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Lease on 328 M-sport

5K views 21 replies 10 participants last post by  bmw_or_audi 
#1 ·
I'm looking at a 328 with the M Sport package, Premium, Lighting, Technology, pretty much loaded. MSRP is $50,800. They want $2500 at signing, that includes all fees and first month payment, ect. and $590/month, that includes tax, which they charge on the monthly payments here. 36 months, 10k/year. Is that a good deal?

Obviously that's a lot to spend on a 328, but I like all the options. Am I crazy not to get a 335 for that price with less options, or is the difference not big enough that I'll enjoy all the extra options more?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Hello,

At the end of the day, it's all about personal preference, what's right for you, and what you feel comfortable with.

But I reckon your questions will invite a myriad of responses, which is fine since you posted for feedback.

BMWs quickly balloon up in price when you start checking off the options boxes. In my own very personal view, I probably would not have spent 50K on a 328i--I could see myself with a bad case of driver's remorse the next day. (Furthermore, unless you don't plan on driving the car that much, I would not be thrilled with 10k per year. Then again, I drive a lot so 10K sounds like an ultra low mileage for me.)

Whatever you do, best of luck and enjoy your car. Hey, at the end of the day, it's a BMW you'll be driving.

Cheers.

[The pic is a gratuitous show of my newly discovered ability to post pictures using the Bimmerfest mobile app. Awesome. I have the F30 Post app as well but I believe it does not have the picture posting capability.]
 

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#7 ·
Most of the M-sport packages in the color I wanted were either fully loaded or bare, and they seem to be in short supply here so I was pretty much limited to this one dealer if I wanted one. Wasn't expecting to pay that much from the start and I don't really need all those options, but this thing was pretty sweet so now it's pretty hard for me to look at anything else. I liked the performance of the 328 a lot. I had a 325 back in 2001 and can't believe how dramatically better this drove. I haven't tested the 335 though so I can't compare. Is the difference enough that I should try it out or will I be more than happy with an M-line 328?
 
#4 ·
Postscript: if it helps in any way, I was in your situation and decided to "sacrifice" certain (nice but non-critical) options and go with the 335i xDrive with the stuff that was truly important to me like navigation, heated seats, Harman Kardon, and enhanced Bluetooth. (As it is, the car already comes with 18 inchers, sunroof and xenons (and an alarm?) standard which is nice.) The car is a lease.

Again, good luck.
 
#5 ·
Do yourself a favor and contact one of our board sponsors and they will give you a much better deal than any BMW dealers in Miami trust me. Adrian Avila is from BMW of South Atlanta is someone I highly recommend.
 
#8 ·
Sounds like a pretty sweat deal to me. I got quotes from all three Tampa Bay, Florida dealers. The best I could get was $578 a month for 12k miles a year, 36 months. I ordered a 328i M sport line, estoril blue, red leather, Harmon Kardon, manual transmission. Total msrp was about $43,000. They gave me a $2000 discount and I'm only putting $1200 down. Good luck with your purchase.
 
#9 ·
To OP:

Yes, I know what you mean. Once you see the "car of your dreams" it's hard to think of anything else--particularly in the "gotta have it now" world we live in :)

As some have said here, it pays to exercise a little bit of patience and shop around for the best, most reasonable deal you can find. If, however, this car is your absolute final choice, and you are comfortable financially to afford the car, then I'd say go for it. These are, I'm afraid, questions only you can answer.

Like you, I too owned a 325xi back in 2001--It was my first BMW. Somewhat of a stripper, but still a BMW. (It had the steptronic tranny and, by golly, the fog lights were an option!)

It sounds to me like you really enjoyed the 328i a lot. Coming, as you said, from a 325i, this modern 328i 4-banger turbo fits most people's bill. In my case, I always had the "base" engine in all my prior cars and this time promised myself the next one would have the "better" engine (in this case the in-line 6 turbo from the 335i) for its power, torque, smoothness and soundtrack. [My last four banger was a MB C230 Kompressor--car was pretty to look at but that was about it. Did not care for the sound of the engine with the supercharger. Believe it or not, my 1999 Passat 1.8T had a very pleasing engine note and smooth power delivery. I traded it towards my 325xi. But I digress.]

