Pricing Out a 135is

[3002 tii]

I'm really itching to pick up a new daily. Maybe I was spoiled by my Z4 coupe purchase few years back but I'm hoping to get another great deal if possible. I'm currently pricing out a 2013 135is with the following options:

- Le Mans Blue & black leather with stitching ($550)
- Premium Package ($2400)
- DCT ($450)
- Heated front seats ($500)
- HK surround ($875)
- BMW assist w/ BT ($650) - don't care for this option but it gets packaged with HK
- PDC ($380)

Add destination & handling and the total comes out to $49,980. Looking at others' buying experiences, it seems some folks were able to negotiate as much as 10% off MSRP putting me at $44,982. Factor in $1500 cash out and $500 loyalty rebate puts me at $42,982. IS this number wishful thinking or is this feasible? I live in the tri-state area for what it's worth.

Also another option is to scrap Premuim, HK, and BMW Assist with BT which would get me closer to 40k. Are these worth giving up?

[IEDEI]

i think 10% seems a bit 'optimistic', IMO.....but then again i'm not that aggressive of a negotiator.

my car was $50,300...and i got about $3500 taken off it....so about 7%? from what i've read on here...others have also mentioned about 7-8% off.

i tried the 'stock' stereo and it was TERRIBLE...like worse than i could have ever imagined...lol...so the HK stereo then became a necessity. The stock stereo sounds like it came out of a 1982 Chevy Chevette....BT is an absolute requirement for me...so can't let stuff like that go.

[3002 tii]

Thanks, seeing how you're in BK that's very helpful. I heard 7% is about standard if you take something off the lot b/c that's technically what you can get through ED.

I didn't realize the base trim stereo was that bad, LOL. Thanks for the heads up. Btw did you custom build yours or find one locally?

[Kgolf31]

I'm fairly certain I have the base and I don't find it bad at all.

Yea, it doesn't have the bass my Z4 has...but it isn't something I need on a Daily where I'm listening to FM morning radio.

YMMV, but I got a 128i because I don't need a 300+ HP car for a daily. Add the fact that this will be my winter car, more HP will just make life worse. I wanted to separate the differences between the Z4 and E82.

GL with your purchasing.


I walked out with a 2012 128i with 4k miles on it: No Sunroof, M Sport Package, Manual Seats and a 6spd for $26k. It is a lemon, if that is really what you want to call it. It has been flawless from the 3.5k miles I put on it already since purchase earlier this year. It will be an awesome track car some day

[3002 tii]

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

I'm fairly certain I have the base and I don't find it bad at all.

Yea, it doesn't have the bass my Z4 has...but it isn't something I need on a Daily where I'm listening to FM morning radio.

YMMV, but I got a 128i because I don't need a 300+ HP car for a daily. Add the fact that this will be my winter car, more HP will just make life worse. I wanted to separate the differences between the Z4 and E82.

GL with your purchasing.


I walked out with a 2012 128i with 4k miles on it: No Sunroof, M Sport Package, Manual Seats and a 6spd for $26k. It is a lemon, if that is really what you want to call it. It has been flawless from the 3.5k miles I put on it already since purchase earlier this year. It will be an awesome track car some day

Thanks, the Z4 is pretty much a dedicated track car. The E82 would be my 'fun daily'... can't tell you how boring it is to drive my G35x. If I had the s54 at my disposal I might be inclined to go for the 128i but already have the n52 motor (and not complaining of it neither).

[Bama335]

10% is pretty aggressive, but you should be able to get $500 over invoice (or less) minus your $2K incentives - CCA member? There's another $500

I agree with IEDEI, the HK is a must

I figured you might have a better shot at that deal if you can find one sitting on a dealer lot (even better if it's been there for a while) - a quick check on autotrader finds several LeMans but most are MT6.

Of greater concern is that we still haven't pinned down the exact production stop date for the 135, some buyers were told June was the last of orders, then July, recently someone's CA said production stops beginning of Nov.

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by DSC_OFF

Thanks, seeing how you're in BK that's very helpful. I heard 7% is about standard if you take something off the lot b/c that's technically what you can get through ED.

I didn't realize the base trim stereo was that bad, LOL. Thanks for the heads up. Btw did you custom build yours or find one locally?

i actually ordered mine to be built from scratch! so nothing off the lot....if it was on the lot i probably would have been more aggressive!

i think there are some 135is floating around other US dealers....but i needed a manual and in deep sea blue and couldn't find that combination anywhere.....so i just ordered it!

i'm not a big audiophile or anything...but yes i was offended by the stock stereo. it doesn't have a proper amplifier...so it sounds like a boom box....from the 80s.

