keep or trade?

Hi everyone! I'm back over a year later with a similar problem and would like your opinions. My dilemma: I have a used 2007 X3 with 57,100 miles. No warranty but the main powertrain warranty expires in July. I am saving for a wedding and am really nervous about the costs to maintain the car once things start breaking down (I realized it would be expensive to maintain when I got the car but thought I'd have a better paying job afterwards to to help cover the costs). The car is currently worth more than I owe and I am scheduled to make my last payment in 9/2016. I will need new tires and brakes soon and have not done a 50,000 mile inspection.

I have again been thinking about trading the car in for another car, either the escape or edge so that I can save on gas, repairs, etc. while I am saving for the wedding, etc. So my question to you all is "What would you do?" would you keep the X3 knowing things are going to go wrong soon or trade the X3 in for a new car..and basically go from a $14,500 loan plus repairs to a $25K+ loan for a new car with no major repairs....?

Trade it in a heartbeat.

Thanks

Im in the same boat, Im trading mine in a month or so for something either CPO or new

Trade it in and get a Honda. But don't spend 25k. Get a car closer to $18k to keep your cost lower.

Although....

Assuming you don't already have noticeable transmission issues....my 09 at 107k miles has been my most reliable and cheapest car to keep on the road I have ever owned.

Outside of oil, a set of tires , spark plugs, and fluid no issues. Heck the rear brakes lasted 74k miles and fronts lasted 99k.

The only real issue I had bmw goodwilled for me (front differential) at 60k miles.

do you expect to make 11k in repairs in the next 3~4 years? I for sure wouldn't go for a more expensive vehicle. I would recommend a honda fit or something like that.

Originally Posted by Dominic49

do you expect to make 11k in repairs in the next 3~4 years? I for sure wouldn't go for a more expensive vehicle. I would recommend a honda fit or something like that.

We love our Honda Fit.

Thank you all for your comments! I haven't had an real trouble, except it stalling once as explained in my last thread and last season the motor on the rear window went. That alone would've been a $500 job if I hadn't had the warranty. I definitely know the tires, brakes, and possibly a battery next year or so would have to be done in the future. I don't think I'd have $11k worth of repairs in the next 3-4 years but by the time I actually own it, the car will be about 9 years old...

Jenn - as a group we can keep you on the road cheaper but that depends on your or your future husbands DIY skills...congrats by the way!!

For example...that $500 window issue, we could have walked you through a $50 fix that take about 2 hours of your time....but this does require some DIY desire.

Dominic does make a compelling point...

It sounds like you drive less than 10k miles a year...maybe a lease is a better bet for you.

You might be able to sell your car, use the cash to pay your drive off expense and then have a lower lease payment than your car payment. If you get a new 3 series, figure you won't have to worry about maintenance ever again....with a roughly $400 a month payment.

Thanks Brian! I actually drive about 15k miles a year so I don't think leasing would work. I love the idea of dyi but I'm not that confident in my car repair skills and my future husband could probably do minor repairs but he probably wouldn't be confident in taking doors apart, etc.

I actually did go to the bmw dealer to inquire about getting another X3 but it would be too expensive. They were also only willing to give about $15k. I would get more selling it privately.

I've had the 325xi prior to my x3 (it was totaled after 6 months) and I don't think I'd get another one because I am petite and I fit and see better out of the x3...

yeah I talked to a BMW dealer about trading mine in on a newer CPO X3, they lowballed me so much it was not even funny, they offered me 5200 for a heavily optioned 04 with 82k miles. The Ford dealer offered me 8500 (current auction price) for it in trade for a new explorer 4x4

Jen there are some great cars at attractive prices out there now! You might want to consider looking at the Kia Sportage -- nice high seating -- excellent mileage and of course the famous 10 year 100K mile power train warranty! Another one to consider is the Hyundai twin, or in a car the Elantra -- excellent mileage very low cost -- same warranty -- or the Kia Optima -- very sleek and with the optional turbo four it runs with or better than the X3. The Nissan Rogue is another good choice with a high driving position as well. Of course there is also the old standby, the Honda CR-V but these are getting a bit pricey now. The Fit or Versa are also great. In any case, lots of choices. As newly weds the last thing you need is a bunch of unexpected repair bills! Dump it and get a new something else.

I have owned an out of warranty e46 m3, and currently have an e39 m5. If the vehicle has been well maintained throughout its life, then I wouldn't stress over it. Things will break, but it will be cheaper to fix than pay the vig on a newer vehicle.

Although, the Honda Fit is nice. We have one, an 09 with 139k on it. It's only needed a little more r134a, other than tires, filters, and oil. Does pretty good in the snow too, with decent tires.

