Any warranty on a 2015 (really?) car, BMW or otherwise will just be very expensive toilet paper.

Basically, nothing wear and tear, steering suspension, engine gearbox, transmission, service parts.

Look the cost of owning a BMW is no more than any other car of similar size in the range. Once out of dealer warranty find yourself a good independent garage or BMW specialist and enjoy the merits of a well constructed and reliable car. The thing that can kill car ownership is the cost of labour. Routine servicing costs are well affordable if you stay away from the main dealers Running any car is expensive so spend time working out what bills might be, tyres, servicing, road tax, insurance, repairs.

Do not buy a diesel unless you are a high mileage driver and even then think hard. Double check the insurance premium first

As to a 3 year warranty, you will pay heavy for such a thing and again needs careful thought. The car supermarket are obligated by the trade description act for 6 months in any case so if the seller is reputable they should honour it.

Buyers are rightly concerned about the car trade but a long test drive and a bit of research on the model you are buying will be worth while. The thought that a modern second hand car will go bang these days is largely a mithe but it can happen!

Have you driven it yet?

I have not driven it. The only time, I got lucky in Spain at a car hire, and got to drive a BMW 1 series. Whist it was reasonable to drive, but one thing I noticed on a long drive, I was not tired on a long journey. I can't explain it.

I've had 3 BMW's over the years starting with a 316 ( 1800cc confusingly) then a 525E ( again, confusingly really a 2.7) and finally a 325, all apart from the 325 where fantastic, the 325 was positively dangerous in the wet, understeered everywhere!

I must admit they were all relatively simple cars compared to recent models and I did do all my own maintenance but they never gave any real trouble..

Edit: just remembered I bought the 5 series knowing it had gear box trouble, bought a second hand box and spent a entire bank holiday weekend changing it, not sure I could do it now?

Personally I think a modern BMW could be a lovely thing to own but you really need to sure its been looked after, if you ever do need parts use GSF ( German, Swedish and French) for bits, most BMW stuff, especially electronic or electrical is Bosch in a BMW box.

Another Edit: Despite what others say just look at the amount them around especially those with the 2 litre diesel engine, couple of people I know, one with a 120D another with a 320D have never had a moments trouble, trouble is it only takes a reported couple of problems with a certain engine for the Internet to condem them all, take the 1.25 pure tech or the ford ecoboost for example .

Edited by paul 1963 on 22/02/2023 at 20:07

I did more digging. The BMW I was interested has a N20 engine.

According to Wiki:

Class action lawsuit alleging timing chain guide failures

It has been well documented in online forums, that thousands of early production N20 engines were manufactured with faulty internal plastic timing chain guides. Evidence indicates that defective polycarbonate compositions were utilized in the manufacturing process for the timing chain guide, and as a result over a very short period of time the rigid plastic guides would break down and deteriorate in the engine with little or no warning.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_N20

I don't know if the issue is resolved in the 2015 model I was looking at or a design flaw.

Ignoring my personal feeling on them (BMW's) in general, i wouldn't go anywhere near this without confirmation that the age of car you were looking at was not affected.

If you really fancy 3 Series, maybe a BMW forum would be the best place to ask about pro's and con's of the various versions?