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How I ended up with a well-kept used BMW 3 Series of a car enthusiast

14th March 2024, 18:05 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I wanted to buy a used 5 Series (530d) and I searched for a good example in my budget for 2 years but to no avail. Hence, I started to give up.

BHPian Ishallownabmw recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

After I read GTO's post, I knew my next car was going to be a pre-worshipped BMW 5 series 530D. I began my search two years back in Hyderabad. I had a max budget of 15 lacs.

You must be thinking this is a new crazy right? Yup, you're right. It was an obsession of the heart, with the brain thinking, "He's never going to find one at that price point anyway. So I'll leave him be." By the way, you will also find out that I'm an idiot down the line not just insane. That's just me.

Dealer likes me, I can't avoid. This was the primary route because it was also the easiest.

Sometime in 2021

Car 1 - White BMW X1

Year - 2017, 38kms done on the odo. Belonged to a theatre owner in Hyderabad, primarily driven by his wife. The car was in pristine condition. Quote - 30 Lacs. The first time I ever drove a BMW.

Why the X1? it was the first car available and the dealer was pushing me to take a test drive as it was sent by the owner. I willingly agreed.

Boy, the Germans know how to build cars. I was sold. Forget ambient lighting, forget the badge, forget the 530D, the excitement I felt when the turbo kicked in was all that my head was wrapped around on. The way the car cornered is something I'll never forget. I came back home, and the grin on my face made it evident to my wife that there was deep trouble brewing. By the way, this dealer taught me how to start a BMW, how to engage the car into drive mode and finally neutral and park it in P.

Decision post convincing the home minister, I extended my budget and put in an offer for 25 lacs. Yup, I did that. The dealer however would not budge below 29. I had to give up. It's one of those gut feelings, deep down you feel that everything is right with this car. Depressing, dark days since I couldn't buy the car.

In hindsight, I got very lucky. I didn't follow one piece of advice listed here. Don't ever let adrenaline and excitement get over you. Easy for me to say, it's a lot more difficult than that. Imagine if the dealer agreed to 26, I might have even pushed my budget to around 26-27 and what if I landed a lemon or an accident-repaired vehicle?

Car 2 - BMW X1 20D

2011, 90,000kms, in an elegant Emerald colour, Quote - 13 Lacs.

Why an X1 again? I had ample time to get over the car 1 and hit reality. The mind said don't extend your budget by two folds. The dealer I approached had a park and pay system in place. There were no 530D available within my budget. I was getting to drive another car and I didn't complain. The car's exteriors were in a deteriorated state. The interiors had been abused. The engine was beautiful and purring. The suspension set up was very firm as compared to the 2017 X1 20D. A second look at the interiors told me not to indulge any further. Wear and tear is understandable, but you can clearly make out when the interiors have been abused. I wish I had kept pictures of both vehicles.

As time passed, I started to realise the following:

The second-hand car market in Telangana, particularly in Hyderabad is way too overpriced. It has plenty of options when it comes to luxury cars or even sports cars.
Within my budget, I would always find cars (5 series) that had done over 70K kms and I was apprehensive about the mileage even though I knew they were mile munchers when maintained well.
Service history was vague (some dealers don't even want to share) and in cases where the service history was well maintained and in detail, the price shot up.
Second-hand diesel vehicles started to get more expensive as manufacturers decided not to make them anymore. The new emission norms perhaps? My shitty luck?
It is very difficult and hard to distinguish between a genuine dealer and a bad dealer. To be honest, I could never figure that out.

Tried multiple dealers with no luck. There was no car within my budget that was well maintained, or it would be pre-F30 generation. The search with dealers continued all the way till October 2022 and then I finally gave up on the dealer route. Below is an example of a quote from a dealer from October 2022. Neither could I justify the price, nor was it within my budget.

Classifieds - Err most of them are dealers again?

I knew I had no chance with dealers. Started to browse on Quikr, car wale, droom, spinny and whatnot. 90% of the time, I ended up speaking with dealers. I would find vehicles with high mileage and registered to a different state, 2011 CH registered 525D 85K ODO within my budget. There are tons of YouTube videos about how you can buy these cars from different states and the dealers will help you with everything you need. I do have a high-risk appetite, but if I wasn't trusting dealers from my state it didn't make sense to trust them from different states. Plus, I have zero trust in YouTube influencers as well.

One route or idea that kept repeating in my mind was the BH registration method. Probably buy a car from Delhi because of the 10-year ban rule and then get it BH registered. I'm not entirely sure why I discarded this idea but the constant travel to Delhi to check cars wasn't a feasible one.