Thank you everyone for your comments! I'm not crazy about the Japanese/Korean cars; I'm sure over the years they have become safer vehicles but in comparison to how the German cars are made, they still do not feel sturdy/well built to me. This is why I would consider a ford or even VW.

If you drive 15k miles a year than I would append my statement above and recommend keeping the car, unless you are looking at less expensive cars or leasing to truly save costs.

Buying a new one is just delaying the enevitable. Repair cost will happen one way or another unless you keep the cycle going and continuously replace.

Since your car so far has been trouble free why wouldn't it continue to be? You have ask yourself the question...

Which is cheaper in the long run?

Only you know your pocket depth so you need to do what you think is best.

I will only tell you that the X3 is very cheap to maintain if:

a) you buy your parts online
b) have an indy shop to put them on

I have 162.000km and have never paid more than $400/year to maintain the X3, and yes, I do EVERYTHING on time if not earlier.

Before trading or keeping, you need to make a chart for the cost each option will have until the day you are interested.

E.g till June 2016, how much will the X3 cost and how much will any other cost + overhead of buying.

Good luck, if you sell, another good low mileage X3 will be on the market

Wow.

I'll give each of you 500 bucks over what the dealer offered for trade for your X3!!

Jen, understand your reluctance for the asian cars -- no matter how well they are built or how well they perform in the various crash tests (very well, by the way) -- after all it is your money and your safety at risk so you need to do what is right for you. As far as the X3 goes, my '06 was virtually bulletproof up until about 60K miles when thing started to go south. It has been in the shop four times, each time it was about a grand give or take and it has had three "SES" lights -- and has one right now! It will also need new brakes, new tires, the BIG 100K mile service -- with sparkplugs et al -- so it is now on the block, so to speak. I just do not want to dump about $4K into it and have it not worth one cent more. I was a gear head in my (long past) youth so know my way around cars, but what with the various computer controlled stuff I just don't want to deal with it any more. If someone is a DIYer than "good on 'ya" but most of us are not and depend on the dealer or a trusted indy. These things break, and they cost when they break. Move on to a new car and remove that problem from your life!

Thank you all so much for your advice . Much appreciated! I will try to check out a ford and VW dealer this weekend and see what the numbers are and take it from there. Will keep you posted .

Jenn:

Here is the bottom line (at least for me).

We have a long history of owning BMW and Mercedes (about 20 vehicles since 1980). We wend green and small, and for the past four yeaers until last June, we had 2 Smart cars, both cabriolets (one a 2008, and one a 2009. They had a few problems but all repaired under warrantee. OK on the highway (cruise comfortably at 70 mph), bit still an econobox. We missed the luxury, convenience, and sporty handling of the German cars. Those cars cannot be beat for driving experience, and features like memory seats are really imprtant to us.

I researched and test drove every SUV available. and they were all either too large, too inefficient. or lacking all of the features we wanted. For example, I was on Long Island, NY on a project for one week in December, and rented a Nissan Rogue. Very vanilla, unexciting driving experience, and the fuel mileage was about equivalent to an X3. Probably a way lower cost of ownership. The only cars that came close to the X3 were the KIA or Hundai top-of-the line SUVs. V6, memory seats, quiet ride, onlt marginally better fuel economy, and not the handling of the X3. The X5 Deisel is way too large for us and very pricey.

Finally, last June we found a 2009 X3 at the local Mini dealer. Not CPO, but with over one year and 19,000 miles of factory warrantee and service remaining. We negotiated a decent price and trade-in on our 2008 smart, and, since Mini is owned by BMW, got attractice financing with BMW Financial. The driving experience is where it is at! WE LOVE our X3

That was a long-winded way of saying that what you get with the X3 is a driving experience that cannot be matched by virtually any other relatively small SUV. The decision you face is the value to you of that driving experience. The Japanse cars will be far less to maintain, but won't come close to the driving experience, specially in the under-$25,000 vehicles.

Ron

Thank you Ron, I truly love my X3 also . I did go to the Ford dealer today and I didn't really care for the escape. The dashboard design was too busy in my opinion. The edge is really nice but they want about $500 a month to finance and about $430 a month to lease. My fiance and I are thinking that it may actually be cheaper in the long run to keep my X3 and just hope that nothing major goes wrong with it in the next few years. We just have to run our numbers again to make sure.

Jenn:

If you're at the Ford dealer, look at the C-Max. It is a hybrid, and we're considering trading our Smart and having the X3 and the C-Max.

Ron

how much did they offer you on trade?

Keep it. In general, you will save money by keeping the car unless you have a particularly bad specimen. Why not keep the car until you start having problems?

Car warranties is just cost averaging by the car company. They figure that over a few thousand cars, the average car will cost less to fix than the amount they budget for repairs.