In short:

1. Drive both cars and see what happens, just so you don't hate yourself later on for not having done so;
2. Shop around, try one, two or three different dealers;
3. Sit down with pen and paper and run the numbers yourself;
4. Run your lease by "carman" at the Edmund's site--I did and he pointed out a few valuable tidbits of information-

Most importantly, let us know what you end up deciding!
 
#10 ·
One more thing: dissect the numbers any dealer will give you; watch for year end incentives -- like right now i believe there is a "End of the Year" event of some sort going on at BMW. You may qualify for that if you buy or lease and take delivery by a certain deadline--I think January 1, 2013, or something. Again, check around.
 
#12 ·
For what its worth I have a 328 about to be delivered with a sticker of almost $56k. For me that car works.

An earlier poster said it - its about what you want. And the price *does* balloon. I felt in LA traffic I was best served with a 328 as my average speed is - gasp - about 15 mph at best. Adaptive Cruise Control for the freeway. A lot of toys.

I have a great deal - pretty much at invoice or close. Buy rate, etc. December invectives. I'm happy in the mid-to-high 5's with a medium sized drive off (around $3k taxes title etc.).

With a stretch of 100 bucks and an EU I can't do I might be in an M3. Hugely different car. I need mine leased now for the write off and happy with what I ordered. I had an E90 335 and have read enough about the new 328 to feel its enough for me finally making 230 horses.

Make sure you aren't paying much over invoice on a 328. Keep your MF at buy rate. No additional fees and you'll pay for what you want - for me it was a fully optioned version of this car.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I decided to take that offer on the loaded 328 M-Sport. I checked a bunch of places as well as the one recommended on this site and they all quoted me in the $600-$700 range, and the other lowest offered me the same deal but was further away. This place started at $740 and after I walked away many times they finally offered me that as their rock bottom. As far as I can tell it's a pretty decent deal, my last car was about $42k and I was paying $640.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I decided to take that offer on the loaded 328 M-Sport. I checked a bunch of places as well as the one recommended on this site and they all quoted me in the $600-$700 range, and the other lowest offered me the same deal but was further away. This place started at $740 and after I walked away many times they finally offered me that as their rock bottom. As far as I can tell it's a pretty decent deal, my last car was about $42k and I was paying $640.
You don't have to go with "as far as I can tell". All the information you need to understand a lease, calculate it exactly and negotiate it, along with the invoice pricing on the car is available to you right here on Bimmerfest. It's entirely up to you whether you take advantage of it. Did you look into doing multiple security deposits in order to lower the money factor? Do you know if they marked up the money factor and the acquisition fee from the base rate?
 
#15 ·
I wanted to thank you for your purchase. You are the reason the rest of us get such good deals, because they make their money on buyers like you.

This is in no way meant to be an insult. At the end of the day you are happy with the payment you got so good for you. But going into a dealership without knowledge is like feeding a pack of wolves. Needless to say you made them alot of money and now those of us that want a "skinny" and enter a dealership with more numbers than the CA has, will get it.
 
#16 ·
I don't take offense, I came here for advice so I appreciate it all, but has anyone paid or heard of anyone paying less than $550/month for a 36 mo, 10k/year lease on a $51k car with no money down? From what I've seen most people are paying in the high $500's or low $600's. I went to the dealer that was suggested in an earlier post but they came in with the same offer, a bit lower fees, but they would have been negated by the shipping cost.

I wanted to thank you for your purchase. You are the reason the rest of us get such good deals, because they make their money on buyers like you.

This is in no way meant to be an insult. At the end of the day you are happy with the payment you got so good for you. But going into a dealership without knowledge is like feeding a pack of wolves. Needless to say you made them alot of money and now those of us that want a "skinny" and enter a dealership with more numbers than the CA has, will get it.
 
#18 ·
Picked up the car yesterday. Think I did really well, even the guy in finance who was writing up the lease kept telling me what a great deal I was able to get. Yeah I know he works there but on the finance side not the sale side, he could just be blowing smoke up my @$$, but still comforting to hear. The MSRP was $51k and the price the lease was based off was $47k. Another guy was there trying to negotiate the price on one that was 6k cheaper than mine and he couldn't get them to even go under $600/mo before he gave up and left, their first offer to him was $750, which made him really mad but they were barely budging. None of the other dealers other than one could get under the mid $600s either. Sure if I kept calling around maybe I could have shaved another $10-15 off a month tops or maybe a couple hundred off the fees, but it's not worth the time I would have spent trying and who knows if they would have even had the package I wanted or if the savings would have been eaten up by shipping charges. Overall I'm happy with the deal I got, and it's about $100/mo cheaper than my last lease was on a cheaper car (yeah I got screwed on that one).