Two years of searching for that 5 and the irony of the entire hunt was I never got to drive a 530D from a dealer. I was so firm on my budget, that I would not even test drive a car if it was out of the budget. I made this mistake once and I wasn't going to repeat it. I knew I'd be sold the moment I drove a 530D. The ones within the budget were poorly maintained and I didn't even want to take a chance. The car doesn't need to have all the bells and whistles. The engine mattered most, so if I did test drive a car that was poorly maintained and found out the engine was good, my devilish mind would start playing tricks again. I kept having second thoughts about well it's just the interiors, the car mechanically looks solid enough, maybe that's what I get for my budget. Thankfully, my wife kept me in check. If you're a person like me who thinks about cars with his heart, find someone else who uses only their head to keep you grounded.

Alternatives Considered

Merc C220D - The car belonged to a friend, was registered in AP and was driven in Mumbai for all its life. A 2013 model which had done 50k on the Odo. Knowing multiple of his friends had used the car for weeks and sometimes months altogether made me avoid the car.
BMW X1 220D - Drove all sorts of X1 from 2010 - 2018. Waterlogging is real in Hyderabad. Link to an article where several luxury cars were affected by this. Though this is from 2023 everyone who has lived in Hyderabad has experienced this during the monsoons. Fell within my budget, could handle the rains somewhat better than the 5.

I started to give up. I spent quite an amount of time invested in searching for the 5. Mentally, it was exhausting, and disheartening and I started to lose interest. My first car was a Skoda Rapid and my thoughts slowly turned towards the new Slavia. The thought of paying taxes, and depreciation was what drove me towards the pre-worshipped route in the first place. Decided a new car was out of contention. Life was mundane until everything changed that one day.

Team-Bhp and a Bhpian come to the rescue!

What if a dream which started after reading GTO's thread on team-bhp got fulfilled as a different dream on the team-bhp forum itself? Am I making any sense?

Events

January 20, 2023

On team-bhp classifieds, a listing catches my eye. Fellow bhpian @ballfry puts up a 2012 F-30 320D Luxury line for sale that belongs to his father. The 3 was never on the radar. The car had done 41k approx.

The home minister reluctantly approves. She's been behind my back on how good the Mercs look and we should get a Merc. The words enter through one ear and automatically exit through the other ear.

January 20, 2023, 3:36pm

I reach out to @ballfry on WhatsApp saying I'm interested. He is a little tied up at work and we decide to speak later.

January 20, 2023, 7pm

We speak for the first time and by 7:20 pm, I have pictures of the car and recent service records.

The first time I laid my eyes on the car.

Notice the blue sticker which says BMW Luxury and how it's still intact? That kinda started me thinking seriously about the 3, because it was well looked after.

The BMW service history was not available as the guys over at BMW were fussy about privacy and were asking to drop emails as @ballfry dad was the second owner. I was going through the used car checklist and this was a miss. Meanwhile, @ballfry also offered to follow up with the service centre for the records.

January 21, 2023

I was filled with doubts. It's still not a 6-cylinder, it isn't the 5. Service history was one, the car had aged well but hadn't done anything much on the odo. I was worried about why only 41K kms in over 10 years. I make up my mind and decide it's worth taking a look in person. How do I come to this decision? The car looked like it had been maintained very well, was within my budget and a bhpian had warranted my trust than any outsider.

January 24, 2023

We decide to meet around 6:30 pm. I had just played a game of cricket and I was also in the passenger seat of the new Skoda Octavia L&K petrol variant my close friend purchased. The car literally glides, more on this later. Ideally a test drive in the morning, a cold start would have been a good way to go. Since I had a match and @ballfry had commitments, evening it was. I was also worried since it was on team-bhp classified the chances this car would be grabbed early were pretty high. Me and my wife reach his place around 6:30 pm and @ballfry brings the bimmer out of the basement.

Initial impressions

Those LED headlights and the road presence. The 3 isn't a small car by any means. The car looked spotless inside and on the outside. Spanking white. You could still smell the leather and the dash. Impeccably well maintained by @ballfry and his family. I don't know how to put this, but the owl-like or those round halo-like LED lights had a strange attraction. The puddle lamps were on and the car was glowing.

Test Drive

I was a bit nervous, the car was so neat that I was worried about giving it any dents or scratches. Peak traffic hour, Hyderabad is filled with retards who should never be eligible to earn a driving license. It shouldn't be called driving. Peak kondapur traffic is no fun. The car was big. In traffic, adjusting to the width of the car was difficult at the start. Took a little time to get adjusted to it. Comfort mode the car was a pleasure to drive. The suspension was on the stiffer side way too stiff. Remember, I had been in new Octavia earlier? That car goes over roads like a magic carpet. Almost made me feel is this how air suspension feels like? Back to the bimmer.

