[Xplosiv166]

Hi All,

The dilemma:

i currently have a 66 plate 440i and the PCP agreement will be ending in November this year with a balloon payment of £16K. The car has done ~32,000 miles and is well spec'ed (HUD, Sport+, Pro Nav..).

Trying to decide if i should just buy the car and keep it, or spend the £16K on a different used car (i.e. Golf R or Golf GTi)? my concern is that the value of cars will drop when dealers get back so the balloon payment may be high enough that the £16K is expensive for the cars age?? and thus better to either sell the car or simply give it back.

the other problem is BMW and reliability, not sure it is a good idea keeping a BMW, in case is goes wrong and then needs £££ to fix it.

BMW extended warrant question

My car is currently out of warranty. if i keep the car i was looking at buying the BMW extended warranty,. is this worth while?

BMW extended warranty which i assume you can do via https://www.bmw-warranty.co.uk/ this works out to £450 per year with a £250 excess and no roadside assistance.

[ZedsRedBaby]

Originally Posted by Xplosiv166

Hi All,

The dilemma:

i currently have a 66 plate 440i and the PCP agreement will be ending in November this year with a balloon payment of £16K. The car has done ~32,000 miles and is well spec'ed (HUD, Sport+, Pro Nav..).

Trying to decide if i should just buy the car and keep it, or spend the £16K on a different used car (i.e. Golf R or Golf GTi)? my concern is that the value of cars will drop when dealers get back so the balloon payment may be high enough that the £16K is expensive for the cars age?? and thus better to either sell the car or simply give it back.

the other problem is BMW and reliability, not sure it is a good idea keeping a BMW, in case is goes wrong and then needs £££ to fix it.

BMW extended warrant question

My car is currently out of warranty. if i keep the car i was looking at buying the BMW extended warranty,. is this worth while?

BMW extended warranty which i assume you can do via https://www.bmw-warranty.co.uk/ this works out to £450 per year with a £250 excess and no roadside assistance.

You should know by November how second hand prices are working out, so I wouldn't try to guess yet.

Regarding reliability and warranty, there's no reason the car shouldn't be good for 150k+ miles but yes if something big goes wrong it could be expensive. Without a crystal ball there's no correct answer, but the warranty at least gives you peace of mind. We've spent around £3k on extended warranties for OH's E92 and only saved a few hundred in repairs, but it could just as easily have avoided a big bill.

Just be aware that as time goes on, fewer and fewer parts are covered. As the coupe has now done over 100k miles, we decided not to bother this year.

Only caveat is, I don't think you can take out extended warranty if yours has already expired, it has to follow on without a break.

[MashinBenzin]

IMHO a four cylinder Golf is a major trade down from a six cylinder BMW.

£16k is a good safe price i feel. A lot of car for the money and depreciation will be slow from here.

If you spend £16k on a different car from a dealer, £2k - £3k is immediately gone through dealer profit. So if thinking dealer, think 'is my 440i worth more than £13k' for a fairer comparison.

If you are bored with it, different story. But if I was in your shoes and the car suited my life I would have zero hesitation over buying it out and extending the warranty.

[MashinBenzin]

Ps. I would have more faith in BMW's reliability than VW's.

[Xplosiv166]

Just called them , i can still take out the warranty extension even with the GAP.

Only caveat being that, cover will only start 1 month after warranty extension purchase and any known faults during the gap (Nov-19 - June-20) will not be covered.

[Xplosiv166]

No not bored with the car and is fine for my current circumstances, would be nice if it did not cost £1K to replace all the tyres. I also have the 5 year service pack.

MashinBenzin / ZedsRedBaby - Thanks for your opinion

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

If you spend £16k on a different car from a dealer, £2k - £3k is immediately gone through dealer profit. So if thinking dealer, think 'is my 440i worth more than £13k' for a fairer comparison.

That's the bit many forget, the middle man's share.

I was in this position back in 2009, with my 330d, considering the final balloon payment. £16k for a well spec'd car (my spec'), with just 35k miles, knowing the car and its true condition. Other than moving on with another new model, what could I get in the used market for the same money? Nothing like it for value, was a no brainer to buy it and run it on for a few years.

BTW, buy another car and the extended warranty issue may still apply while you own it.

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

IMHO a four cylinder Golf is a major trade down from a six cylinder BMW.

