a rental but it was a salespersons car

When I hear "demo car", I think of the poor Electric Red E90 that I thrashed and tore apart during my test drive. I didn't know that there was a break-in period and the dealer didn't seem to care about it either. I was redlining almost every gear and was going over 110 MPH during some of the stretches. That makes me never wanna buy off of the lot ever again, BTW.

If it was a salesperson's car, it would be the same thing. I really don't think that a salesperson would treat the car as it was his own. He's not gonna be stuck with it. Some unfortunate Joe Schmoe down the road will be the lucky recipient of the vehicle.

need the xenons

[barrett9699]

Yeah, but do you think you did $6K worth of damage? That's one hell of a test drive.

You can do some pretty extensive repairs down the road and still come out way ahead when you save $6K up front. And you don't have to marry the car. I'm sure the demo still has tons of warranty left. Sounds like a solid value.

My wifes previous Z3 was a demo. We saved $6K (otherwise would have been out of our price range) and got rid of it before the warranty was up anyhow. And it's being a demo didn't hurt us one bit when we sold it. It was a brilliant move for us IMHO.

[ben1364]

If the appeal of xenon lamps is their appearance, save yourself some money and order some neon strips from J C Whitney and hang them on the front of the car. You could also get some big chrome plated trumpet horns and affix them to the front fenders. <g> However, if you are interested in better lighting, search the Roundel archives for columns addressing the subject. The standard halogens are not bad lamps when you get right down to it.

[SCA]

I have no problems with purchasing a managers (parts, service, sales, FI, or GM) former demo. In fact our X5 was the finance mgrs. demo and we've had zero issues with it from being a demo. Saved a shit load of cash though. $9k to be specific. It was a no brainer.

BTW, BMW NA extends the warranty to 55,000 miles and adds 6 additional months.

[coupedupcivic]

If i were you I would jump on that deal. I know xenons are hot and all. I actually bought the 325 xi met graphite, prem,cld weather, steptronic and when i went home I realized that a bmw is not a bmw without xenons! SO i beat on the car all the way back to BMW, and got myself a electic red one with xenons!!!

[Kamando]

xenons make a huge difference and the angel eyes are sexy... The usefulness of the xenons at night for me (driving through the German countryside) is undeniable. If you do a lot of city driving where the ambient lighting is good then halogens are fine. For driving rural open roads xenons are the clear winner.

[CnoteMD]

Is a demo considered a "used" car? If so, maybe you can convince the dealer to sell it to you as a Certified Pre-Owned car.

I don't know the specifics on what is allowed in the CPO program, but a 6yr/100k mile warranty would make that an excellent deal.

[longtran]

my 325i with all your option plus navi, xenon, and rear shade with 3 miles for $37,xxx. i dont see how this is a good deal.

[SCA]

Originally Posted by CnoteMD

Is a demo considered a "used" car? If so, maybe you can convince the dealer to sell it to you as a Certified Pre-Owned car.

I don't know the specifics on what is allowed in the CPO program, but a 6yr/100k mile warranty would make that an excellent deal.

No demos are not. Most BMW Center's service loaners are registered and titled which = a used automobile. Also most BMW Centers will CPO a former service loaner.

[findtom]

Ack.... all those options but no xenons? Whether it's a good deal based on MSRP or not, if the car doesn't have the options you want it's not a good buy.

Read some of Bella's posts for no-xenon regrets. Even Nissans have xenons on them these days... I would not buy a BMW without them unless I was getting a total base model and wanted the engine/handling under my butt for as little $$ as possible. Don't forget about resale value.

[docbolo]

the fact that you posted this thread tells me, IMO, you know you made a mistake.

angel eyes are to die for :rocks:

[kill4surf]

I appreciate everyones take on this issue. But I thought about it and it is not a big deal to me. For me there are other things that are more important when buying a car