[Myfirstbmwinsertcodehere]

Good evening everyone, this is my first post on these forums, as after all of my research I have deemed them one of the best places to look for knowledge on BMW’s.

My post will be about my next car, a BMW. Which model should I choose though – that, I will be relying on you experts to guide me!
Quick intro: in 2005-6, my father purchased from the only official BMW Dealer here in Puerto Rico called Autogermana, an E46 33ci ZHP package. It was red, it was manual, and had plenty of ///M parts (except the engine of course). Cost brand new was around 60,000 (taxes are almost 40% MSRP here in PR).

I learned to drive stick shift with this car and after almost 10 years, my dad offered to sell it to me, for 10 grand. I was going to pull the trigger but then got around to thinking that I was still in my bachelor’s being busy with a lot of studies and “unpaid” internships and could therefore not maintain it very well if it were to acquire any problems, which would seem common for a 10-year old car. Also, the cost of parts, as you know, is not cheap.
Fast forwarding to the present, my dad picked up a brand new 435i with a ton of upgrades, total cost of 82 grand. Keep in mind, this car drives itself on the highway with the Adaptive Cruise Control, has sensors in the back and front, and a lot of other things that can be appreciated.
He has then changed the grills to black and pedals to aluminum, also the BMW stickers with carbon fiber ones. Other than that though, the car is pretty much Stock.

I will soon be able to have a good job thanks to business school (hopefully, not guaranteed) and will have to decide which car to get soon.
The question is this, buy my father’s loaded Mineral Grey with Coral Red interiors 435i for about $15,000-20,000 and then add Dinan power package ($600 CAI, $1,800 Free flow Exhaust and $2,249 for the Stage 2 Tuner (+84 Horsepower) and later on some CF mirror caps, CF diffuser (will it fit with the Dinan exhaust?) and ///M Sideskirts?

OR

Wait 3-4 years, stick with Honda Civic and then buy a used Sakhir Orange F80 (2015 M3)?

Should cost about 40k or so, BMW’s depreciate quicker than most cars here due to high prices. The M3 is obviously in another league and should not require many aftermarket parts, if any really. Oh, and it also has 4 doors for the possible family if anything should occur. This car looks so good in that color, it brings tears to my eyes…

Quick question, is the real 0-60 for the 435i 5.0? It feels pretty fast and on some sites it says 4.5? Thanks!

I also looked at the new M2, and found it strange that the 235i on the BMW site says 4.6, yet it says M2 4.4 (not much of an improvement…right? just found it curious, and also the mirrors not being M styled).

[F32Fleet]

I suggest that you leave Puerto Rico first. The government is going to default eventually and your taxes are going to go through the roof..

[timweezy]

m3 is that even a question

[sandwi54]

First question is, how are you able to buy your father's 435i for $15,000-$20,000? Is he selling it to you at a huge discount?

You didn't state what stage of life you are in, how old you are, etc. But it sounds like you are just about to graduate from business school, so I am going to make an assumption that you are around 26-27 years old. At this stage of life, I really wouldn't dump money into cars; they are simply depreciating assets and after a few years, all that money is just going down the drain. Even a 435i brand new is an expensive luxury item for a newly graduate. You should focus on building a career, buy a house, and maybe start a family. Once you have all that done and have extra cash laying around, then maybe you can start thinking about putting a significant money into cars.

The US economy is going to enter another downturn in the coming years, and having as little debt as possible is what you should focus on. If I were you (just graduating from school), I wouldn't buy anything that costs more than $40,000. You can pick up a nice non-luxury brand sports car, fully loaded, for less than that.

[sizquik]

I would keep the civic until you land a job.

[lens]

Originally Posted by Myfirstbmwinsertcodehere

Good evening everyone, this is my first post on these forums, as after all of my research I have deemed them one of the best places to look for knowledge on BMW’s.

My post will be about my next car, a BMW. Which model should I choose though – that, I will be relying on you experts to guide me!
Quick intro: in 2005-6, my father purchased from the only official BMW Dealer here in Puerto Rico called Autogermana, an E46 33ci ZHP package. It was red, it was manual, and had plenty of ///M parts (except the engine of course). Cost brand new was around 60,000 (taxes are almost 40% MSRP here in PR).

I learned to drive stick shift with this car and after almost 10 years, my dad offered to sell it to me, for 10 grand. I was going to pull the trigger but then got around to thinking that I was still in my bachelor’s being busy with a lot of studies and “unpaid” internships and could therefore not maintain it very well if it were to acquire any problems, which would seem common for a 10-year old car. Also, the cost of parts, as you know, is not cheap.
Fast forwarding to the present, my dad picked up a brand new 435i with a ton of upgrades, total cost of 82 grand. Keep in mind, this car drives itself on the highway with the Adaptive Cruise Control, has sensors in the back and front, and a lot of other things that can be appreciated.
He has then changed the grills to black and pedals to aluminum, also the BMW stickers with carbon fiber ones. Other than that though, the car is pretty much Stock.

I will soon be able to have a good job thanks to business school (hopefully, not guaranteed) and will have to decide which car to get soon.
The question is this, buy my father’s loaded Mineral Grey with Coral Red interiors 435i for about $15,000-20,000 and then add Dinan power package ($600 CAI, $1,800 Free flow Exhaust and $2,249 for the Stage 2 Tuner (+84 Horsepower) and later on some CF mirror caps, CF diffuser (will it fit with the Dinan exhaust?) and ///M Sideskirts?

OR

Wait 3-4 years, stick with Honda Civic and then buy a used Sakhir Orange F80 (2015 M3)?

Should cost about 40k or so, BMW’s depreciate quicker than most cars here due to high prices. The M3 is obviously in another league and should not require many aftermarket parts, if any really. Oh, and it also has 4 doors for the possible family if anything should occur. This car looks so good in that color, it brings tears to my eyes…

Quick question, is the real 0-60 for the 435i 5.0? It feels pretty fast and on some sites it says 4.5? Thanks!

I also looked at the new M2, and found it strange that the 235i on the BMW site says 4.6, yet it says M2 4.4 (not much of an improvement…right? just found it curious, and also the mirrors not being M styled).

My AWD 335i with MPPK goes 0-60 in about 4.3-4.4 secs if that gives you an idea.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Wait until you land a job , save some money then decide which car makes more sense

[Myfirstbmwinsertcodehere]

I've already found the answer I was looking for, but just FYI, here are some details:

I finished my undergrad when I was 23, I majored in Public Relations and Advertising and did 2 minors in Business Administration, one in Entrepreneurship and another one in business communication.

I'm now finishing my MBA and am 25. In the states, the stats. say that I will be able to get a job with AT LEAST 115k salary, since my B school is in the top 20.

My school was kind of cheap, like 30k annually so I really don't have much of a debt. (Undergrad was free because my parents are professors)

Anywho, that huge salary is in the states, in PR, success pretty much comes from building your own company.

Money aside, because that won't be that much of an issue later on, some of you guys have a point in the "stage of life" that I am at, yet, we only live once, and life could end at any moment.

With that, I simply decided to focus on everything else and forget about cars until my Dad changes his 435i. Someone said, the 435i is great, especially when modded, but if you crave that M car, you need to go for it.


I crave it...

...Has to be in Sahkir Orange too

So yes, whether it be in 1 or 3 years, I will aim for the ///M 3/4.



Thank you for all the inputs once again, they really did help.