[mb135is]

I think you're starting at the right place with your pricing. I purchased in the tri-state area and got somewhere below invoice. I shopped around all of the local dealerships and wanted desperately to purchase from JMK (I live 30 seconds from them), but they wouldn't play the game. Ended up at Wide World in NY for the best deal. We can go over the particulars this weekend, or just shoot me a PM.

Edit - the 10% I think is feasible including your discounts/cash. Also, it will be very helpful to use a car buying service. I used USAA, which got the brunt of the discount before I even began negotiating.

[gregthegr8]

I think if you want lemans, luckily those seem to be in stock at many dealers. The problem of course is almost every dealer's stock will be completely loaded so you may be hard pressed to find a lemans blue with the premium package but not the tech package as well, which would jack that price up considerably (about $1800 more since it includes the BMW assist). I'd poke around and see what's out there. I also highly recommend using truecar.com. Got me about $4800 off MSRP, which was several hundred under invoice, and that was on an ordered car. Then again, this was back in February, and I'm on the west coast with about 15 bmw dealers within 30 minutes of me.

As others have said, there also might not be more free order slots, so you may almost be forced at this point to find one at a dealer. There seem to be a lot of them in the northeast out there, just gotta look and autotrader seems to have a lot of listings too. Just do a search for new 135i, but then add in the search term 135is. That seems to snag them since they only added the 135is model on the autotrader website seemingly in the last few days.

[mb135is]

Went back and looked at my deal - it was not the full 10% off but it was damn close. Shop around and you will make it happen; the only thing you have going against you is the perceived notion that these cars are no longer being ordered/made. We keep saying this, but it is not corroborated to this point since new orders keep popping up and also showing up. There are two people on this site who are tracking the shipments, which is pretty cool!

And you WILL want one of these things, that's for damn sure!

[3002 tii]

Originally Posted by mb135is

Went back and looked at my deal - it was not the full 10% off but it was damn close. Shop around and you will make it happen; the only thing you have going against you is the perceived notion that these cars are no longer being ordered/made. We keep saying this, but it is not corroborated to this point since new orders keep popping up and also showing up. There are two people on this site who are tracking the shipments, which is pretty cool!

And you WILL want one of these things, that's for damn sure!

Awesome, look forward to meeting you this weekend. Btw, mind telling me which dealer you went with? Not sure where in NJ you are from but I'm up in Bergen and the 2 dealers I've dealt with in the past are Pace and Difeo.

[3002 tii]

Originally Posted by gregthegr8

I think if you want lemans, luckily those seem to be in stock at many dealers. The problem of course is almost every dealer's stock will be completely loaded so you may be hard pressed to find a lemans blue with the premium package but not the tech package as well, which would jack that price up considerably (about $1800 more since it includes the BMW assist). I'd poke around and see what's out there. I also highly recommend using truecar.com. Got me about $4800 off MSRP, which was several hundred under invoice, and that was on an ordered car. Then again, this was back in February, and I'm on the west coast with about 15 bmw dealers within 30 minutes of me.

As others have said, there also might not be more free order slots, so you may almost be forced at this point to find one at a dealer. There seem to be a lot of them in the northeast out there, just gotta look and autotrader seems to have a lot of listings too. Just do a search for new 135i, but then add in the search term 135is. That seems to snag them since they only added the 135is model on the autotrader website seemingly in the last few days.

Interesting, I've read mixed reviews on TrueCar, most of the bad ones being that many dealerships don't even know how the thing works and are totally clueless when you bring in the certificate.

[mb135is]

Wide world BMW, part of the new country group.

[gregthegr8]

Originally Posted by DSC_OFF

Interesting, I've read mixed reviews on TrueCar, most of the bad ones being that many dealerships don't even know how the thing works and are totally clueless when you bring in the certificate.

I've used it twice and saved me an additional $2900 on my S5 after none of the 3 dealers I went to would take more than $600 off, and got me right at 10% off my 135is ($4800 off $49,250 MSRP).

The only downside is once you put in your info, the dealers actually start calling and e-mailing you non-stop. But, having said that, truecar was showing $3200 off sticker, but then when the dealer contacted me, with a full lease quote no less, it was a significantly bigger discount. Plus, you can use it to get another dealer to match it saying, I have this from ______, but would rather buy from you if you'll match it, so gives you a little leverage as well.

So, you might be able to do better on your own, but I still think it's pretty useful and will also show you which local dealers are willing to wheel and deal.

