2003 730D Yay or Nay

kmick

http://www.cbg.ie/Car_Detail.aspx?ID=3688332

I would love to own a BMW 730 but obviously I have absolutely no money. However i could probably stretch to the car above though. Apart from the nasty road tax my insurance would be fine. Running costs on the diesel would be better than the petrol obviously. However would like to hear peoples opinions on the car, the service costs, reliability and the drive.

If anyone has any opinions I would love to hear them.

EPM

Buy whatever you like firstly!

But...you would be better off buying something that allows you to afford the running costs, repairs and mantainance. Don't kid yourself into thinking that it will be faultless to run.

Cookie_Monster

kmick wrote: »

I have absolutely no money.

I think this answers your own question to be honest.

IF you can't readily afford it + servicing + repairs + tax on a car like that then there is no point stretching yourself so much.

daRobot

kmick wrote: »

http://www.cbg.ie/Car_Detail.aspx?ID=3688332

I would love to own a BMW 730

I have absolutely no money.

These two statements don't go together well at all.

The 7 is an expensive car, probably close to 100k when new, and unfortunately the running costs don't depreciate with the value of the car itself.

You might be lucky, and get a car that will give you no problems over the course of ownership, but if you get a load of niggling issues that start adding up, and you can't fund them, you'll hate the car and yourself for buying it.

You'll need a reserve fund (3k+ at least) for emergencies with a car like that, and if you don't have that, forget it.

ToxicPaddy

I have to agree with the other posters here..

Running costs are one thing, but any problems and you're gonna find yourself seriously stuck for cash, even a basic service is going to be expensive, tyres etc..

I'd look for something a bit smaller and something you can properly enjoy without being worried about something going wrong every time you start it..

Add to that, its not a car you're going to able to shift overnight if something goes wrong and you cant afford to fix it. As nice as it is to have it in the driveway, I'd prefer to be able to take it out everynow and again..

Tox

Nonoperational

Above posts just about sums it up. Could be lucky or could be a money pit.

Padraig Mor

Drive is great, service costs can be manageable but you need a reserve fund for a car like that with those sort of miles for unexpected hiccups which can cost a bomb. That car may well need suspension work soon/now for one thing. Have a good look at it - I've seen several of this vintage and they've all been in ****. TBH I'd hold out for one with a few nice extras - that one is your basic boggo 7.

mailforkev

Lovely car, but remember that a €100k car is made for someone who can afford it new.

As said above, just because the car is now worth 15k doesn't mean that the running costs (servicing, parts, etc.) are no longer those that wouldn't trouble the buyer of a 100k car.

If you are currently strapped for cash then hang on a few years until you can afford to run it worry free.

merchant08

thats a pre face lift, stink red rotten.

Go for the face lift much nicer and will hold its value alot better than the pre face lift. Face lift also came with some engine changes so more mpg and more power

Stevie Dakota

They say when you buy I boat you are only happy twice, the day you buy and the day you sell. Don't know why I am reminded of that.

kmick

I guess when I say I have no money I mean a have enough money to buy tax, insure and service the thing with tyres every two years comfortably enough. I can even live with a 1000 euro fault once a year if I get bad luck - however I would not like to be spending 3k every year. I guess somebody summed it up by saying you could be lucky or could get a dog caveat emptor. Im not getting a good feeling from the feedback.

BlackWizard

I recently bought a 5 series 530d despite some of the advice I read on different boards saying they are money pits etc

So far it's been fine. I'm expecting to have to replace some part of a my rear suspension which is very squeeky right now. It's just a bushing so it wont cost much. I also have to do some work on removing flaps on the manifolds and a few other small things.

I done my research on the car and I know 75% of what will go wrong with my car over the next few years. I even know I might need a new gearbox at some point down the line. My biggest fear is that all four suspensions could possibly need to be repaired at sometime in the cars life. If this happens in one year I'll cry.

Once you know what's coming and the signs of it, you should be able to pick up nice car and not worry about maintenance.

the other day I advised a friend to put away a few hundred euro for a new DMF and clutch for the passat he was looking at. It has 100k miles. So when that goes on his car he wont really care. He factored it into the purchase.

edit: that car has 120k miles on it. I'd say a few issues would of been sorted out on it by now. But the biggest looming one is the gearbox. It will probably fail quite soon if you listen to many folks on BMW forums. My car has about 65k miles on it. So I'm not too worried about that one. At 120k miles, I honestly don't think I'd buy the car unless it was substantially cheaper than others or it already had a gearbox replaced. Then again that gearbox might be different from the E39s.
Just looking on a BMW site, I found this thread on the very first page talking about the gearbox failure. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1340122

Shane732

Yay!!

There are absolutely lovely cars. Machines to sit in and drive.

However as other posters have said - if you're strapped for cash then it's not the car to be buying. Four tyres could cost you €1,200 along on these things.

Oh and by the way don't go for that one - it looks like a pretty basic one (if such a thing exists in a 7 series!!)

kmick

To be honest if I thought about it too much Id buy a Kia Karenz (sic) as I know it would give me hassle free driving for 7 years. But I appreciate all the feedback. Might just go for a clean 520D 2007 with a good service history and be done with it.

MojoMaker

For €10k more though...

unkel

kmick wrote: »

Might just go for a clean 520D 2007 with a good service history and be done with it.

If you can afford to buy and own a 3 year old 5-series then you can also afford to own a 7 year old 7-series

I wouldn't go for a 730d though. For less money, you'd have a V8 petrol. A world apart in smoothness and refinement. Less things to go wrong and less expensive things, very long lasting engines, probably easier to get a much higher spec. Unless you do a high mileage...

pcardin

kmick wrote: »

To be honest if I thought about it too much Id buy a Kia Karenz...

LOL. Is that some kind of sarcasm?