probably jumped the gun there, maybe the power isn’t for everyone.
Still the carrera 4s is where the car starts to feel more exciting for me.
Again different folks different strokes, but I wouldn’t accept anything less than a turbo.
The gt3 rs is awesome but to me, the targa 4, carrera 4, turbo, etc etc make much better daily drivers from my experience.
Really depends on you personally and what you expect out of the car.
Went through a similar exercise a few months ago except my list include Lexus and excluded anything Korean.
Decided to buy a 740i with 18k miles from Hertz. 2019 MSRP was $85k+ but I paid $39k and financed 100% at 2.64%.
Could not be happier with the decision. I doubt I would have been able to get a new X3 or RX350 (which were my other finalists) for same price though monthly lease payments would definitely have been lower. I immediately had it detailed and it looked as good as new. Mechanic said the engine, brakes etc. were primo condition.
Now ask me in 5 years when parts start to break and maybe you’ll get a different story. But for now I’m very pleased.
Considering that your example above is probably 7 years old, perhaps it’s worth a look at a brand new 911 carrera (not S). I just built one out on the configurator for $106k with the same options, more or less. Performance of the new generation base car would likely be better as well.
Ya and you figure this base car will only loose $20-30k over 3 years roughly so on a per month basis that’s not too bad.
This one was definitely underpowered for what I’d want in a sports car.
Corners were fun, but I smiled exactly zero times when moving in a straight line, no matter how I drove it.
Well, that’s settled.
As a follow-up, sometime later I’ll post a comparison to leasing a new one, but for now:
Today I bought this 2018 CPO M550 with 19,000 miles. It’s nearly perfect cosmetically.
The numbers:
$50,750 - purchase price
(131) - credit card rewards**
(500) - Loyalty Credit***
(250) - BMWCCA CPO post-sale rebate
$49,869
** Dealer would put the first $5k on a credit card, so I used my Bank of America Travel Rewards Visa for 2.625% back.
*** I was planning to pay cash, but the Loyalty Credit required financing with BMWFS, so I took 0.9% for 36 months. Supposedly I have to keep the loan open for 3 months in order to keep the incentive, but it’s a simple interest loan so I can prepay almost all of it as soon as the account shows up on my BMW profile, and then let the last two scheduled payments take care of the rest.
The sun started setting on the way home, so the photo is a bit weak, but I’m sure you’ve all seen an M550 before.
I really appreciate everyone who posted comments and provided feedback on all aspects of this shopping endeavor.
Even when tastes and opinions have differed from mine, the outside perspectives were always helpful, and I really appreciate it.
How’s the exhaust burble. Enjoy the new car by any measure!
In Comfort you hear virtually nothing, but in Sport Plus it makes itself known (but it’s far less compelling/obnoxious [depending on your point of view] than a Z4 M40i).
Nice! What packages/options does it have?
It isn’t heavily optioned. It has the Driving Assistance Package, heated seats, and the wheels you can see in the photo.
The only thing it’s missing from my wish list is Nappa leather, but this is the very nicest used vehicle I’ve seen on my recent shopping exploits, so it wasn’t worth holding out for something with the right seats.
The right question is “how big is the trunk?”
Congrats! Looks very sharp. Curious - what were the final projected numbers for depreciation? Assuming you sell this beauty in 2-3 years, what will the numbers work out to?
@trism congratulations and enjoy!
I can’t imagine the cargo organizer will be interchangeable
I was waiting for someone to make that callback.
I wish I could say that my analysis was that precise.
I assume I’ll lose $15-20k over three years, so I compared that against:
That made the decision pretty easy.
Getting something with < 20k miles instead of 40k+ as I was originally considering also increases the likelihood I’ll keep the car longer.
Also… while I don’t see myself keeping this for 9 years like I did my current vehicle and the one before that, I do expect to keep it beyond 3. After 3 years it still likely won’t reach 35,000 total miles.
I submitted the CCA rebate request as an M model, and CCA approved it.
I suppose BMW could kick it back, they could review it and just pay $250 instead, or this really is an M car for the purpose of the CCA CPO rebate.
I’ll post an update when I know the outcome.
“It’s time for a class-action lawsuit.”
Sincerely,
The Internet
I have a team of lawyers standing by. 
I am planning to post occasional updates to this thread, primarily to account for maintenance costs, plus any OOP repair costs after the original warranty and CPO coverages expire, but here is an update on the upfront costs.
As mentioned, the Loyalty Credit required BMWFS financing, so I took a 36-month term to get the lowest APR (0.9%).
I agreed to keep the loan open for three payment cycles so BMWFS doesn’t charge back the $500 incentive to the dealer, and so the dealer’s finance rep doesn’t lose her commission on the loan.
The loan is now paid down to $135, which I’ll finish off when the March payment is due (which will be 3 payment cycles following delivery).
Interest is now accumulating at a rate of (($135*0.009)/365) = $0.003 per day, so less than 15 cents of additional interest will accrue between now and then.
$50,750 - purchase price
(131) - credit card rewards
(500) - Loyalty Credit
(250) - BMWCCA CPO post-sale rebate
34 - interest on financing
(5) - courtesy credit from Bank of America for delayed payment delivery**
$49,898
** I’ll explain this in my next post
This post is more for amusement than anything… this was incredibly frustrating.
My original intention was to make a large additional principal payment with the first scheduled P+I payment, leaving only two payments plus a modest additional balance to pay off right after the third scheduled payment was due.
Unfortunately, I ran into some obstacles:
BMWFS’ site would only accept $7,500 in payments per calendar month (for reasons they could not explain).
BMWFS will not accept a payment by wire (our bank doesn’t charge us a fee to send a wire).
Our bank’s bill pay service would only make payments to BMWFS by ACH under a certain dollar threshold (which they either can’t or won’t disclose; the threshold is set by the payee). Over $X and the payment papers out to a check, which has to be printed and mailed.
So shortly after I got my BMWFS account number I scheduled the first $7,500 ACH payment directly with BMWFS, scheduled a $32,500 paper check to be mailed by B of A, and then waited until 1/1 and scheduled another $7,500 ACH pull directly with BMWFS.
B of A’s bill payment system said the $32,500 payment would arrive by 1/6, but it didn’t, it took until 1/12… so I contacted the bank afterward and they gave me a credit of ((($32,500*0.009)/365)*6)=$4.80 for the additional finance charges I incurred due to the delayed payment delivery.
Since then I’ve made the scheduled January and February payments, leaving $135.xx to be paid on 3/13, the third scheduled payment date… at which point this lunacy should all be behind me.