I had a 325 in 2001, I loved that car, I used to get excited every time I got in it. Then traded it in around 2010. Wanted to get another 3 series, but BMW was having some bad days back then. I test drove a 328 and was utterly bored by it and went for an Audi A5 instead. The A5 was a gorgeous car when it came out and it drove really well and made heads turn, but was pretty soft for a sports car at that price point, and the electronics were so dated and glitchy that it felt like using a computer from 10 years ago. Great car, but I never really loved it and was not sad to see it go at all. Then when my lease was up I was gonna go for a 5 series but then thought I'd check out a 3 series for the hell of it, not knowing how much they changed it. I was blown away by how far along the 3 series has come in just 3 years since I last drove one. I didn't even bother looking at any other cars, I knew this was the one for me. They retained everything I loved about my original BMW but really updated it with a ton of great features and an incredible engine. I really forgot what it was like to own a car that is such a joy to drive.

Considering it's a 4 cylinder and that it's the M sports line, I really expected it to be louder and a rougher ride, but it's incredibly quiet and smooth, it just seems to float on the road but still give the perfect amount of road feedback. I kept catching myself breaking 100mph driving home from the dealer without realizing. It's so solid, it doesn't bounce or sway on the highway like my prev 325 did. I love the heads up display, combined with the nav, this thing is really amazing. Didn't know this technology was even available in cars yet. It makes following directions so much easier and also doesn't let you forget how much over the speed limit you're driving. I am so glad to be back to the elegant BMW interior, it just screams class, unlike the Audi, which always felt cheap. Hopefully BMW doesn't drop the ball in the future, I hope to not have to have to stray again. The iDrive is a much better system than the Audi, works really well, very intuitive and easy to use, and I love the big screen on the nav and the ability to do split screen.

Now a few things I don't like. The Harman Kardon system is not as good as I expected. Granted I came from a Bang and Olufsen in my Audi so the bar was set pretty high, but this sounds as bad or even worse than a lot of stock systems I've heard. Maybe I need to give it more time, but so far I'm not impressed. I am also really missing the backup cam that I had in my Audi, I feel like I'm parking blind now. I wish they had included it in the options when they built the car I got, but they had none with it. Better yet, I wish BMW included it standard in the technology package like most other car companies do, it's a crucial feature that I feel should almost be standard these days. Or at the very least they should include a backup alert standard. Next I don't like that the car doesn't chirp when you unlock it, this is how I used to find my car so often. I heard a dealer tell me back in 2001 that they used to do this but some lady sued BMW basically saying that it sounded like a catcall and it was sexist so they removed it, so lame if true! Other than that this is a really amazing car. I'm more than satisfied with the engine in the 328, I'm actually glad I didn't try the 335, this is more than enough power for me and I think that money was better spent on all the options I got. The M-line really looks slick. There's soooo many 3-series on the road these days that I wanted something a bit more unique. Nobody wants to be driving a $50k car that looks exactly like a $34k car.

Thanks for everyone's help, I'm happy to be back in the club!
 
#21 ·
Thanks for sharing you experience. If it makes you feel good about the deal you got at my expense, I'll do it. My M sport, 328i was $43k and they gave me $2k off that. The only options I got were red leather, estoril blue, HK sound. I know I didn't get a bunch of cool options but this was a stretch for me as is. My payment will be $578 with $1200 down and 12k miles a year. I probably could have shopped around and got a better deal but this dealer was very friendly and gave me this quote immediately without having to haggle. The first and largest dealer I went to in Tampa, Florida area that I went to quoted me $650 a month without the $1450 leather!! So it would have been about $690 with leather. I made the mistake of telling them I'd never leased before. I was blown away by the 328i on a test drive too. After coming out of my old Audi A4, it felt like a race car!
Enjoy your awesome car. Mine should be in right before Christmas.

