'Amusing' dealer visit

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:09 pm

It was MOT time yesterday and armed with my free voucher from last year, off i set to my regular main dealer. The brake fluid clock had popped on too, so my free visit was now going to cost something after all. As it turned out, Â£80 inclusive for the brake fluid swap

While i was clicking my heels i wandered off to look at their pre-owned stuff and a 650 with an eye watering spec caught my eye. I wanted it there and then. The realisation of a Â£460pa VED was a smack in the face but only Â£200 more than the existing. Then came the amusing part, the trade value of mine. OK i'm a realist; it's a Sep 2001 4.4 sport in super tidy nick, 66k miles FBMWSH with 4.6is wheels, newly refurbished with new Michelin rubber, digital tv and Bluetooth upgrades and a host of nice bits and bobs. What was i offered?

Â£5K sir is what it's worth for a car that cost north of Â£50K when new in 2001! The 650 was up for Â£21K, a Dec 2007 car that was north of Â£70k new. I unsurprisingly declined any deal and was immediately offered Â£7K for mine. The real world MPG of the 650 is a tad better than mine and had it not been the Â£460pa VED which just on principal i baulk at, i was actually quite tempted. Then i got home and did my amusing annual check of miles covered inbetween MOT's. Even i was astonished it was just a difference of 3344 miles!

So the 650 wouldn't cost me so much to run, outside of the VED and depreciation and its a real old-er manâ€™s pukka GT which appeals. I know we all know this but residuals on cars is a real kick in the nadgers imo and something i try hard to avoid now. I'll be keeping the trusty steed a while longer

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:07 pm

Â£5k for a 10 year old, low mileage but petrol model actually isn't bad - Â£7k was better. Not surprised by those figures really, although I did fear you were going to say something much lower. The 650 is a lovely car, but with such little room in the back not terribly practical. It actually has worse rear legroom than our E46, and having looked at the latest 640d last week things have not improved in the new model.

My 2005 X5 diesel went for Â£16k last year. With current fuel prices and other economic pressures, these cars of ours are never going to get good figures now. I'm hanging on to my X6 even though I really do want the LCI version. Ho hum. Need either a massive pay rise or lottery win..

Dealer visits are becoming 'Depressing' rather than 'Amusing' for me these days anyway..

Woofer · Post by **Woofer** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:07 pm

I'd say. 7k is a good shout , I'm buying specced up a 4.4 facelift 2004 from a main dealer at 10750 inc 2 years BMW warranty and only 39k miles, still sounds like a keeper tho'

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:15 pm

Amusing was of course tongue in cheek

As to leg room, well i'm happily divorced and have no family whatsoever now, so i only need a one seater but two suit me just fine. Rear leg room is not something i need concern myself with anymore. There are other life issues to distract me from that. Sadly i won't buy it anyway and the thought of buying new ever again with instant losses as i drive off the forecourt are no longer a tolerable exercise.

weirdfish · Post by **weirdfish** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:31 pm

[quote=""sapphireblack""]Amusing was of course tongue in cheek

As to leg room, well i'm happily divorced and have no family whatsoever now, so i only need a one seater but two suit me just fine. Rear leg room is not something i need concern myself with anymore. There are other life issues to distract me from that. Sadly i won't buy it anyway and the thought of buying new ever again with instant losses as i drive off the forecourt are no longer a tolerable exercise.[/quote]

Sorry, but I've got to say it before someone else does, what the hell are you doing even looking at the 6 series for when you only need 2 seats, there's a lot better cars out there for a person in your situation.
As for the amount they offered for your car, they could have probably gone a bit further, but they knew the mark up was already in the 6 series, cost to swap is all that counts.

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:43 pm

It is actually in line with what I got - 2005 Diesel with 82k for Â£10k.

So 4 year older car for "only" Â£3k less is not that bad considering it is petrol ...

