The problem with relatively cheap cars that were orginally £50K is that they tend to keep the maintenance costs of £50K cars for their whole life.
Great buy if you (or a close relative) are a BMW technican.
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Lovely cars - Sold in moderate bucketfuls despite the chattering classes thinking they were ugly when they came out, they seem to have matured with age. Dynamically superb, my old man has an early 3.0litre petrol version which is a joy to drive; agile, quick and well made - I can't say anything negative about it - apart form the petrol consumption - for a car of its age it still cuts it.
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It does seem remarkably cheap. Might just be a sign of the times thing I suppose.
I was offered a three year old 730d sport two years ago if you see what I mean. It had 75k on it but was immaculate. It belonged to a friend and he had had it from new so I knew its history. I had in fact driven it a few times. He wanted £17000 for it then. That being the trade in price he had been offered against a new X5 at the time. I was tempted, well, very tempted, but of all the things which swung it for me it was the fact that it was a saloon and I need more loadspace. I know they don't do a 7 Touring but that would be an awesome car from my point of view.
As others have said though, it's one thing to buy cars like that but quite another to afford their upkeep.
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The 'standard equipment' and 'additiional equipment' boxes haven't been filled in. If it's a poverty spec. that could well explain the price (kit level is all important on cars at this level).
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Walk away unless you are very rich. There is very little demand for this car on the second hand car market: this will be a very undesirable motor in three years time, worth maybe 10% of it's original sale price and maybe a potential 12K depreciation over 3 years is ruinous. Plenty of good value bargains out there, check the autotrader -over the weekend I was nearly tempted by a one elderly owner W reg 33,000 mile Jag S Type for 5K ono. Just can't bear to part with the Nissan QX though!!
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A quick scan of Autotrader shows quite a lot of 525d and 530d saloons of similar ages in the £15,000-£18,000 range. Unless you want to run an airport limo service, I can't see the appeal of the 7 over the 5; I'm 6'5" and have travelled comfortably in the back of a 5, behind a not-small front-seat occupant, and the boot is plenty big enough. The 5 is (IMO) much the best looking of recent BMWs, is a bit easier to park, will use less fuel and is likely to retain at least a bit of its value over the next couple of years.
Of course, none of this matters for either the 5 or the 7, because the wipers are back to front, so a driver my height can't see out in the rain. Daft.
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So true about the wipers, I never got it especially as the right hand market is so profitable for BMW.
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