[DoctorS]

Hello everyone I've been looking to buy a BMW 335i for a few months now and it turns out that finding the right car may actually be harder than selling one. I want an 08 and up coupe that's stick shift, has navi, and most if not all the packages. Every time I found something that met my criteria, the price was just never right.

A few days ago I found a 08 coupe fully loaded with about 30k miles on it. The car is clean inside and out and really looks like it's been taken care of. The dealer's asking price is 24k. Here's the catch though the car was a manufacturer buy back. Apparently it had multiple HPFP issues and as a result the car was bought back. According to the dealer the car had the entire system replaced and he has records to prove it. This car still has factory warranty and the parts that were replaced have an additional warranty. Besides the lemon the Carfax for this car checks out clean.

I've done a ton of research on what a lemon is and read all the horror stories about them. My question is how much should I pay for this car? Also how difficult is it going to be for me to resell this car down the road?

[Wrngway]

Get the VIN and a carfax report. Take the VIN to a BMW dealer and have them print out the vehicle maintenance/repair history. That should give you a good picture of what the problems with the car have been.

[Fred_Boosted]

Originally Posted by Wrngway

Get the VIN and a carfax report. Take the VIN to a BMW dealer and have them print out the vehicle maintenance/repair history. That should give you a good picture of what the problems with the car have been.

+1

My car is not lemon but also had HPFP problems. And it is all fixed, runs good.

See what repair history it has. Its important.

[ChuckBMW3]

Unless you plan on driving the car until the wheels fall off, you will never sell it in the future. Despite the reason(s) for the re-purchase from BMW, there is still a stigma attached to a "lemon"/buyback, which will deter potential purchasers.

That being said, if you plan on keeping the car--and maintaining it after the warranty/pre-paid maintenance expires--then I would say go for it!

[bumere90]

stay away from LEMON cars .

[krhodes1]

My humble opinion - a "lemon" car is rarely a reflection of the vehicle, but rather a reflection of incompetent service personel and/or the manufacturer. Especially in the case of the well known 335i HPFP issues, and doubly so in a state with really, really low hurdles for buyback like California. I have a buddy who had an early e92 335i that went through 5(!) HPFPs, stranding him on the road several times. Had he lived in a state with an easy buyback regime, I am sure he would have out of simple frustration. But there is nothing fundamentally MORE wrong with that car than any other 335i, it just took WAAY too long and too many shop visits to fix it properly. It's now been fine for ages, has well over 100K miles on it.

And as to the "you can never sell it" argument - well, YOU bought it, someone else will too, especially when it has an excellent service history in the second owner's hands.

I've even done very well with several salvage title cars. The longer you keep the car after the title-branding event, the less it matters. In my case, I bought a '00 Saab 9-5SE V6t wagon in 2004. Salvage title due to a hit in the driver's door that set off the seat bags. Repaired by a good bodyshop between other jobs to a very high standard. I paid $8000 with 41K miles when similar non salvage cars were selling for $20K. I kept the car 3 years, put another 60K on it, and had no problem selling it for $7K. That was only $2K less than if it had a clean title. Best car deal I have ever had!

So ultimately, as always it comes down to the car and the deal. I have no idea if $24K is a good deal for that car or not, but I would have no hesitation buying a buyback car for the right money, assuming it checks out.

[AnotherCar]

Originally Posted by bumere90

stay away from LEMON cars .

This