[digoabari]

In November 2018, I got a 2014 435i xdrive at 98k miles for $25k. It was definitely a bad decision considering the mileage, but I went on with it because I was young and didn't know better. I put $8k down on the car and my monthly payment is $313. Throughout 2019, I spent well over $8k on repairs on the car, and now my indy shop says I need to replace my oil filter housing gasket. The car now has 123k miles and it's gotten to the point where I'm tired of spending money on repairs. I got the car appraised and it was valued at $9k, so I'll be $6k upside down. What cars can I get to replace the very fun, but very expensive, and ultimately regretful 435i? I don't want to go down the same path of overspending on repairs

[GenXer]

You can find low mileage 3 and 4 series CPO or company owned cars for a song. They can discount them enough to absorb your negative equity. However, you're not going to get $300/month car payment since most of them are priced in the $30k's but you'll have plenty of warranty left.

[rphz]

Originally Posted by digoabari

In November 2018, I got a 2014 435i xdrive at 98k miles for $25k. It was definitely a bad decision considering the mileage, but I went on with it because I was young and didn't know better. I put $8k down on the car and my monthly payment is $313. Throughout 2019, I spent well over $8k on repairs on the car, and now my indy shop says I need to replace my oil filter housing gasket. The car now has 123k miles and it's gotten to the point where I'm tired of spending money on repairs. I got the car appraised and it was valued at $9k, so I'll be $6k upside down. What cars can I get to replace the very fun, but very expensive, and ultimately regretful 435i? I don't want to go down the same path of overspending on repairs

What other repairs were required that totaled up to $8k?

[dmaxdmax]

ofhg was a straightforward repair on the e46...other than one-time use bolts, I'd imagine it's not that horrible on this car. It's probably $20 in parts that would otherwise cost hundreds to install.

Maybe time to spend $100 on tools and enjoy wrenching?

[amancuso]

Either your car was a pile or your indy gouged you. There's no way you should be paying 8k for repairs in two years. Sounds like the Toyota Camry sport may be the car for you.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by digoabari

In November 2018, I got a 2014 435i xdrive at 98k miles for $25k. It was definitely a bad decision considering the mileage, but I went on with it because I was young and didn't know better. I put $8k down on the car and my monthly payment is $313. Throughout 2019, I spent well over $8k on repairs on the car, and now my indy shop says I need to replace my oil filter housing gasket. The car now has 123k miles and it's gotten to the point where I'm tired of spending money on repairs. I got the car appraised and it was valued at $9k, so I'll be $6k upside down. What cars can I get to replace the very fun, but very expensive, and ultimately regretful 435i? I don't want to go down the same path of overspending on repairs

Don't beat yourself up. Everyone makes mistakes. On these high end German cars it's all about finding the right car with low miles.

My wife is a stickler about only buying a used car with low mileage. These cars also depreciate ridiculously. So never buy new, and take advantage of that depreciation to get a really low mileage car at a comparatively reasonable price.

The last two cars that we bought were 2-3 years old with 11k and 12k miles on them. Both had 2-2.5 years of warranty remaining. We paid 42% to 49% less than the original sticker.

Now this may be surprising. Both cars we bought without seeing them. We had them shipped to us from 300 miles and 1,200 miles away, and saved a ton of money by doing so, over buying a similar car locally.

We didn't set out to do that in either case. But by researching carefully we were able to find cars that met everyone of our criteria including low mileage and relatively low price. When they turned out to be a distance away, then we dealt with the issues of having someone we trusted check out the cars on-site and having them shipped to us. Neither of which didn't turn out to be a big deal.

Below is my advice:

Do not go to your local dealer with the idea of buying a car there. Odds are that they will not have a car that meets all of your criteria. If you allow the conversation to be on cars in the dealer's current inventory you are spinning your wheels and wasting your time.

Focus! Go to several dealers to drive models that may be of interest. Take notes and write down a car's VIN number. After you drive a couple your head will start spinning and you won't remember details.

Your goals after driving a bunch of cars should be to know what year(s), model(s) that you want to pursue and know what options are available. Google the year and model. Read car reviews to understand if certain features of interest were only available in certain model years or with certain option combinations. Download the manufacturer's sales brochure for those years.

Run mdecoder or other websites using the VINs of the cars that you drove. Get to understand what the line items look like on the build list and how much the sticker price is on the car that you want with the options that you want.

This is especially important because online you need to recognize if a car price is a great deal on a car with lots of options installed, or just a low price on a car stripped down with few options. Knowing this level of detail is how you will ultimately recognize a great deal on a car that you are searching for and be able to jump on it to close the deal before someone else does.

So now you should have your priority list of the exact car you want:
Year(s)
Model(s)
Exterior color(s)
Interior color(s)
Maximum mileage that you would consider. My wife's number is always <20k miles.
List of must have options
List of would be nice to have, but not a deal breaker options
List of options you don't care about

Gotta run right now. Will try to add more later. There is a lot more detail to go go with my car purchase process!

Based on what you said so far, I think you should first consider a used low mileage 340/440. It will have the performance you have enjoyed with the newer B58 engine that should have less repair costs. Of course, you'll have to do the above to see what the overall cost may be and see if that is in the affordable range.

If not, then think about a 330/430 with the newer B48 engine for the same reasons above. You can tune it inexpensively without affecting reliability and approach the performance that you got with your previous N55 stock engine.

Hope this helps!

[Dheeth-G80]

Originally Posted by johnung

Don't beat yourself up. Everyone makes mistakes. On these high end German cars it's all about finding the right car with low miles.

My wife is a stickler about only buying a used car with low mileage. These cars also depreciate ridiculously. So never buy new, and take advantage of that depreciation to get a really low mileage car at a comparatively reasonable price.