Whilst I can sort of see where you might be coming from there, I would say, having done just that swap, it is nothing like the difference that you might think…

If you recall, I went from a ’66 340i to a (new) ’19 GTI Performance… The aim being to reduce overall running costs whilst still maintaining a fun car that I was “proud” to own… I was able to do this with an almost spec car from stock (the GTI came loaded after a certain time)…

OK.. Some things did take a little while to acclimatise to, coming from three BMW’s on the trot, but, having done so, I am actually far happier running around in the Golf than I was with the 340… OK, some of this comes from the fact that it is simply a more cost-effective car to run.. fuel mileage, tax, insurance, servicing etc etc… But it’s also fun to drive in the way that the BMW never felt (especially on the N Yorks roads)…

… and, dare I say it in a BMW forum, some things on the Golf are actually better implemented than in the BMW… I am happier with the active lights on the Golf than on the BMW, for instance…

My local dealer is, also, way nicer to deal with…

Having said all that, the £16k in the OP’s budget would not get you into a ’19 GTI Performance…

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

£16k is a good safe price i feel. A lot of car for the money and depreciation will be slow from here.

My 340 went for less than £20k a year ago... Yeah, you are probably not too far off (assuming values do not tank due to Covid-19)...

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

If you spend £16k on a different car from a dealer, £2k - £3k is immediately gone through dealer profit. So if thinking dealer, think 'is my 440i worth more than £13k' for a fairer comparison.

Good point...

Originally Posted by MashinBenzin

If you are bored with it, different story. But if I was in your shoes and the car suited my life I would have zero hesitation over buying it out and extending the warranty.

Yes, big factor for me was a desire to reduce running costs (which I did, significantly)... I was in for some bills on the 340 (set of tyres, big service etc etc) and also saved costs on tax, insurance, fuel mileage etc... I saved, overall, between £100 and £200 a month between keeping on the 340 and swapping...

[Harryg]

Put your car in the for sale forums at 16K and with the spec, I can guarantee you will be inundated with offers and then try and buy one with the same spec and year you will find it difficult so there your answer lies, don't get me wrong if you are sick of it hand it back but it ends up a cheap car if you want to keep it. Loads of people buy cars that age and have little or no problems they do last more than 4 years.

[Xplosiv166]

Originally Posted by DaveA

If you recall, I went from a ’66 340i to a (new) ’19 GTI Performance… The aim being to reduce overall running costs whilst still maintaining a fun car that I was “proud” to own… I was able to do this with an almost spec car from stock (the GTI came loaded after a certain time)…

I can get a lower mileage Golf for around the same price:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...om=2016&page=2

Not sure it would save me much per month, as i have the 5 year service pack and insurance comes out about the same.

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Xplosiv166

I can get a lower mileage Golf for around the same price:

Yes.... To be fair, though, I would not swap your 440 for that GTI...

I was comparing swapping a three year old 340 for a brand new Mk7.5 GTI Performance...

The one you linked is (I believe) a Mk7, so (different to that one) mine has the digital dash, 7-speed DSG (the Performance models got the 7 speed whereas the normal ones got the 6 speed), alcantara interior, heated seats, more modern touch screen, rear camera, connected services, adaptive cruise, dynamic lane assist, adaptive LED's etc that that one does not appear to have.. and these were all the sorts of things that made the transition over from the BMW easier.. as I had them already on the BM, and so would not miss them...

Originally Posted by Xplosiv166

Not sure it would save me much per month, as i have the 5 year service pack and insurance comes out about the same.

The big factors for me were things like the extra servicing costs, warranty costs, tyres etc... My 340 was heading for some big costs that I did not have to incur by changing when I did... so that worked in the favour of the VFM calcs... 🙂

[Xplosiv166]

Best from a VW dealer would be the following:

https://usedcars.volkswagen.co.uk/en...5-door-gjb8bhn

or

https://usedcars.volkswagen.co.uk/en...ps-5dr-p1bnzff

Both around 4K-6K more than my car atm.

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Xplosiv166

Best from a VW dealer would be the following:

https://usedcars.volkswagen.co.uk/en...5-door-gjb8bhn

or

https://usedcars.volkswagen.co.uk/en...ps-5dr-p1bnzff

Both around 4K-6K more than my car atm.

If you were spending more on a Golf then be at least having a think about this... Delivery mileage, leather, DSG for £28k...

LINK

Will have the more up to date connected services on it, also...

