So, surprise, I got a phone call today, and a production number. It's still estimated to be another 4-6 weeks to completion. Yes, it's still going to be model year 2011. Maybe it will turn out to be a good vintage.
I can't complain about the price. The agent I've been working with, Mark Ritter, has been great. Even with paying for delivery to Charlottesville (from Baltimore) it's still much better than the local dealer, who flat out wouldn't negotiate. I feel sad about that, because the agent spent time with us, and we drove two different model years of X3s there over the course of a year.
My strategy on this purchase was to go to
truecar.com to find out dealer cost and what people are paying. From that site, I had an option to get no-obligation price-guaranteed offers, and I got some nice prices from No Va and Maryland dealerships, all within $1500 of each other. That is what connected me to Russel BMW. Once I knew what I might pay, I took that offer to the local dealership. I was willing to pay $1000 more to support local business, but they wouldn't come down, and a $2000 difference still represents a good bit of money to me.
We'll be getting a white xDrive28i with Premium package (we wanted leather seats and lumbar support), plus the GPS navigation (we're old Garmin users, but we liked the size of the screen and the dashboard integration), plus heated seats (and required heated steering wheel), plus roof rails. $41,333 including taxes, delivery, license. Sticker price is $44,165. Did I do good?
What really clinched me on the X3 was looking at the Toyota Rav4 6cyl Limited. Which is a nice car, too. But I said to myself "I'm going to pay over $30,000 when for $10,000 more I could get a new BMW? No contest!" SUVs are expensive, and that made the X3 seem
less expensive.