trading in 05 bmw 523 i manual petrol

mouseybrown

Hi there

am totally new to this so please be patient.. anyway as the title suggests im currently looking to trade my bmw in against a new ( second hand car) reasons being are the cost to tax and run the bmw., and before you say anything im not one of these snobby fecks that think i own the world because i drive a beemer , quite the opposite really , always wanted a 5 series and got a chance to buy one at a good price last year and took the plunge and tbh have kinda wanted rid of it since i got it , beautiful car ect but the cost of running it is just a joke!! should have done my research me thinks!!!! anyway am hoping to get a diesel 05/06 and havnt got a clue what to get , want something that is cheaper to tax so preferably a 1.9 2.0 ltr, diesel and most importantly economical!! i previously owned a golf gt tdi and had it chipped so was getting up to 60mpg on it .... oh why did i part with that car:( . ive about a grand to spend with the bmw so what do you think my options would be and what do you reckon any decent garage will give me for the beemer?? theres 80 k mls on the clock btw!!! apoligies if this seems all over teh place am a total pleb when it comes to these things so all advice is appreciated gratfully... thanks in advance :):)

Anan1

Are you really doing enough mileage to make it worthwhile selling the BMW? The tax difference between it and a 2.0 is only €300ish - you'll lose easily five times that changing.

mouseybrown

thats a good point actually im not really doing big millage i guess mainly just runnin around dub and teh odd spin down the country , only thing is when you do go far u can nearly see the petrol gauge dropping as you drive ... oh and another reason for me wanting to get rid of said beemer is the fact that it has been sitting outside my house for almost 2 weeks due to snow and i wouldnt even chance taking it out because i just know it will get stuck on my hill RWD and all that. i have been housebound all this time except for when i rob my husbands little old banger to get out!! Its a joke havin a nice car that u cant even drive this weather:mad:

Anan1

Well the bad weather issue could be improved cheaply enough with a set of part-worn winter tyres - there's a big thread on here about them. Re the fuel consumption, i'd suit down with a pen & paper and work out how much you'd save by changing and how much you'd have to spend to save it, and then decide.

L-M

Curiousity killed the cat, how much did you pay for it last year?

When I saw 523 petrol I was thinking 98-00, seeing it's a 05 is a killer. Very, very few Irish people will pick that over an equivalent 520d. If you're doing low mileage, drivie it for another year or two and get your moneys worth out of it.

mouseybrown

thanks for that :) def food for thought regarding the winter tyres .. will look into that

cheers

Interceptor

I'm also going to agree that its a false economy to change it. If you are putting a grand with it to change you won't get good value from anyone. My recommendation is to try and sell it privately - having cash to buy your next car will give you a much better choice. The likelihood of you selling your car on Donedeal or somewhere is still reasonable if the price is right, though the depreciation you will have suffered in the time you owned it will make your teeth curl.

Unless you are doing more than 15k kms a year you won't see any savings by changing to diesel and it will take a long time to make back the money you will lose by selling the BMW. Keep it - have something to cheer yourself through the recession!!

'cptr

mouseybrown

i wont tell you what i paid but lets just say it was an ok price compared to what other 523's were goin for at the time :o so id say theres a few ppl out there even feeling more sicker than i am about how much they have devalues in the past year

yea def goin to do my homework regarding fuel costs im no where near doin 15000 kls a year.

just wondering more about the winter tyres ... how much would you be talking? do i need 2 or 4?(thats prob a stupid question:)) but will ask none the less!! or can anyone recommend where i could get a decent set and not be ripped off??? am in the dublin area

thanks

L-M

Ah we're never going to find out who ya are, cough it out :P Hardly over 20k was it?

How much petrol is it using, if you do no where near 15000kms a year you couldn't be throwing more than €70 a week into it ? You'll find it very hard to trade this in when you are only spending a grand with it against something easier to sell. I reckon you are married to it so may as well keep it unless you really really hate it.

BTW, a lady in a 5 series petrol is really really quite sexy

Cpt_Blackbeard

Limerick man wrote: »

Ah we're never going to find out who ya are, cough it out :P Hardly over 20k was it?

I've a feeling he would have told you if Limerick wasn't mentioned in your name.

Can blame the poor lad for shying away though, did you see Limerick on PrimeTime the other day :eek::p

bazz26

Bring this with you when you go to garages looking to trade the 523i:



To be honest I think most dealers would shy away from even giving you a price on it as they may not be sure if they could sell it on in the current climate. As others have said do the maths, the potential cost price to trade up to a diesel will buy alot of fuel for the 523i.

galwaytt

Attached is a small excel sheet I use to help think things like this out.

I'm looking at going bangernomics myself, and so for 'price' on this take the price of the car in 12mth period. In the case of the Passat or Saab, it's the cost of the car divided by the no of years to pay for it. I always depreciate it to zero - anything else is just, well, these days, delusional. Besides, it's nice to get a suprise when you sell something............a pessimist cannot be disappointed and all that.

This sheet is deliberately for the next 12mth period only. The Cinq, Merc, Megane, would all be zero cost next year, and they'd be paid for by then. The MX-5 and Porsche I already own and are paid for, so I don't count that - car's ain't assets !