[dazzapb]

All valid points. As you have had her from new you know the history that's very valuable. The bmw straight six is hard to beat!!

I was so tempted to keep my 335d back in 17 as it had done just 18k miles at 3 years. Balloon was 21k - bought it and sold for 23k I think. I was worried about warranty too but if you have main dealer service history as per your plan if something expensive happened you would like to think you'd have some compensation from bmw uk.

23k was a Bargain for the buyer. I ended up getting a lovey s5 on lease for 420 a month or so - loved it. Would have kept the 335d otherwise (boot space and two kids not great on saloon tho!)

I love my x3m but can defo see myself going back to leasing. VAGs lease very well - check out the pistonheads lease thread one for the future.

[Sennen]

Love the Golf GTI but it just isn't a GTI without the Tartan Seats and a manual gearbox

[Ss66]

I'm in the same boat got a highly spec'ed 66 plate 440i with a similar balloon payment. I'm certainly going to be holding on to mine come October. I took out the extended warranty when my car hit the 3 year mark.

[gr4z]

I kept my 440i, it's now over 4 years old and I pay £65pm for extended warranty with breakdown cover. Keep thinking I will ditch that as I don't drive anywhere at the moment but seriously when I am back at work it does give peace of mind...at a cost. Still might ditch it.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by gr4z

I kept my 440i, it's now over 4 years old and I pay £65pm for extended warranty with breakdown cover. Keep thinking I will ditch that as I don't drive anywhere at the moment but seriously when I am back at work it does give peace of mind...at a cost. Still might ditch it.

You could remove the breakdown cover and increase the excess to £250 so that the policy keeps running, but at a much reduced price. BMW include roadside assistance with the warranty anyway - essentially getting you to the nearest BMW dealer, unless you're at home.

[Xplosiv166]

Thanks all, which ever way i work the math out keeping the car looks to be the cheaper option especially considering i have already been paying the cars depreciation for the last 3 years.

A little annoying that BMW warranty charge £83 per year extra if you pay per month

Still undecided on the warranty . other than the engine blowing up, if it develops a fault i can always sell / part exchange the car, and pass on a little gift to the next owner

[TiredGeek]

Re the warranty: has it been reliable while you've had it? Have you looked after it? Get the codes read and see if there's anything lurking on the horizon....
If it's all clear then I'd not be too fussed about warranty at that sort of money. Engine and gearbox will give you warnings if they're poorly at which point you trade it.
Everything else you can pay for and still be quids in.

You could always put your warranty payment money in a bank account and leave it alone, it's there if something goes wrong and a nice little bonus if you don't use it.
There's also third party warranties to consider.

With the balloon payment, if the market has crashed, why not discuss with the finance company?
Show them similar cars at lower prices and point out what yours would probably bring at auction then offer them something between what they want and what they'll realistically get if you just hand it back.
Worked for my brother on a Jag a few years ago, saved nearly 5 grand after a few conversations on the phone.

[ZedsRedBaby]

Originally Posted by TiredGeek

Re the warranty: has it been reliable while you've had it? Have you looked after it? Get the codes read and see if there's anything lurking on the horizon....
If it's all clear then I'd not be too fussed about warranty at that sort of money. Engine and gearbox will give you warnings if they're poorly at which point you trade it.
Everything else you can pay for and still be quids in.

You could always put your warranty payment money in a bank account and leave it alone, it's there if something goes wrong and a nice little bonus if you don't use it.
There's also third party warranties to consider.

With the balloon payment, if the market has crashed, why not discuss with the finance company?
Show them similar cars at lower prices and point out what yours would probably bring at auction then offer them something between what they want and what they'll realistically get if you just hand it back.
Worked for my brother on a Jag a few years ago, saved nearly 5 grand after a few conversations on the phone.

Not sure I'd agree with your first point as I had a car literally a week out of warranty that suddenly died and cost a small fortune to fix.

Your second point - definitely worth considering especially if you're going to keep the car a few years. Self insuring in effect.

Your third point - interesting, and if second hand values tank then definitely worth a punt. Certainly nothing to lose.

[JR1664]

The B58 engine appears to be pretty damned bomb proof as far as I can see.

Its just the other stuff that might let you down, electronics etc. There's an argument about extended warranties, either have one or pocket the cash for any future issues.

In my view there are enough BMW independents to justify not going down the warranty route but I guess it depends on your mileage etc.