Oh, come on - they are not THAT bad :). My buddy still has a '99 323 with almost 300K relatively trouble free miles.
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Mazda is not a 
car 
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Totally agree. I imagine an old car can be great fun to work on (“I imagine” b/c I don’t work on cars myself b/c I’m a mechanical idiot)… esp if it’s not your daily driver.
I imagine a 2003 is old enough to need to a lot of work and new enough to be a pain to a$$ to work on yourself.
A google search for “BMW 323i” does show BMW made such a car, although I don’t myself remember a model w/ that designation being sold here in the late 90s (maybe in other countries?)…
In EU, the 323 and many iterations of 3s were plentiful. The 323 Mazda tho was a GLC*.
*great little car
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Sell it pronto!
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It was really just a funny for those of an age to remember the 323 626 929 Mazda years haha.
Forgot the ever important “i” 
.
If I’m not mistaken, this was the beginning of end to the BMWs naming convention, where the last 2 digits actually meant something. Even though the car had a 2.5L V6, “325” was too close to “330”, and thus the deceit started.
Methinks it was a straight six. But I wouldn’t double down and scream about it.
I remember the last gen of those models! The 929, in particularly, seemed very stylish and Jaguar-esque to me. I think the early 1990s was pretty much the pinnacle of Japanese car-making. The 929/Diamante/Legend (and first Lexus SC) all seemed like such amazing cars to me at age. I remember how quiet and solid the 1992 Camry seemed and wondered if anyone could compete w/ Toyota (although Toyota itself had difficulty maintaining that momentum, though…). The Infiniti J30 was a bit bizarre, but I appreciated how much of a risk they were willing to take w/ the car.
Cars seem a bit more boring to me nowadays, even though I’m sure they’re all objective better…
Duh - senior moment 
. And I actually had an ‘02 330i - which coincidentally was very reliable as well!
I took a break from new cars for 8 years.
When I re-entered the market this year I had a terrible time finding anything I wanted.
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Did you have it for long?
Bought it in ‘06 w/ 40k miles (330i MT w/sport package) - IIRC, it was a lease return. Kept it for close to 5 years and 80k grin filled miles. 1 very minor problem, which I fixed by myself. Paid ~$26k for it and sold it to a youngster for ~$6k. Still regret selling it - it turned out to be my last MT car i owned (wife vetoed any subsequent attempt at purchasing one).
So you’d say it cost you about the same in depreciation as it would have to lease two in that time. That’s actually a reasonably flat curve.
Close enough… I have yet to lease ANY car, but when you start crunching the numbers, it makes absolutely no sense to buy certain makes/models. I almost pulled the trigger on a 3-series loaner, but with no loyalty/grad/OL, the numbers didn’t quite work out. The only car (out of 4 I have now - damn kids!) that I purchased new is an ‘11 CX-9 Touring. Got a “great” deal on it (at the time - end of model year clearance), but after 7.5 years and 110k miles, the car depreciated over $25k, and thanks to the kids, it’s not worth much due to all the bumps and bruises. At least it’s been reliable, or else the numbers (lease vs own) would have been really close.
It’s hard to escape the general rule of thumb that says buy things that appreciate and rent things that depreciate.
Unless you can really and truly live with a Yaris bought two years old and keep it for a decade. And few here can do that. Least of all me, to be certain.
Just want to let everyone know that the key fell apart and costs $192 to replace. Looks like the fun has begun! Talk soon.
eBay key?
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that both keys didn’t come with it.
This, so much. It’s what lead me to leasing after chasing the mythical $0 payment rabbit. It doesn’t exist. Parts, convenience or downtime you end up paying at some point.
Just buying the wrong cars. 
I had a supercharged Lotus Elise that I bought for $26k. Drove it for 2 years and put 20k miles on it. Sold it for $36k. Miss the hell out of that thing.
Now looking at older well maintained Porsche 996’s. Those values are starting to go up for 6-speed coupes with the IMS upgrade already completed. Can buy one that was well maintained with the right updates for low 20’s, and already starting to see some sell in the 30’s on BaT.