Whack-a-mole with used 335d's

In my hunting for 335d candidates, it seems that at least certain configurations of used models are moving.

There have been 7 or 8 different models at CarMax that were there and are now gone. Similarly, my loaded "decode" car from an earlier thread is gone, as are another two candidates that were similarly equipped. (Sport, Nav, heated seats or full-blown Cold Weather package are my most desired options, but not all of these had everything.) Cars are there one day, gone the next.

These have been 2010's or 2011's, typically in the 7,000 to 30,000 mile range, priced from $34,000 to $42,000. Some CPO, some not.

I'm using cars.com, autotrader.com, the carmax.com site, and the BMW CPO search feature.

I'm learning that if I want a particular car, I'm going to have to move quickly or else it will be gone!

This has been since mid-April!

It's not that I'm against getting a new 2011, but it seems that my equipment wish list isn't compatible with a new 2011 price point. (I want to stay around $43,000 or under.)

If you're lucky enough to find a left-over 335d, there is no doubt the dealer will be actively trying to get rid of it. It's essentially two model years old (BMW has MY13 cars on the lot now)

I just looked at Auto Trader within 200 miles of my area in South Florida and found 13 units from 2009 to 2011, prices range from a High of $48k with 3k miles on a 2011 to a low of $33.5k with 21k miles for a 2009. There are some nicely equipped 2011 with low miles in the $36k-$38k range. A lot more available than when I was looking back in 2010.

What's wrong with buying one further away, get a good price, and enjoy the drive back?

Just clicked off the miles away and found 235 models available in the US of A. Certainly you can find one you like someplace!

Definitely don't have a problem with thinking of buying remote - however, many of the deep south cars I've looked at often don't have either Cold Weather or heated seats, which is pretty much a must-have for me. If I could give up on that, this would be my favorite so far.



But I will retrace your steps and see what I see.

Thanks!

To be totally fair, I do want more than heated seats. In a perfect world, the car wouldn't be black, wouldn't have a tan/beige interior, and it would have sport package, heated steering wheel, nav, and premium package.

No wonder I'm having a hard time ;-/

Nice color combination. It says it is well equipped, sport, premium, etc... but It looks like it has chrome trim around windows so that should not be a sport package.

It does have the 195 wheels which I have, these are 18" sport wheels.

What are you waiting for? Get the carfax and check the VIN. You can do the drive from Albany,GA to Nashville in about 7 hours and not use a full tank of fuel!

Here's the VIN

WBAPN7C53BF183908

Ask someone to decipher.

I think you may be seeing a reflection on the trim - Take a look at the seats; those are definitely sport seats, aren't they? And the dealer description does say sport package (not that they ever make mistakes!).

I really do like it, but no heated seats or cold weather package! So far, not willing to give up on that.

It seems that I'm either finding cars that are not quite equipped how I would like, or may have the wrong color interior or exterior, or are perfectly equipped, but priced higher than I want to go!

Patience is a virtue!

Originally Posted by Flyingman

Nice color combination. It says it is well equipped, sport, premium, etc... but It looks like it has chrome trim around windows so that should not be a sport package.

It does have the 195 wheels which I have, these are 18" sport wheels.

What are you waiting for? Get the carfax and check the VIN. You can do the drive from Albany,GA to Nashville in about 7 hours and not use a full tank of fuel!

That's a sport package. Your in Nashville.... it's not that cold. I'm in Michigan and hardly even use my heated seats. Pull the trigger and enjoy the ride home.

Trim appears to be black, steering wheel is the sport wheel, I don't see the paddle shifters but know they were changed to buttons in 2011, so assume they are the ones on either the left or the right, or both. 18" 195 wheels should also be Sport.

I have the heated seats in my Tahoe. Use that option plenty down here! Right.

The car actually warms up very quickly, I think it has some sort of electric heating to get it up to temp quicker in order to meet exhaust emissions. Recall reading something about that on here.

Buy it already!

You can buy my car...

The saga continues - found a 2011 described as new, but used as a service loaner. Or at least that's what I thought based on our phone call. Lots of the equipment that I want, paint and interior in colors that I like, listed for just over $40,000.

