[.blackgt.]

New guy here.

I have been looking at getting into a 135i for quite some time now and with the prices hovering at about $25,000 & availability in my area at almost zero, I have found myself looking into the 3 series.

The sedan has always looked a bit better to me, but the want for a 2 door has struck. I have my eye on a couple in the area, but with 1 in particular.

It seems to be very reasonably priced and would like to know what you guys think about the carfax. (Click on things to get more details)

CARFAX REPORT

As expected, the first 40k miles have been well documented.
What scares me a bit is the constant transfer of ownership later in it's life.

It shows that it has had 4 owners. To me that seems like alot.

Although I have yet to see it in person, from the pictures, the interior and exterior look clean with no highway rock chips on the bumper.






What are your thoughts and suggestions?
Would you recommend having it inspected at a BMW dealership or an independent garage that specializes in German vehicles?

Does anyone know of a decent German garage to get it inspected in Atlanta GA?

As for the vin, can someone point me to a working VIN decoder to see what this vehicle has for options?

I know it has leatherette which I truly would rather have on a vehicle of this age. I have read that it wears a bit better than the leather.

The brakes appear to be painted red. I am not sure if they are that way from the factory (BMW Performance) or if someone sprayed them quickly -_-



Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Antetokounmpo]

Hmm definitely has aftermarket brakes, which worries me a bit, I would expect it has been driven harder than normal. I ran the vin on the Russian vin decoder and it has the sport package, m sport suspension, walnut trim, alarm, satellite radio and that's about it. Looks like a barebones 335i with m sport... But it doesn't look like it to me, I'd have to see the rear.

I would be worried about it having aftermarket brakes, usually means driven hard or maybe tracked.

[.blackgt.]

When you say aftermarket brakes, you are referring to the rotors being drilled and most likely pads being aftermarket correct?

What about the calipers being red? I think brembo BBK's are red, but those don't look like a BBK to me. I am hoping someone didn't just spraypaint the OEM calipers really quickly.

[.blackgt.]

I am pretty sure that isn't the msport front bumper, unsure on the rear. I haven't done much rear bumper viewing as of late.

[ken1137]

Those are stock calipers that were painted Red plus gloss. BMW calipers tend to corrode quickly so many of us owners paint them. It also looks like dealers were trading it which could explain the last two owners. Just get a PPI done and go for it if it passes.

[Antetokounmpo]

Originally Posted by .blackgt.

When you say aftermarket brakes, you are referring to the rotors being drilled and most likely pads being aftermarket correct?

What about the calipers being red? I think brembo BBK's are red, but those don't look like a BBK to me. I am hoping someone didn't just spraypaint the OEM calipers really quickly.

To my eye those look like stock calipers that are painted red and those rotors are aftermarket, they're smaller than stock and are obviously drilled.

[notnow]

Almost 100% sure that M-sport suspension = Sport suspension, no one really knows the difference but some people say M-sport suspension has shorter bump stops which makes little to no sense. :S

No m-sport aero parts on the car, stock brake calipers were painted red. IMO, aftermarket rotors and pads doesn't mean much since they provide little to no performance advantages/disadvantages. I upgraded my pads to aftermarket pads and rotors to drilled and slotted rotors on my previous car and I did zero racing in the car.

The only thing you should worry about is that the car has had 4 owners within 5 years... Could have some reoccurring serious problems that the previous owners didn't want to deal with.

[SLOWER]

Owner 3 and 4 are very likely dealers. Owner 3 had to move it in 90 days and didn't. Someone put 5k miles on it in 2 months in the last transaction.

[litxus]

Is this a REPO?

06/05/2013 66,719 New Jersey
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Fort Worth, TX
Title #V320131560042 Title issued or updated
Vehicle repossessed
Vehicle color noted as Black

[CarEnthused]

The sedan looked better to me for awhile and then I bought a coupe because it had the options I wanted. Now I couldn't switch to a sedan. The coupe looks much more aggressive to me.

Regarding this car: walk away. There's too much confusion in this thread to make it feel like a sound investment.

Talk to a dealership and have them look at their dealer/auction network. Find a CPO car with an extended warranty and have them replace everything that they can. That's what I did and outside of spark plugs I haven't had to do a single repair out of my own pocket (and my warranty was only good for 3 weeks after I bought the car)