[mikeouk]

went and picked my new car up yesterday from stratstone derby.

Very impressed with the service i received from the dealership, a hassle free experience from start to finish. This is the first time ive bought a bmw from a franchise dealer, having been in the motor trade myself (many years ago) ive always been loathed to pay dealer prices, but this car was exactly the spec and colour i wanted, and it was at a very competitive price. It also has balance of service inclusive package, so decided to take the plunge.

The car is a november 2010 lci model, so benefits from being exactly the same engine as the 330d, im sure at some point a remap will be on the cards, but not sure ill do that while its under warranty.

Out of interest, I asked the salesman if he knew the price of the car when new, he did a print out of the spec and price and it was a shade under £40000 just over 2 and a half years ago

So my journey home was around 170miles, the weather was stunning, and I fell in love with the car as soon as I set off. My first impressions of the sat nav and interface are good, miles better than the one on my pre lci ive just sold, i grew to dislike the satnav on that car. My new car has the feature of being able to scroll through my ipod music on the screen, only thing I have found is that i need to plug it into the usb before starting the engine,or it will show on the screen but wont play through the speakers (unless im doing something wrong).
The power and torque is impressive, so having a remap will ,im sure, make the car outstanding. Im comparing this with my e90 320d, then my e92 325i, even though the 325i had slightly more bhp, the 325d feels alot quicker.
One thing i noticed is that the ride seems a little better on the run flats than my old car did, I ditched the run flats on that car straight away because I hated them, I think ill try to live with them on this car for a while.
Fuel economy was good, I was averaging about 42mpg on the trip home and that was doing 80mph with the cruise for alot of the motorway.

So ,,,so far, im very happy. Only slight down side is that this morning Ive noticed some corrosion on both rear wheels around the centre cap ,ill see if this is something i can sort out under the warranty, it has balance of manufactures warranty until november before it transfers to used car warranty. Not sure if ill get any joy, bmw dont seem to like admitting faults with their alloy wheels .

[dobbo99]

great colour that really suits the shape and wheels.

[AWBimmer]

Looks lovely! Is it silver or moonstone finish?

[mikeouk]

Originally Posted by AWBimmer

Looks lovely! Is it silver or moonstone finish?

its called blue water i think?

[rogerxp]

Yes, bluewater, with coral red interior. I know this car very well as I had my eye on it for months and months. I'm 99% sure it's the same car. You got an absolute steal buying this car, I enquired about it about 6 months ago, and it was significantly more expensive than what it eventually reduced to. I keeping watching the price drop more & more to a frankly ridiculous price. Due to Stratstone's frankly stupid pricing policy they wouldn't budge a penny for me but sold it to you about £5k less. Win Win for you.

[rogerxp]

What spec has it got?? Just trying to check it's the same car. Really nice spec are far as I can remember but doesn't have heated seats - would that be right?? If this is the case then it's defo the right car. Just checked and I was looking at it waaaaaay back in November 2012 (in fact earlier that this as it had just been reduced in price at this point).

Oh, the clincher, it's a manual car yes??

[mikeouk]

Originally Posted by rogerxp

What spec has it got?? Just trying to check it's the same car. Really nice spec are far as I can remember but doesn't have heated seats - would that be right?? If this is the case then it's defo the right car. Just checked and I was looking at it waaaaaay back in November 2012 (in fact earlier that this as it had just been reduced in price at this point).

Oh, the clincher, it's a manual car yes??

Yes I'm sure it's the same car, it did seem very cheap compared to others of same age/spec
Go on then, how much was it up for to begin with?

[rogerxp]

Originally Posted by mikeouk

Yes I'm sure it's the same car, it did seem very cheap compared to others of same age/spec
Go on then, how much was it up for to begin with?

Defo the same car. It's a peach. My e-mail traced back to November had it priced at £23,224 but had already been reduced by then. I think it was £24,??? originally when I called them. It was at Stratstone Hull so perhaps they shipped it over to Derby for them to have a go. Can't believe it wasn't snapped up sooner.

Think I last saw it at £18,??? so you got a right bargain .

I did have the original pdf but think I deleted it a while ago - I've only now got the now dead website links.

[Mr-Gadget4]

Had corrosion round the centre cap on both my rear 313 style alloys as well on a car a year old. Dealer replaced them under warranty last week no problem.

[mikeouk]

Yeh I got it for 18k.
Interesting that it was at hull first, it was originally supplied by derby. First owner must have traded it in at 2 years old.

[mikeouk]

Originally Posted by Mr-Gadget4

Had corrosion round the centre cap on both my rear 313 style alloys as well on a car a year old. Dealer replaced them under warranty last week no problem.

I spoke to my local dealer ,they want me to take car in to look at the wheels but said if its not caused by misuse they will replace them

[breathe3asy]

Lovely, you must be loving it. How many miles on clock?

[simmo1985]

mmmm tasty, great colour!

[dubdemand]

Love it, perfect colour combination in my book - exactly what I'd order if I had the opportunity

[mikeouk]

Originally Posted by ceaton88

Lovely, you must be loving it. How many miles on clock?

It's done 44000 which I guess put some buyers off on a 2 year old car, but I only do about 5000 a year so it was fine for me

[ukbeemerboy]

Looks a nice car and sounds like you had a very good deal. The colour isn't everyones cup of tea which may of been why it hung around for a while, but for the likes of you and me that like different colour combinations its a win win!! Enjoy it...

[Greavesy911]

Hi there,
I have just bought a bmw 330 coupe from strastone derby also. How do you rate them? I had to constantly chase for things to be sorted! I believe my car was parked in front of yours when I picked mine up.

[ukbeemerboy]

I bet the reason you had to chase things up was because of your private plate! Those things never seem to transfer smoothly...

[Greavesy911]

Yes you are correct! This is the previous owners plates still waiting on mine

[rogerxp]

Small world isn't it. I guess the colour combo would put some off, me included as an initial reaction, but I actually really like it upon reflection. For me it was the lack of heated seats that put me off but as the price kept tumbling I did keep revisiting my decision. This car is really well specced but one of my 'must haves' is heated seats as all my cars since 2001 have had them and, seeing as I really don't want to part with the Zed, I can afford to be picky . Belting car though.

[Alex.J]

How odd haha.

Only a few weeks ago I was at Stratstone derby and was convincing my missus to trade in her lci e90 for this.

Spent ages looking around it ha.

Stunning car. Great choice.

[dxb335d]

Nice looking car!