HOWEVER... there's always a "HOWEVER". The car is described by the dealer as new, yet it has almost 10,000 miles on it and it has an in-service date of late 2010!

I must have misunderstood what was said on the phone, because what was in the emails doesn't line up with what I thought I had heard.

But I tried to Google the VIN like I've done for others, and absolutely NOTHING shows up! Same thing with another service loaner. Don't want to waste money on a CarFax if there isn't any info out there!

And as I'm typing that I realize that it's odd that the dealer's own info doesn't show up in the Google results. I found them in a very roundabout way - googled the words "335d service loaners" and ended up finding them that way.

Anyone ever see that before?

Originally Posted by dnaer

That's a sport package. Your in Nashville.... it's not that cold. I'm in Michigan and hardly even use my heated seats. Pull the trigger and enjoy the ride home.

Trust me, that thought keeps running through my head. But when you've had heated seats in all of your recent cars...

I'm surprised no one has busted me about the oyster interior on that car. I do think that the gray with the oyster/black interior is just sharp.

I like the looks of it, but could not maintain it. The contrast with the black trim is sharp.

Originally Posted by Maybe335d

The saga continues - found a 2011 described as new, but used as a service loaner. Or at least that's what I thought based on our phone call. Lots of the equipment that I want, paint and interior in colors that I like, listed for just over $40,000.

HOWEVER... there's always a "HOWEVER". The car is described by the dealer as new, yet it has almost 10,000 miles on it and it has an in-service date of late 2010!

I must have misunderstood what was said on the phone, because what was in the emails doesn't line up with what I thought I had heard.

But I tried to Google the VIN like I've done for others, and absolutely NOTHING shows up! Same thing with another service loaner. Don't want to waste money on a CarFax if there isn't any info out there!

And as I'm typing that I realize that it's odd that the dealer's own info doesn't show up in the Google results. I found them in a very roundabout way - googled the words "335d service loaners" and ended up finding them that way.

Anyone ever see that before?

Service loaners were never sold thus some dealers consider them new (I consider them used). But they are used to you as far as in serivce date on the warrantly and the mileage on the ODO are concerned. I purchased such a vehicle with 8K miles on it. Have 16K now and not a single issue. I did opt for the BMW extended warranty (platnium 7/100K) but no so much for the engine, more for all the electronics and technology in the car.

Originally Posted by Maybe335d

Trust me, that thought keeps running through my head. But when you've had heated seats in all of your recent cars...

I'm surprised no one has busted me about the oyster interior on that car. I do think that the gray with the oyster/black interior is just sharp.

Keep in mind that the 335d has a ceramic pre heater and will have the inside of the car toasty long before most other cars can achieve that. I'd personally not make heated seats a deal breaker, I definitely would not make a heated steering wheel a deal breaker. But of course at the end of the day do not settle on something that is not exactly what you want. I got something that was not exactly what I wanted and routinely kicked myself in the tail ever since then.

Also make sure and run CarFax'x on the cars you are interested in, most dealers have links to do this for free. The ones at dealerships should show up when exactly they put them up for sale. Sometimes what you will find is they show up on some of the online searches after they have been sitting on the lots for a couple months with no local success. There is going to be a tipping point where they will drop the price in hopes of it selling and then a tipping point after that where it is auctioned off if the sale is unsuccessful. I only mention this because if you are in fact seeing this happen sometimes it might make you feel urgent to jump onto a car for sale when you see it since past ones disappeared on you so quickly. A feel to urgently jump onto something might hurt your price negotiation tactics.

Originally Posted by Snipe656

Keep in mind that the 335d has a ceramic pre heater and will have the inside of the car toasty long before most other cars can achieve that. I'd personally not make heated seats a deal breaker, I definitely would not make a heated steering wheel a deal breaker.

The ceramic heater is there because diesel cars don't heat up quickly, not because cars don't heat quickly. My Toyotas warm up just as quickly as the 335d's ceramic heater.

Agree with steering wheel comment - I don't use mine unless I've been outside and my hands are cold. Heated seats, hmmm: an incredible option worth every penny.

Originally Posted by floydarogers

The ceramic heater is there because diesel cars don't heat up quickly, not because cars don't heat quickly. My Toyotas warm up just as quickly as the 335d's ceramic heater.