The last two cars that we bought were 2-3 years old with 11k and 12k miles on them. Both had 2-2.5 years of warranty remaining. We paid 42% to 49% less than the original sticker.

Now this may be surprising. Both cars we bought without seeing them. We had them shipped to us from 300 miles and 1,200 miles away, and saved a ton of money by doing so, over buying a similar car locally.

We didn't set out to do that in either case. But by researching carefully we were able to find cars that met everyone of our criteria including low mileage and relatively low price. When they turned out to be a distance away, then we dealt with the issues of having someone we trusted check out the cars on-site and having them shipped to us. Neither of which didn't turn out to be a big deal.

Below is my advice:

Do not go to your local dealer with the idea of buying a car there. Odds are that they will not have a car that meets all of your criteria. If you allow the conversation to be on cars in the dealer's current inventory you are spinning your wheels and wasting your time.

Focus! Go to several dealers to drive models that may be of interest. Take notes and write down a car's VIN number. After you drive a couple your head will start spinning and you won't remember details.

Your goals after driving a bunch of cars should be to know what year(s), model(s) that you want to pursue and know what options are available. Google the year and model. Read car reviews to understand if certain features of interest were only available in certain model years or with certain option combinations. Download the manufacturer's sales brochure for those years.

Run mdecoder or other websites using the VINs of the cars that you drove. Get to understand what the line items look like on the build list and how much the sticker price is on the car that you want with the options that you want.

This is especially important because online you need to recognize if a car price is a great deal on a car with lots of options installed, or just a low price on a car stripped down with few options. Knowing this level of detail is how you will ultimately recognize a great deal on a car that you are searching for and be able to jump on it to close the deal before someone else does.

So now you should have your priority list of the exact car you want:
Year(s)
Model(s)
Exterior color(s)
Interior color(s)
Maximum mileage that you would consider. My wife's number is always <20k miles.
List of must have options
List of would be nice to have, but not a deal breaker options
List of options you don't care about

Gotta run right now. Will try to add more later. There is a lot more detail to go go with my car purchase process!

Based on what you said so far, I think you should first consider a used low mileage 340/440. It will have the performance you have enjoyed with the newer B58 engine that should have less repair costs. Of course, you'll have to do the above to see what the overall cost may be and see if that is in the affordable range.

If not, then think about a 330/430 with the newer B48 engine for the same reasons above. You can tune it inexpensively without affecting reliability and approach the performance that you got with your previous N55 stock engine.

Hope this helps!

Best approach and advice

I wouldn't say I did exactly the things as John suggests here but I did quite close to what he did and it worked like wonders.

So I will share my story in as less words as I can.

I wanted a 335i and I knew 2013 were the cheaper ones, I didn't know the EWG/PWG but if I did then I would start my hunt for 2014 and after but anyways, took me about 6 months before I could find the one I wanted with the options I hoped for.

My search criteria always was below <=$30k with <30k miles. I was trying to keep my payment under $500/month so I knew I would have to account for extended Warranty, tax/title/fees etc into all that.

I am in Sacramento and the car I found was in LA, not that far but far enough that I won't just go there to test drive it. I hired PPI guy from a reputable shop there and got the results back and he said nothing scares him from buying that car along with of course extensive report that says what works what don't and if any issues.

Car was 2013 335i with only 15k miles for $26k. I got the warranty through PenFed CU and the warranty is Route66 for 100k or 5yrs so I got the car in March 2018 and warranty last me 2023 or 100k (Currently 71k miles).

Warranty has 0 deductible and I paid $2995 for it. So far repaired it twice and they covered about $2200 worth repairs so I am in good hands.

OFHG, right front door actuator, and steering boot (it would make noise when I turn the steering wheel).

Rt66 offers 100k warranty on cars below 75k miles and 35k warranty on cars above and between 75,001-125,000 miles.

If you had gotten your car with their warranty, your repairs would've been covered most likely but anyways, extended warranty is important if you are trying not to shell out money on repairs, especially with a high mileage car.

Alright back to my rant, out the door I paid 33k and did 72 months payments and it was well under $500/monthly.

So your take away from this is, search for a good bit of time in extended radius cuz mostly good deals are always out of your traveling distance. Once you found the car that you really want the, do PPI on it and then go from there for your finances and all. I definitely recommend Rt66 but only caveat is that they are only available through certain FCU so maybe apply for your loan thru a CU?

Good luck bud, hope this helps!

[Onizukachan]

At this point, stick with the car you have and the faults you know would be my suggestion, and either drive it another 50k to minimize loss... or fix it, sell it, and chalk it up as a learning experience because you made a bad decision.

The downside is that you are going to be looking at a car the same age or older to not be in the same situation again monetarily in 2 years because they depreciate so fast they aren’t worth what you owe on them after jsut a year of payments.

Oh and I’ve needed to do the ofhg on my wife’s e83 for the last 5 years and 80,000 miles. Have had the $5 part sitting here, jut Still haven’t bothered to take it apart and do it.

[tomppa]

Originally Posted by Onizukachan

At this point, stick with the car you have and the faults you know would be my suggestion, and either drive it another 50k to minimize loss... or fix it, sell it, and chalk it up as a learning experience because you made a bad decision.

There's a problem keeping the car...
98k miles is not so much for a modern quality car so there shouldn't be many problems, unless it was beaten and driven carelessly. Seems like that was the case for your car and that means repairs will keep coming. At the end you spent so much money on it that you just can't sell it anymore.
I vote for cutting losses and selling it. I don't think you made a bad decision, you were just unlucky. On the other hand, buying a premium brand of few years of age is a risk, because of expensive parts.