[Appa]

Looking to get rid of my mitsubishi and go for a 335i sedan.
The car I'm looking at is a previous fleet vehicle, with 80000+ miles, sports package, cold weather package and navigation, and the price is around $15000.
Late build, seems to have entered service at around July/2007.
What do you guys think? I know it's high mileage, but sadly my budget doesn't allow for a low milage car at the moment. And being a BMW, I'm sure it will still last for many miles still right?

Seeing as the HPFP is still covered by warranty I don't have any worries about that one, but I've read something about oil cooler, and overheating. I'm not gonna race with it, but I'd like to install a ecu bypass, and I just hope that won't cause it to overheat in florida temperatures.

Thanks

[07E92TT]

Originally Posted by Appa

Looking to get rid of my mitsubishi and go for a 335i sedan.
The car I'm looking at is a previous fleet vehicle, with 80000+ miles, sports package, cold weather package and navigation, and the price is around $15000.
Late build, seems to have entered service at around July/2007.
What do you guys think? I know it's high mileage, but sadly my budget doesn't allow for a low milage car at the moment. And being a BMW, I'm sure it will still last for many miles still right?

Seeing as the HPFP is still covered by warranty I don't have any worries about that one, but I've read something about oil cooler, and overheating. I'm not gonna race with it, but I'd like to install a ecu bypass, and I just hope that won't cause it to overheat in florida temperatures.

Thanks

a 335i for 15k is highly unlikely I don't care how many miles it has. You can barely get a 06 325i for that much. And no, "it being a BMW will not last for many miles", you should check out an 06 330i. Much more reliable and more in your price range...

[Appa]

Thanks, but I'm not gonna consider another BMW, it's either a high mileage low priced 335i, or I'll just get a Dodge Charger RT instead.
Well, believe what you want, but I can get it for $15000, it's just the milage that's keeping me from it atm.

[Skydive]

At 80,000 miles I would shy away from it unless you can spend additional funds for a quality aftermarket warranty. These cars are reliable so long as they are well taken care of. At 80K there are expensive components to be replaced. Further, as a fleet car the level of care it has had is questionable because it's user was not it's owner.

My late build '07 335 has a factory oil cooler because it has the OE sport package. You can check under the passenger front fender liner in the wheel well. If the cooler is there, you'll see it. If there is no oil cooler, I'd definitely skip it. As a fleet car it has probably received only minimal scheduled oil changes at 15,000 miles. Old, hot oil cokes. Coked oil is hard on the turbo chargers and top end.

That's my two cents.

[anon10]

I've been looking, and $15,000 is a good deal, unless the car has had a serious accident.

You should obtain a pre-purchase inspection (about $150+/-) that checks out the mechanicals and body work. Also, you may be able to obtain the service history from your local dealer (there is a central repair record system among BMW dealers). If no red flags (other than fleet), you won't find a better deal.

That said, the 335i is not a reliable car on the scale of Toyota/Honda, and repairs are way more costly than say a Ford. So you'll need to budget for expensive maintenance and repairs.

[Appa]

Yeah, reading about all the problems, I'm thinking it might be better to put in the extra cash to get one with factory warranty. I'm keeping it 2 years max anyway, so the resale value is also important to me.
It has the sports package by the way, so I'm guessing it has the cooler, but I'm not too concerned about this if cars without coolers overheat only on the track, as I'm not gonna use it that way.

We'll see how much more I have to chip in though, starting to lean towards a more reliable Dodge Charger, but then again, visually those look like crap compared to a 335i.

Edit: After checking a bit more, it seems the car comes with what the dealer calls "remaining extended warranty". I'll talk to them after the holidays, but can I dealer transfer existing warranty to the next owner of the car? Sounds a bit sketchy to me. Atleast that would be perfect, as it would be covered up to 100k and I'd be likely to sell it at that point.

[Skydive]

It sounds like the car was once a CPO car, which means that you have would be owner three, at least.

The issue with regard to oil temperature is not overheat but rather hot oil and age of that oil. Old oil is particularly prone to coking at high temperatures, and coked oil screws up lubrication of very expensive components. Oil runs hotter in cars without the supplemental coolers weather or not they have been tracked or otherwise driven aggressively. My concern would be with history rather than intended use.

The CPO warranty is decent but don't forget about the deductible. Transferability may be dealer only or require a fee. Do your homework.

Good luck!