Picked up the car yesterday. Think I did really well, even the guy in finance who was writing up the lease kept telling me what a great deal I was able to get. Yeah I know he works there but on the finance side not the sale side, he could just be blowing smoke up my @$$, but still comforting to hear. The MSRP was $51k and the price the lease was based off was $47k. Another guy was there trying to negotiate the price on one that was 6k cheaper than mine and he couldn't get them to even go under $600/mo before he gave up and left, their first offer to him was $750, which made him really mad but they were barely budging. None of the other dealers other than one could get under the mid $600s either. Sure if I kept calling around maybe I could have shaved another $10-15 off a month tops or maybe a couple hundred off the fees, but it's not worth the time I would have spent trying and who knows if they would have even had the package I wanted or if the savings would have been eaten up by shipping charges. Overall I'm happy with the deal I got, and it's about $100/mo cheaper than my last lease was on a cheaper car (yeah I got screwed on that one).

I had a 325 in 2001, I loved that car, I used to get excited every time I got in it. Then traded it in around 2010. Wanted to get another 3 series, but BMW was having some bad days back then. I test drove a 328 and was utterly bored by it and went for an Audi A5 instead. The A5 was a gorgeous car when it came out and it drove really well and made heads turn, but was pretty soft for a sports car at that price point, and the electronics were so dated and glitchy that it felt like using a computer from 10 years ago. Great car, but I never really loved it and was not sad to see it go at all. Then when my lease was up I was gonna go for a 5 series but then thought I'd check out a 3 series for the hell of it, not knowing how much they changed it. I was blown away by how far along the 3 series has come in just 3 years since I last drove one. I didn't even bother looking at any other cars, I knew this was the one for me. They retained everything I loved about my original BMW but really updated it with a ton of great features and an incredible engine. I really forgot what it was like to own a car that is such a joy to drive.

Considering it's a 4 cylinder and that it's the M sports line, I really expected it to be louder and a rougher ride, but it's incredibly quiet and smooth, it just seems to float on the road but still give the perfect amount of road feedback. I kept catching myself breaking 100mph driving home from the dealer without realizing. It's so solid, it doesn't bounce or sway on the highway like my prev 325 did. I love the heads up display, combined with the nav, this thing is really amazing. Didn't know this technology was even available in cars yet. It makes following directions so much easier and also doesn't let you forget how much over the speed limit you're driving. I am so glad to be back to the elegant BMW interior, it just screams class, unlike the Audi, which always felt cheap. Hopefully BMW doesn't drop the ball in the future, I hope to not have to have to stray again. The iDrive is a much better system than the Audi, works really well, very intuitive and easy to use, and I love the big screen on the nav and the ability to do split screen.

Now a few things I don't like. The Harman Kardon system is not as good as I expected. Granted I came from a Bang and Olufsen in my Audi so the bar was set pretty high, but this sounds as bad or even worse than a lot of stock systems I've heard. Maybe I need to give it more time, but so far I'm not impressed. I am also really missing the backup cam that I had in my Audi, I feel like I'm parking blind now. I wish they had included it in the options when they built the car I got, but they had none with it. Better yet, I wish BMW included it standard in the technology package like most other car companies do, it's a crucial feature that I feel should almost be standard these days. Or at the very least they should include a backup alert standard. Next I don't like that the car doesn't chirp when you unlock it, this is how I used to find my car so often. I heard a dealer tell me back in 2001 that they used to do this but some lady sued BMW basically saying that it sounded like a catcall and it was sexist so they removed it, so lame if true! Other than that this is a really amazing car. I'm more than satisfied with the engine in the 328, I'm actually glad I didn't try the 335, this is more than enough power for me and I think that money was better spent on all the options I got. The M-line really looks slick. There's soooo many 3-series on the road these days that I wanted something a bit more unique. Nobody wants to be driving a $50k car that looks exactly like a $34k car.

Thanks for everyone's help, I'm happy to be back in the club!
 
#19 ·
Do a search for Harmon Kardon on this forum. There is a EQ tuning set-up that is highly recommended and will change up the sound dramatically. There is a debate whether turning the L7 processor off will help as well. Also, if you decide you want more sound, the M Performance exhaust will add a little more rumble to your acceleration moments but is pretty close to stock during idle and while cruising.

The consensus on the board has been pretty much 100% to get the PDC and rear camera if possible and that once you go HUD you will never go back. They are both amazing.

Congrats on the new car. Welcome aboard!!!
 
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