Best place to buy 3 series 2006-2007 and who to get to inspect it?

arleitiss

Hey, I am planning on getting new car, well not new but used.
Looking for BMW 3 series 2006-2007, where would be best place to look?

I checked donedeal and adverts but prices seem to be jumping from 7k up to 13k.

Also I had a bad experience with last 3 series because I was kinda stupid back then as 19 year old so I just bought E46 without inspection which turned into financial fiasco.

Who can I get to inspect car? Can I just walk into some garage and ask some mechanic to come with me or something?

Thanks.

moleyv

The AA provide such a service, not sure what it costs.

arleitiss

moleyv wrote: »

The AA provide such a service, not sure what it costs.

Oh, I didn't know that, read on site about it, seems like a good service.

Alanstrainor

arleitiss wrote: »

Oh, I didn't know that, read on site about it, seems like a good service.

It's 250 quid as far as I know... so a lot of cash.

When I bought mine, I went to view the car, I checked it out as much as I could and then a couple of days later got the seller to meet at my mechanics place so they could check it over and I handed over the cash when the mech gave it a thumbs up.

I'll admit that might not be possible in all scenarios, but it's what I did. I gave my mech a few quid for his time, can't remember what it was though!

Bigus

2006 - 2007 3 series is one of the worst BMW s when it comes to reliability, potential problems with timing chains petrol and diesel, cam shaft variators petrol fuel injectors , coil packs , hardened valve stem oil seals leading to burning loads of oil,dodgy turbos , suspension bushes, not to mention problematic heating control flaps and ecus

do loads of googling .

A good mechanic would be better than an AA inspection as alanstrainor did.

I'd recommend looking at alternative models , have you anything else in mind ?

arleitiss

Bigus wrote: »

2006 - 2007 3 series is one of the worst BMW s when it comes to reliability, potential problems with timing chains petrol and diesel, cam shaft variators petrol fuel injectors , coil packs , hardened valve stem oil seals leading to burning loads of oil,dodgy turbos , suspension bushes, not to mention problematic heating control flaps and ecus

do loads of googling .

A good mechanic would be better than an AA inspection as alanstrainor did.

I'd recommend looking at alternative models , have you anything else in mind ?

Well the main reason I am going for 3 series is because the E46 had such a solid and smooth driving experience.

From 3 cars I owned so far: Corsa 2001, Golf 2001 and BMW E46 2001 the E46 was the most pleasing to drive and had good solid feel of build.

Corsa and Golf have kinda flimsy feeling and sound isolation is absolute crap.

So really anything that has good, solid build and decent power I would be willing to try.

I would try Audi's but I have no idea about their numberings and series like A1-A8.


P.S - What about 5 series 2006-2007?
or 3 series 2008?

Alanstrainor

What engines are you looking at? Another 2.0 petrol?

Bigus

Five series would be a far better bet and value for what your getting spec wise and built better.

arleitiss

Alanstrainor wrote: »

What engines are you looking at? Another 2.0 petrol?

Engine doesn't matter really but I guess 2.0 or 2.5 would be alright.