Advice for future purchase

Longtime lurker, 1st post.

Just retired from the Army, and after years of driving "hooptie's", I've decided to treat myself.

Since I'm not a previous BMW owner, advice from this forum of experts is greatly appreciated.

Something about me before my question: By nature, I am very cost conscious before making any purchase. That being said, when making a big ticket item purchase, I have no problem shelling out the extra dough to go from "basic" to "loaded".

Here goes:

328i with my desired configuration: $35,500

vs.

335i with my desired configuration: $40,900

Extras w/ 335i:
- Auto dimming rear view mirror
- Power seats
- Lumbar Seats
- Auto high beams
- Moonroof
- Xenons
- Inline 6

I'm leaning towards towards the 335i as a better value. In particular, I prefer xenons and inline 6. Really don't care about the other stuff.

I refuse to pay BMW $3600 for ZPP just to get the xenons for an additional $900 on the 328i. Doing that would almost make the price identical to the 335i.

Fuel mileage: Yes, I care. But a miniscule difference won't scare me off the inline 6.

So, save myself $5400 and go with the 328i (live without 335 extras listed above), or...pan out the extra bones for the 335i?

I could go either way, just want the best bang for my buck.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Originally Posted by retiredgi

Longtime lurker, 1st post.

Just retired from the Army, and after years of driving "hooptie's", I've decided to treat myself.

Since I'm not a previous BMW owner, advice from this forum of experts is greatly appreciated.

Something about me before my question: By nature, I am very cost conscious before making any purchase. That being said, when making a big ticket item purchase, I have no problem shelling out the extra dough to go from "basic" to "loaded".

Here goes:

328i with my desired configuration: $35,500

vs.

335i with my desired configuration: $40,900

Extras w/ 335i:
- Auto dimming rear view mirror
- Power seats
- Lumbar Seats
- Auto high beams
- Moonroof
- Xenons
- Inline 6

I'm leaning towards towards the 335i as a better value. In particular, I prefer xenons and inline 6. Really don't care about the other stuff.

I refuse to pay BMW $3600 for ZPP just to get the xenons for an additional $900 on the 328i. Doing that would almost make the price identical to the 335i.

Fuel mileage: Yes, I care. But a miniscule difference won't scare me off the inline 6.

So, save myself $5400 and go with the 328i (live without 335 extras listed above), or...pan out the extra bones for the 335i?

I could go either way, just want the best bang for my buck.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

You have to test drive the two cars against each other first. When I drove the 528 vs. the 535, I found that 528 significantly underpowered vs. the 535. The new 328's turbo engine is more powerful than that old .28 engine, while the .35 engine is not. So, if it were me, I would first see if the 335 gives me enough of a power boost over the 328 to make THAT the reason to change.

If not, well, I would go with the 328 and forgo the better headlights, the more adjustable seat (provided that the standard seat is acceptable) and the other stuff, since you don't want to pay five thousand bucks for that.