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:47 pm

Better than a 6 series for me is totally subjective. I like the 6. I'm old enough to fit a 6 ownwers profile and while two seats are all i need, the occasional squashed four would be handy.

If they weren't epic to maintain, i would have an 8 series in a heartbeat. If you're thinking a full on two seater? forget it, been there many years ago now and no desire to re-visit thanks

shadrack · Post by **shadrack** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:01 pm

[quote=""sapphireblack""]Better than a 6 series for me is totally subjective. I like the 6. I'm old enough to fit a 6 ownwers profile and while two seats are all i need, the occasional squashed four would be handy.

If they weren't epic to maintain, i would have an 8 series in a heartbeat. If you're thinking a full on two seater? forget it, been there many years ago now and no desire to re-visit thanks

[/quote]
hey i nearly bought a 645/50 cabrilet and im 26!! as for the pat x price i would say its pretty good, dread to think what they gave for the 6 tbh to offer you 7k they must of paid peanuts, i would love to work at a dealer you would get access to some lovely cheap cars!

AW8 · Post by **AW8** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:50 pm

I suspect the higher p/x price on yours is more indicative of the margin tthey may have in the 650ci.

Â£8-10k could get you in a 2004 645ci..........cheaper tax. Then again if only wanting 2 seats, doing low annual miles, wanting a BMW that wont depreciate as much as some others then S54 engined Z3M lor perhaps Alpina Z4 3.4S are worth keeping an eye on.

Raj · Post by **Raj** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:45 am

I seriously looked at the Alpina 3.4s and have to say after driving one...wow. If I were in your position I'd consider moving to that over the X as you don't really need the space as you say.

weirdfish · Post by **weirdfish** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:59 am

[quote=""AW8""]I suspect the higher p/x price on yours is more indicative of the margin tthey may have in the 650ci.

Â£8-10k could get you in a 2004 645ci..........cheaper tax. Then again if only wanting 2 seats, doing low annual miles, wanting a BMW that wont depreciate as much as some others then S54 engined Z3M lor perhaps Alpina Z4 3.4S are worth keeping an eye on.[/quote]

You can'tgo wrong with the Z3MCoupe, I owned the same one twice, long story, but basically sold it to a guy that went through it and prepared it for concours, then bought it back off him, then sold it to hexagon, who still have it sat in their showroom.
It's the Phoenix yellow one with bbs lm's on, as well as quite a bit of other stuff that they don't mention, these are awesome cars, ( especially the S54 model ), made in low numbers, so will become sought after later on.
Go on,you know you want to.

ianmaney · Post by **ianmaney** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:03 am

A mate of mine bought a new 645 convertible in 2006 and cost him close on 60 grand, when he went to chop it in after 2 years, they offered him 27 grand, gutted wasn't the word!

gobiman · Post by **gobiman** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:48 pm

Why not keep the X5 and buy a summer soft top. There's plenty of older but still reasonably modern well-engineered cars around right at the bottom of the depreciation curve.

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:50 pm

Two VED's two insurances etc. One is hassle enough, two is not really an option for me.

Decided to keep my car following some brutal realisation that buying anything newer is just inviting the same scenario in a few years time. I like cars but not how they lose so much value

entropy · Post by **entropy** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:21 pm

Hi Sapphire,

that post makes me feel like i got a decent deal on my x5. its the same as yours and i paid 4k to a private seller but it does have 90k on the clock with full bmw service history. i suppose if petrol ever comes down again then they could go up in value again.

I think the 6 series are a hell of a good buy now. i've seen some 54 plates up for 7k with 60k miles on the clock. its a hell of a lot money to lose.

Tons of other nice older cars out there.

you can pick up 54 plate aston martin db9 for 35k now
7 series look good as well.

in my recent experience (touch wood it continues) a well maintained older vehicle is a better buy than brand new as the depreciation is scary.

they have an X5 55 plate down the road from me here for Â£15,995 with 55k on the clock. yeah it has the facelift but its not a huge difference in my opinion but is it really worth 12k more?

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