The braking was strong in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Stop/Start function was on. It's a bit jerky in nature and the first time it did catch me off guard. @ballfry had warned me about the stop-start earlier. On the open road, the sports mode was a beast waiting to be let out. Forget the X1 cornering, it's nothing compared to what this 3 can do. I couldn't feel any body roll as compared to the X1 or even the soft set up Octavia. The pushback of the head when the turbo kicked in bought a grin. The headlights were brilliant. The high beam is overkill for the city as any high beam should be. The AC was functioning perfectly to keep the cabin chilled and I had no doubts that it would perform the same in extreme heat. Drove the car back to his place, move the beautiful gear lever to N, press the P engaging the parking mode and proceeded to have a chat with @ballfry.

What's funny is that this was also the first 3 I had driven. Never in my search over the 2 years, had I considered the 3. I assumed it was always underpowered, wouldn't have the oomph feeling. Sounds stupid doesn't it? The X1 has a similar engine which made me fall in love with it and yet I never considered the 3 or test drove it or made an enquiry for it. I am stupid.

The Chat

The reason I'm getting into this is because it made me buy the car. Before the chat even during the test drive, I was like if this is a 320D, what would the 530D be like? Double this performance? Even better than double? With the car parked under the apartment, I had asked about the low odo. Due to @ballfry parents professions, they always had an office car provided to them. The 3 was used only for attending parties and was rarely driven out of the city. The tyres had just been replaced recently, the car had been serviced recently. The engine mounts were replaced. The rear brake pads, rotors had been replaced.

That answers the odo. No official BMW service history is still risky. @ballfry then tells me what's wrong with the car per his knowledge. The suspension needs to be changed. Upfront he told me that it would cost me 1.5 - 2 lacs. The bonnet couldn't support itself as the hood struts were gone. Same with the tailgate. 6k for the front and 6.5k for the back. He sends me the RC. The original BMW manual is present in the glove compartment and the car was in stock condition. That was a good sign.

There was mutual respect and trust. He did mention during the COVID period the old tyres gave in and since the car didn't have a chance to move it was just sitting all by itself. Rather than selling it to a dealer (Hyundai had already made an offer), he wanted someone who would enjoy the car. Post the chat I asked if I could get the car checked and @ballfry suggested we go to Man and Machine a competent FNG where the 3 and the rest of the cars from his company/family get serviced and repaired.

The interiors and exteriors were maintained so well, an owner who cared about the car, knew about the nitty gritty details of the car, told me about its defects openly and also offered to get the stop/start function cleared with his OBD scanner if that was a problem. Discussed about his garage, what he drives right now and what cars the family maintained. The heart said yes, this was still a decision of the heart. Buying an 11-year-old car with known issues doesn't mean more won't creep in. The mind said the known devil is better. I may or might not find a 530D but the white devil is right in front of you, so pick it up.

January 27th, 2023

I tell @ballfry I'll take the white devil off him and invite it to my place. I'm going to buy it.

January 28th, 2023

Around 7 am me and @ballfry meet at Man and Machine to get the car checked. The car is hoisted and the underbelly guard comes off for a thorough check. Suspension needs changing, could be done at the next service, the steering makes a small squeaky noise which is a known issue with pre-LCI F30 models. BMW has come out with a ball joint of some sort that can take care of this. Costs around 2k ish. No need to replace the entire steering rack which is upwards of 2 lacs and we can't find a new one. No other faults. Man and Machine (FNG) didn't charge us anything as they had performed no work on the car. We get into our respective cars and drive back home.

For peace of mind, I ask my friend from badminton who recently purchased a 2015 BMW 320D sports variant if I should get this check with BMW again. He replied that his brother knew an internal employee and got this check done for his car. When the car was being checked they constantly kept bringing up issues because the car wasn't serviced at an authorised service centre. I reach out to another FNG called as Karmic Performance where my badminton friend gets his 3 serviced and they had nothing but good words to speak about Man and Machine.

January 31st 2023

At around 11:45 first part of the payment is done. Me and @ballfry decide to meet at 2 pm at the RTO office.

Around 2pm, The second half of the payment is done. We take the professional help of a broker at the RTO who finishes the entire procedure in 5 minutes and asks me to collect the RC a day later. Just 5 minutes can you believe it?

Me and @ballfry shake hands, he takes one last photo of the car and hands the key over. We have a conversation for about 15-20 minutes post that. I offer to drop him back to his office, but he decides to take a cab. Before he leaves, he tries to ask if I'm interested in how the USB to AUX tune2air Bluetooth works, I tell him I'll figure it out. Was way too excited. My wife drives her Activa back home as she had come to the RTO from her workplace and was heading to work.

My heart flutters as I unlock the door for the first time and get in. I'm elated. There's a sense of pride in there as well, maybe because of the badge or maybe because it took two-plus long years? As a coincidence, it was exactly 10 years since I bought the Skoda Rapid. I finally drive the 3 to get its puja done.

It's home!