New Car

Shift518 Automotive
1

I decided to take a 30 mile drive to NJ (ick) with the wife to take a look at a BMW X3. It’s a NON CPO 2008 X3 AT with 18,400 miles white/tan with heater seats, privacy glass, and heated steering wheel.

The wife doesn’t make mistakes (sans me) so I felt good knowing I wouldn’t make a bad mistake. After looking at just about every 2008+ SUV ($28-$30K budget) that I could find, the X3 was still the leader. Unfortunately, the ML350 was priced out unless I went into the 40K mile mark.

My initial fears was whether or not I would be comfortable (I am a big man and like a lot of room; My previous Suzuki was VERY spacious), good sound system, something sporty (I had a 600HP 3000GT previously), 20+ city/highway MPG, AWD, sunroof, leather, etc. I am also REALLY big on clean interiors. Unfortunately, every car had an issue: Domestics (eh, no) -> MKX (ugly interior), Escalade (****ty MPG), Explorer (already had one), Escape (step child), RDX (too small), Rav4 (TIGHT), ML350 (Too much $$$), Q7/Q5 (FANTASTIC but $$$), etc.

The wife and I both drove it about 15-20 min each and I went over various driving conditions, gears, dead stops, hard/soft accelerations, etc. No tranny hesistation. Smooth. I guess I was hoping for something to reaffirm my fears but nothing. It felt better than any other car I have ever driven. A bit firm ride but it still feels solid. It must be driven to appreciated. Anyhow, the wife loves it especially the sunroof. There was 1 small ding and 1 scratch and 2 marks and now they are gone. There is a few marks on the black plastic on the exterior but you’d have to look from 2 feet or so in and they are few. Interior? 9.8 out of 10… I can’t find a scratch except a few on the BMW logo on the floor. Amazing.

We got there at 2PM and left at 8:45PM with the car. They matched my local credit union’s 4.49% for 5 years and the total price of the SUV was $26,800 + $300 for some stupid gap insurance (Fear got to me) which includes them paying off my trade-in which I made about $1K or so over what I would have gotten on the free market (assuming it sold).

Overall, I have no remorse (at least yet). I own my first BMW.

PICS

http://www.shawnaugust.com/imageviewer.aspx?FolderPath=Pics%2FBMW_X3%2FDealer%2F

2

Gap insurance is a definitely.I needed it once and it saved me $2000

3

$300 is small but I don’t do the hustle. Sounds like it was a good idea for you. Makes me feel like I didn’t give up unnecessarily.

4

always get gap ins ,if anything happens your covered its a small price to pay instead of suttin bigger later

5

I got the gap insurance too. I think it was only an extra $5 a month.

So you got rid of the 3000GT at some point?

6

Funny, I thought it was one of those pointless things. I am under $5K as the car is worth a lot more than I paid but who knows the future?

Nearly 2 years ago? :slight_smile:

7

I really didnt know that.

Yeah, I got a hell of a deal on my truck and paid quite a bit under book value but figured the extra $5 a month was worth it in case the value takes a nose dive like truck values did when gas was $4 a gallon.

8

looks sweet! love the roof! i dont know wat it is with tan interiors they just dont do it for me. congrats and good luck with it!

9

I had the x3 a few cars back. Rides very smooth. Very comfortable and a very nice ride. I am 6’3 and 260 pounds big guy but X3 was perfect fit as well for me.

I must admit if my mother didn’t want it from me I would have kept it lol.

only one problem with it I have noticed is that it is “poorly” built in a sense. IT dents and dings too easily. So just watch for even the smallest rocks or stuff flying around.

10

Congrats on the new car!

It is a perfect fit in the city, X5 would have been too big for city traffic and pita for parking.

I’m coming up to check it out as soon as one of the bikes is fixed. We will steal it from the wify and go cruising. :lol

11

Nice pickup. Explain this gap insurance plz.

Also, didn’t like the range rover??

12

GAP insurance covers the difference if you total the vehicle while it is worth less then what you owe on it. Since damn near every cars value declines as such a drastic rate, I think its a pretty good idea unless you are getting a crazy deal on it or something

13

I spent about $2K to make it absolutely mint for the new owner. He put it at redline and side-stepped the clutch and blew it up. The car wasn’t driven for nearly a year and I told him to get it tuned before street racing. He drove it from PA to KS and blew up the tranny in a week racing. Then, a crappy 5 speed was put in and he put it on eBay. A 3SIer won it cheap (no reserve), the guy refused to sell, was banned from 3SI, disappeared, and attempting to part it out on eBay/craigslist.

basically, destroyed.

The roof is sick. It goes into the backseat. One of the big selling points for me as I love the openess to it.

The tan is weird. For me, it works and I am typically not a huge fan. I also LOVE the white. I didn’t at first but it works on certain cars. Perhaps I am justifying? :slight_smile:

This was huge for me. My previous SUV was like a caddy up front. Plus, Newman sits on my lap. It looks small but I got CRAZY room in it. I wish there was a bit more space between pedals though.

I live in NYC so I am used to pricks denting shit all the time. I park WAY away from people generally. Also, I have a good body guy. :slight_smile:

As of right now, not a SINGLE scratch on the car.

14

Wife LOVES the X5. She is going in a new 3 series next year after wedding.

LOVED the Range Rover but hated the thought of overly priced repairs. This is bad enough. LR2 is a GREAT deal too.

The X3 is MUCH more peppier though. :slight_smile: Shit, it runs like a 90MPH trap. Not too bad for a entry level SUV.

Like Cavy said, it’s basically a way for a company to cover the entire cost of the loan if the car is totaled.

The problem is when you finance, you often finance shit outside of the car. It sucks for the bank because the car is probably not worth the extra tax/fees/tags/etc… Furthermore, as you own the car, it depreciates faster than the loan amount. So, your $20K car now might be valued at $20K but in a year, you might owe $18K but the value is $16K. You total that car, the insurance gives you $16K, you owe $2K. Imagine that shit on a more expensive car? Mine is valued at $31K+ I’d be fucked.

Or, pull a Travis.:rofl

15

Haha good info. Deff worth the few extra bucks a month IMO. Failvis must not of had this.

16

He didnt have any kind of insurance

17

Lmao what a fail

18

he had basic

19

but it lapsed. He didnt pay the bill.

20

FYI NYS law makes it illegal to charge more then the bank amount for gap insurance. Gap should only cost $175 AT MOST!

NJ has no such law