Feel free to tweak the formula's - especially the mileage one.

Btw - I deliberately don't include servicing insurance, as, imho, on average, they all cancel one another out - I'm only trying to get the big picture, not nailing down specifics.

Interesting that my Porsche is as cheap as it is to run, actually.......mmm....but god, the tax........

L-M

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

I've a feeling he would have told you if Limerick wasn't mentioned in your name.

Can blame the poor lad for shying away though, did you see Limerick on PrimeTime the other day :eek::p

Normally I'd laugh, but that post genuinely makes no sense! It's not as if I'm going to rob the money she paid for a car over a year ago o.O

-Corkie-

Limerick man wrote: »

Normally I'd laugh, but that post genuinely makes no sense! It's not as if I'm going to rob the money she paid for a car over a year ago o.O

+1. She wont tell Cpt_Blackbeard after he calling the lady a lad..:rolleyes:

L-M

-Corkie- wrote: »

+1. She wont tell Cpt_Blackbeard after he calling the lady a lad..:rolleyes:

Yeah I meant to say that as well, I'll give you the credit :P

mouseybrown

ok well FYI i didnt pay anywhere near 20 k thank feck ;) ... think id be throwing meself off a bridge if that was the case!! sure arnt all big petrol cars devalung a good bit these days ??( im goin to tell meself this regardless haha:p)

L-M

mouseybrown wrote: »

ok well FYI i didnt pay anywhere near 20 k thank feck ;) ... think id be throwing meself off a bridge if that was the case!! sure arnt all big petrol cars devalung a good bit these days ??( im goin to tell meself this regardless haha:p)

Yeah but what would you say less if you got offered less than 10k on a trade? :P

Gophur

Consider getting a cheap runabout and keeping the BMW for leisure/pleasure driving?

Might not cost much more than it would to change the BMW.

Zubeneschamali

Grab galwaytt's spreadsheet, and do the sums. Changing will cost you your other arm and leg.

You've paid for the car, so the most sensible thing is to enjoy it.

kennyb3

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Grab galwaytt's spreadsheet, and do the sums. Changing will cost you your other arm and leg.

You've paid for the car, so the most sensible thing is to enjoy it.

Yep, time to live with their choices. the deed is done, spending a good whack of money isnt instantly reversable. Should have done homework at outset

Idbatterim

that car is hardly heavy on petrol, it does over 30mpg on combined cycle, and 2.5L is hardly big engine.

Idbatterim

Idbatterim wrote: »

that car is hardly heavy on petrol, it does over 30mpg on combined cycle, and 2.5L is hardly big engine.

lol, tax is quite a lot and most folk driving about in one won't see 30mpg combined. May be fine on paper, paying for it in real life is a different cup of tea.

Inbox

It's also quite easy to fix your traction problems. Put some bags of sand in the boot. Only reason fwd has better traction in the snow is the weight of the engine over the wheels. Heavy arse fixes this.

Idbatterim

yeah the tax isnt cheap, but does paying a fortune in depreciation & interesest if you have a loan, so you can save a few hundred on tax for 08+ cars make sense?

Idbatterim

Idbatterim wrote: »

yeah the tax isnt cheap, but does paying a fortune in depreciation & interesest if you have a loan, so you can save a few hundred on tax for 08+ cars make sense?

No, it's still heavy on petrol and is big engined though

Zubeneschamali

Idbatterim wrote: »

that car is hardly heavy on petrol, it does over 30mpg on combined cycle.

I'm currently driving a 1.4 Focus as a garage loaner, and I doubt it's doing better than 30 mpg in the real world (4000 rpm on the motorway!).

skyhighflyer

If you really, really need to save money I think you have two options:

1. Sell the 523 and replace it with a €1500 beater. If you price the 523 at, say, €9.995 for a quick sale you should get some interest. If you then replace it with something cheap and reliable like this or this you'll have 8.5k freed up in your pocket.

2. If you're really set on a diesel and cheap tax, sell the 523 and go over to the UK and look at an early 2008 Ford Focus, Fiat Bravo or possibly a Citroen C4 diesel. These all fall into either €104 or €156 tax and will do 60mpg. Not too many reasonably priced ones in Ireland but a fair few will be coming off lease in the UK in the next few months.

Heroditas

Idbatterim wrote: »

that car is hardly heavy on petrol, it does over 30mpg on combined cycle, and 2.5L is hardly big engine.

Worst I've got out of mine is 27-28mpg and that's only if I'm doing "Two Gear Tuesday" driving for the whole tank.
Typically I'm up around the 31-32mpg

mouseybrown

what about getting it chipped ?? is it even possible in that car?? got me last car done and it gave me about 12 - 15 more mpg, but that was a diesel:o mite investigate this option also....

L-M

mouseybrown wrote: »

what about getting it chipped ?? is it even possible in that car?? got me last car done and it gave me about 12 - 15 more mpg, but that was a diesel:o mite investigate this option also....

LOL, you wish :P

Tell us how much you paid and I'll tell you an easy way to save fuel on those engines

mouseybrown

eh no .. it wasnt that much tbh lol :P:P

L-M

mouseybrown wrote: »

eh no .. it wasnt that much tbh lol :P:P

Sigh... I can do no more :L