What to buy.. Newer car with high mileage or older with lower!??

YchelpY

Looking to buy a bmw 520d.. Quite a few on the market but not sure which is the best option!

2010 with just under 100k or
2009 with either 75000 or 55000
2008 with 55000

All SE and prices from 15000 for the 2008 going to just under 18000 for the 09/10

Options are different with each car and there's also an m sport in around the same price but this is a 2008 with 75000!!

Any suggestions!?
Thanks

fmcg_scribe

I expect that there are plenty of BMW 520d cars to pick from, so don't feel under pressure to buy the first one that catches your eye.

Unlike with petrol cars, mileage on a diesel is less critical for used car prices. However, spec and service history are still important considerations because you need to be sure that the car will be easy to sell on.

For spec, no two BMWs are ever completely alike - the differences become apparent when you start examining options and not all options help residual values. Equally, for the E39, the E60, and probably the F10 5 series, the M-Sport trim seems to be more popular with buyers and thus should help with future resale value. However, if the SE trim floats your boat...just be careful about the exterior and interior colours and the wheel style.

Service history is tricky because you need to avoid being seduced by lots of paperwork. Obviously, if a car has no paperwork to indicate that it was serviced regularly and correctly, you need to be prepared to walk away. Equally, it's a good idea to follow up on any paperwork presented to you - contact the garages mentioned in the service log and in any invoices. When contacting garages, you need to focus on three questions: (1) has the car been serviced by a garage that has competence with BMW cars, (2) has any applicable BMW recall work been done on the car, and (3) is there any evidence of repeated visits to garages to resolve some issue?

A poorly maintained BMW will punish you emotionally and financially, so you need to be prepared to do some digging around about any cars that catch your eye.

If you want to short circuit that research and to be confident about the BMW 520d that you buy, I suggest that you focus only on BMW approved used cars sold by authorised BMW dealers.

bazz26

None of them unless they have had the timing chain already replaced on that dreaded N47 engine.

fmcg_scribe

bazz26 wrote: »

None of them unless they have had the timing chain already replaced on that dreaded N47 engine.

Yes, the N47 engine has caused a lot of controversy but to be fair different versions of that engine were put into different BMW models over several years and the production year range for the version put into the E60 is also a consideration - 01.03.2007 to 01.03.2011 seems to be danger period.

ryan101

How many miles do you do per year ? Then you can work out that's an extra year's worth of wear and tear.
Overall condition and well documented full service history is the first thing you should compare.