I know it is there because it s a diesel but the end result is my 335d's cabin gets hot quicker than any of the other 4 cars I have at my house right now. It also has been quicker than any of the probably half a dozen rent cars I have had this year.

I also was in the market for a 335d in the past few weeks. I purchased a 2011 over the weekend equipped mostly as I liked. 8,800 miles, Nav, Cold, Premium, White/Black. $36.8k I'm happy with the price! I previously owned a 2006 330i with sport package but wanted a more supple ride this time around. As much as I wanted to like the sports package, I just really never did for road trips. Never was able to get comfortable and the ride was tiring. So far so good! I'm blown away by the torque!

Originally Posted by Snipe656

I know it is there because it s a diesel but the end result is my 335d's cabin gets hot quicker than any of the other 4 cars I have at my house right now. It also has been quicker than any of the probably half a dozen rent cars I have had this year.

I agree, my x5d heats up amazingly fast, the cabin warms up as fast as the seats do :o

Way faster then my Escalade or my CTS-V, and much much faster then my other diesel

Jay

Originally Posted by Donjhen

I also was in the market for a 335d in the past few weeks. I purchased a 2011 over the weekend equipped mostly as I liked. 8,800 miles, Nav, Cold, Premium, White/Black. $36.8k I'm happy with the price! I previously owned a 2006 330i with sport package but wanted a more supple ride this time around. As much as I wanted to like the sports package, I just really never did for road trips. Never was able to get comfortable and the ride was tiring. So far so good! I'm blown away by the torque!

Great price - was that through a dealer or private sale? How did you find it? AutoTrader? Did you have to do much haggling to get to that price?

Also interesting comment regarding the sport package. I have the Sport package on my Mini Countryman, which many find too harsh. But I have swapped out the run flats. And this is coming from an R32, which was a pretty stiff ride.

I purchased the car from a dealer a couple of hours away. I found the car on cars.com. I also looked at BMWUSA.com. I did look at a privately owned one. It was clear the owner didn' care about things as much as I do.

There seems to be many diesels on the market right now, at least in CA. New ones are lingering on dealer lots now that the 2012 F30's are available.

I too also have a Mini - a 2009 Convertible S. It still has the runflats. I may replace those when it's time.

Man,
I went and did a search and some of the cars that I had my eye on back when I was looking for the 335d are gone. There was one that was $41,900 that was silver with black interior, cold weather package, sport package, premium package, nav, etc. Only thing it did not have was paddle shifters and Harmon Kardon stereo. That dealership charges a $600 "processing fee" and was not willing to negotiate, so I stayed away from them.

My advice would be to stay away from loaner cars with over 5k miles too. If you do the math on a loaner car with 10k miles.. and assume each person drove the car 100 miles.. than that is 100 different people that drove that car. Even if you guess the average person drove it 200 miles.. then that is 50 people who drove it. Not to say the car couldn't still turn out to be good.. it's just an insane number of people who drove it.. and you know some of them abused it. I would rather buy one with 10k-20k miles that was a one owner that came in off of a lease etc.

Here are a few...This first one is loaded... Sport package, Cold weather package, Premium package, Harmon Kardon stero, park distance control(This is awesome), etc. Don't settle though man.. just keep holding out until you get what you want. I did and I'm so happy that I did. I LOVE the black interior. The only other color I would have taken would be the light grey.. but everything would have to be perfect.. including price.


http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...19114855&Log=0

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...21962389&Log=0

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...21178891&Log=0

Keep looking, the D is worth it. I just hope BMW bringd the 335D back in a year or two, it will be a shame if they don't. N4S

ufcrules1,

Funny you find those particular cars - have been in touch with the first dealership where the first two cars are. Helpful guy on the phone - but some pretty harsh words about the dealership on Yelp.com from a number of folks.

The last car is the only green - er, sorry "Tasman" car that has come up in my searching. (Don't think I've ever seen one in person.) Also one of the few grey interiors, let alone a grey sport interior. The grey might the worst of both worlds re interior colors - light colored seats, but also light carpeting and trim. That's not to say that I would disqualify it <grin>. Almost half the warranty is up, which is a little worse than ideal.

It is a nice car.