[AD7]

Hello all,

I'm a new member on here and I felt that I should share some of my thoughts on leasing my first car. Since many of you have a great amount of experience with BMWs and cars in general, I thought that it'd be a good idea to hear what you have to say, so feel free to chime in!

Brief background of my situation:

As a college student, I've been looking to lease my first car, a sports sedan. After all, I chose to take the BMW route. Even though the MB C43 AMG is a great car with a lot of "bling" (all of the extra stuff: lots of AMG badging, deep-sounding stock exhaust note, and high-quality material used for the interior/exterior, which makes the car look very new), I would still take the F30 340 over it. One of my main reasons is that the C43's exterior looks too luxurious to me. It's just not my style. As a young man, I prefer a sportier exterior look and a more agile car. I want my 340 with RWD and that's not something offered in the C43. Also, in terms of interior, the inside of the 340 may be dated, but it's still fresh and has all I need.

So, I finally made my confident decision of choosing the 340 over the C43, but another car added a wrinkle to my plans. This car was the upcoming G20 M340i. Currently, I have a MY2018 F30 340i M-Sport on queue at the dealership (July production). To add a little taste of newness, I'll hopefully be able to add the new M-Sport wheels, fully digital instrument cluster, and touch-screen iDrive screen that are on the new 440i and 540i. Those three features are all I know of at the moment and I hope that they'll be available options for my 340. We'll get to see once the official MY2018 order guides are released.

With all of this said about my current situation and the MY2018 340, would it be a smart/beneficial decision to get the F30 now instead of waiting at least another year for the G20?

Here are some reasons why I am leaning more towards the 2018 F30:

- The F30 is great as it is. For me, it's the best all-around car when compared to its competitors. It has everything that I want and need.

- There is at least a one-year wait for the G20 and I want my first car soon. I can't picture myself waiting that long. Also, the wait may be even longer, since I've read that the F30 will most likely end production in October of 2018. That means production will probably start in November of 2018 and deliveries will be made by mid/late December of 2018. Based on my calculation, the G20 will be released onto the streets about 1 year and 4 months after I receive my MY2018 340 this August of 2017 (that's if everything goes smoothly and is on schedule). 1 year and 4 months would be a very long wait for the G20!

- It's impossible to always have the newest car and play "catch-up," since there's always a newer or better car that's comes out the next year.

- Leasing a first model year of the G20 might be risky. It'll look new and all, but will it be the best performing/looking version of the G20? We haven't even seen it yet, but I'm guessing it'll be a smaller version of the 540i. I think I'd rather be safe, wait, and see what I and other people think about it. Then, after my lease expires, I'd get a 3rd-year G20 model when all of the crucial tweaks are made (after seeing what was wrong with the first two model years). That'd be a beast!

[Quick question: would I be able to break/terminate my BMW lease after 2 years without spending a lot of money? Minimal or no damage on my pockets would be great. Pulling a lease while having 1 year left doesn't sound too bad. By the way, this isn't something I plan on doing, but I figure it's safe to know what my options are. If I were to consider it, it'd be only if the G20 greatly surpasses the F30 and ends up being the best non-M 3-series ever.]

As you can tell, I'm leaning more towards the F30. Do you agree with my reasons? Am I thinking with the right mindset? Please let me know what you all think.

I apologize for typing such a long post. I will definitely appreciate those of you who take your time to read through it.

Thank you and take care!

[mtx450]

I think you've raised some great points and I'm sure you'll make the right decision. I'm following this because I have a MY16 340i which I took delivery of in May of 2016. I'm very interested in the G20 and will most likely switch to one in May of 2019, but we'll see!

Good luck!

[Score04]

Same setup here. I'm planning on ordering an F30 around Feb-April 2018 and will be much closer to the G20 news and not sure if I should wait. Such problems to have. :-)

[Cammy5]

I'm in the same boat. Late Spring will seem to be a good time to know whether or not the G20 will offer a 6MT in the M340i; if it doesn't, it will solidify my decision to order a current gen F30 340i 6MT.

[gullwinggt]

Wow this thread, I have the same question. Anyone has idea if the G20 will come with 6spd Manual? Also do you guys think the pricing and leasing will become little higher more closer to S4 range? The reason I ask is, it will be called M340i which I am sure BMW will market like C43 AMG /S4 just to make it exclusive ?

[Score04]

I'm surprised that it's past mid July and no official 2018 news out there for the 3 series. Here we are asking about 2019 and 2018 hasn't been fully disclosed yet an order guide exists since mid-june.

[metallicpea]

All your reasons are logical. Get the F30 RWD 340i and enjoy the crap out of it. I wouldn't even waste your time worrying about it. Who knows, there are a few design language things that scare me about the G20, you might find it's too late to get an F30 if the design, options, features, packages of the G20 don't suite you as well.

[Score04]

Also, not even bmwusa is updated with 2018 details. Any idea what is the hold up with official news and website since pre ordering began in mid-june? If it wasn't for this forum having a 2018 order guideline there is no 2018 news. I guess these minor changes to 2018 are so minor no paragraphs can be put out there on the Internet. HAHAHA

[jjrandorin]

Op, you asked a question about getting out of a 3 year lease with 1 year left and not having much money out of your pocket. While every car deal is basically a snowflake (and somewhat unique) the short answer is, dont plan on that.

Plan on taking your deal to at the MINIMUM 6 months from termination, or, you will be trading the car in, not doing a lease turn in. At that point, MOST BMWs (non M's) are worth significantly less than their residual, so you will be looking at a loss of money.

How significant depends on many factors, like if you put money down, the exact condition of your car, the exact condition of the used car market etc.... but with the way the used car market (in general, not BMW specific) is tanking right now, I would NOT plan on getting out of your lease more than somewhere between 3-6 months early at the most.

If you only want 2 years, get a 2 year lease (which you absolutely can do).

[Misterted]

The new 3 Series will be unveiled at Frankfurt in September.
The life cycle is 7 years so it would make sense that 2018 will be the final year of this current model.

[Kwando]

I'm planning on ordering a '18 340i for delivery in June. Yes, I suppose I could wait for the G20 but I'm going to guess dealers will be less than willing to discount them very much so I'm planning to capitalize on any incentives to push out the last F30 models.

Also from what I recall, brand new models have limited performance options like MPE, which I'm particularly after (and power kit).