[eywflyer]

I have a 135is, Deep Sea Blue black/blue stitch 6MT Prem HK. Would definitely not give up the HK if you like music at all, as even HK doesn't sound exactly outstanding IMO (I had an aftermarket Alpine stereo in my old E46 that sounded better), I can imagine that the base stereo sounds pretty bad. I think that the one thing you could consider giving up would be the premium package. I got it mainly because I wanted satellite radio, but in retrospect it might have been possible to get the satellite radio as a stand alone option in a special order (I didn't check into that). The other items included in the premium package are not that special IMO. Comfort access doesn't seem to work very well (I have to hold the key almost against the car for the door to unlock, and often end up just pushing the unlock button instead), and I have not been able to get the universal garage door opener to work on my garage thus far.

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by eywflyer

I have a 135is, Deep Sea Blue black/blue stitch 6MT Prem HK. Would definitely not give up the HK if you like music at all, as even HK doesn't sound exactly outstanding IMO (I had an aftermarket Alpine stereo in my old E46 that sounded better), I can imagine that the base stereo sounds pretty bad. I think that the one thing you could consider giving up would be the premium package. I got it mainly because I wanted satellite radio, but in retrospect it might have been possible to get the satellite radio as a stand alone option in a special order (I didn't check into that). The other items included in the premium package are not that special IMO. Comfort access doesn't seem to work very well (I have to hold the key almost against the car for the door to unlock, and often end up just pushing the unlock button instead), and I have not been able to get the universal garage door opener to work on my garage thus far.

as far as i know, all our cars are pre-wired for satellite radio and they can be activated for $375 or something like that....something i will probably be doing on mine.

[gregthegr8]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

as far as i know, all our cars are pre-wired for satellite radio and they can be activated for $375 or something like that....something i will probably be doing on mine.

Ya, all the cars come pre-wired, and as I found out, if you don't get the premium package, Sirius won't even show up in the menu, even though all new BMWs since April come with 1 year free of Sirius' top package. So, you're then forced to spend close to $500 at a dealer to unlock it on the menu, which includes a year of Sirius, so you are essentially getting it twice, which they won't let you roll over to a second year. The other option is to get a coding company to activate it for about $300+.

In response to flyer's comment about the premium package, I agree, that aside from the leather, most the things in the premium package aren't necessarily worth the money. So, you can get leather as a stand alone option for somewhere around $1400, or get the premium package for $2400 which includes leather. That $1,000 to some may be worth it, to some it may not.

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by gregthegr8

Ya, all the cars come pre-wired, and as I found out, if you don't get the premium package, Sirius won't even show up in the menu, even though all new BMWs since April come with 1 year free of Sirius' top package. So, you're then forced to spend close to $500 at a dealer to unlock it on the menu, which includes a year of Sirius, so you are essentially getting it twice, which they won't let you roll over to a second year. The other option is to get a coding company to activate it for about $300+.

In response to flyer's comment about the premium package, I agree, that aside from the leather, most the things in the premium package aren't necessarily worth the money. So, you can get leather as a stand alone option for somewhere around $1400, or get the premium package for $2400 which includes leather. That $1,000 to some may be worth it, to some it may not.

i already have a sirius subscription with my Audi....wonder if i can just ask them to work that into the unlocking somehow....don't know....have no idea how this crap works! LOL

[gregthegr8]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

i already have a sirius subscription with my Audi....wonder if i can just ask them to work that into the unlocking somehow....don't know....have no idea how this crap works! LOL

It's a BMW thing, not a Sirius thing, so they can't help you, believe me, I tried. Reminds me, I still need to write an angry letter to BMW North America about this. Still complete and utter BS.

I thought you got the premium package though, no?

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by gregthegr8

I thought you got the premium package though, no?

i got the tech package...but not the premium. paid for the leather....but didn't really need the rest.

[gregthegr8]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

i got the tech package...but not the premium. paid for the leather....but didn't really need the rest.

Ah, then I'd ask your dealer about it in advance so you don't have the anger and shock I had. I think their general pricing is the "activation code" is like a $350 thing + 1 hour of labor for about $500. Literally just to unlock it on the menu.

I used bimmer-tech, a forum sponsor, and they remotely coded that on and did some other coding, as I sat in my garage with my laptop hooked up to the car and they were in Poland. Not only did it save me money, but didn't want to give BMW the satisfaction and reward that behavior.

You still get the upgraded Sirius package, which includes their free online streaming, which I shall go turn on now as I listen to it every day at work. =)

[mb135is]

I will chime in to say that I have not missed the HK sound for a second. I'm too ignorant to what music is supposed to sound like to really care. It's $ I can't fathom spending, to be honest. Then again, I shelled out $500 to keep my ass warm in the winter, so what do I know?