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Why I decided to buy a used BMW 320d: Comparing it with my VW Polo GT

13th April 2023, 16:48 by Rahul Nagaraj

At Rs 16 lakh, an 8-year-old BMW 320d is cheaper than a Creta, Seltos, Taigun, Verna, City or Virtus.

BHPian tuffenberg recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

This is not the story of getting a used car

This is not the story of getting a pre-owned car either

Nah, this is not even the story of getting a pre-loved car

This is about getting a puppy. A puppy that someone’s loving wife left him as a gift for him in her memory, as she departed for her heavenly abode. He is giving you the puppy to keep only because he is about to go to war against Mafia. He knows he won’t come back, and he can’t take the puppy along. And he wants the puppy to be loved and cared for.

This is how I got my first pre-loved BMW

For clarity, the puppy I am talking about is the pre-loved BMW. Not the one on top of the BMW in the picture. That one is a prick

If you like stories, that comes later. The bullet-pointed version of the pros and cons of a pre-owned 8 -year old BMW 3 series comes first. I wrote the bullet pointers for those of you who probably went to IIM Lucknow, and work with AT Kearney India office as a consultant. That too an operations consultant. Not the less boring strategy variant.

Specs:

BMW 320D 2014 Prestige (F30)

Kilometers - 50k done
Previous Owners - 3 (2 technically, because one was a company-to-employee transfer)
Engine - 4 cylinders, 2L Diesel Twin Turbo
BHP - Around 220 HP. A stock car is 180+, this was Stage1 ECU tuned
0-100 Kph - Under 8 seconds on a stock car, around 6 seconds on this
Top Speed - 230 Kph
Gearbox - 8 Speed ZF8 Automatic with Manual Tiptronic
Drivetrain - Rear Wheel Drive
Safety - Euro NCAP 5 Star, 6 Airbags
Ground clearance - 136mm
Price - Around 16L (the New one costs around 65L in Bangalore). You can get a reasonably maintained one for 14L. The 2 L extra premium I happily paid because it was not reasonably maintained. It was taken care of like a baby with the brittle bone syndrome.
Steering - Electronic Power Steering - Important, because if you go for an older BMW, you will get hydraulic. Very hard on your hands if you go on long and winding roads
Audio - 6 speakers (4x Midrange, 2x Underseat Subwoofer), no Bluetooth connectivity to phone for Audio (Calls work though), Aux, USB, CD (!). Although there is no Bluetooth, you can buy Bluetooth to Aux converter and solve this
Connectivity to Smartphone - No Carplay or Android Auto :(. But the only real problem here is Google Maps navigation. That you can solve with a phone holder
Other features - 10-way electrically adjustable seats, 4 Climate Zone AC, Engine Start Stop Button, Rear Parking Sensors, ABS, ESP, Hill Hold Assist
Other Features missing - No keyless entry, No touchscreen, No Satnav, no advanced driver assists, no heads-up display on the windshield, No rear cam, no front parking sensors
Primary usage pattern - Bangalore-Kozhikode, Bangalore-Goa. Highways and long drives. I use a 2020 Polo GT TSI as my city car

Pros

Price - At 16 Lakhs, an 8-year-old BMW 320D is cheaper than a Creta, Seltos, Taigun, Verna, City, or Virtus
Reliability - It has just 50k kilometres on the Odo. These things are designed to run for 200,000 kilometres or more! So reliability concerns are non-existent
Experience - I am not going to write about how nice its performance, ride quality, handling, safety, gearshift, seats etc etc etc are. I mean, come on. But then I am going to say it. You start loving your life more once you own one of those things. Not because going fast, and making sharp turns is really fun. You should not do these things, because of the speed limit and safety regulations, and you know, in TeamBHP, even the guys who own a 911 claim to have never gone above 100
Power - If you are coming from a small car like me upgrading from a Polo to this, the key difference is this: A Polo tells you that it has limits. That there are things that it cannot do. This thing - before it tells you that, you will get scared looking at the speedo. At no point will you feel that power is lacking, unless you come from even more beastly cars? And it does it effortlessly - no noise, no vibration, and constantly tells you it can give you more. You know there is so much power underneath you, and that you are controlling it, and that is a very exhilarating feeling. And it is very deceptive because unless you look at the speedo, you don't really know what you are at
Gearshifts - Simply amazing thanks to the ZF8 gearbox. Coming from a Polo GT, I realized that I do not even realise when the shifts happen, except when I pay attention to the shifts from the sound
Cornering - To quote the previous owner d3mon “The 320d is the perfect introduction to the BMW RWD dynamics. This is the car to get if you want to know what 50:50 weight distribution does to the handling around corners (it's magical), and what 400NM of torque feels like when the gearbox gives you an aggressive downshift on demand.”
Safety - Euro NCAP 5 Star. As long as you drive reasonably safely, it is really difficult to die in one of these cars. That is priceless
Mileage - Here is a surprise for those of you who ask “kitna deti hain?”. More mileage than a petrol Polo. On highways, I have managed 25, with some really slow distinguished-gentleman-who-no-20-year-woman-would-want-to-date kind of driving. And if you consider diesel is cheaper, the fuel cost of this thing is lower than the running cost of a Polo. WTAF? Right?
Maintenance - Not expensive as you think. Under 20k a year for regular maintenance. Brake pads change can be more expensive though. If you have a mechanic friend, and you got to make one, it is fairly cheap. Never go to the dealership of course
Snob Value - If you want to be treated like a person who owns a BMW, you can buy that status for cheap. Honestly, I do not like this, and it makes me very uncomfortable when people look at the car and judge me. I bought this only for vroom reasons. So if people judge me as a rich douchebag for buying a fancy German car, I reveal the price and make them stop. I did that with a person who bought a pricier Honda City and pulled my leg for this. Such flexibility in status.
Run Flat Tyres - Stock BMW 3 Series comes with a Run Flat Tyre. They are better than Tubeless tyres in the event of a puncture. Even if you get a puncture, they go 80 kilometres more at up to 80 KPH. So they are great if you have a puncture. But they do not give the ride comfort of the regular tubeless ones. And let us face it, all enthusiasts prefer the regular one. There was even a Top Gear Episode where Hammond thanked BMW for not putting RFTs on the M5
Previous Owner - I got to meet d3mon. Such a nice, grounded, knowledgeable guy. He took care of the car so well. He knows so many things about cars. For someone who did not grow up with cars, his tips on cars have been invaluable. Truth be told, when I look at this car, I look at it as my car, and d3mon’s “amaanat”. If I ever get into a situation where I buy another car, I would go to d3mon for his 530D. Hopefully, he would have bought a 911 by then

Cons

There are no cons. There are only character-building measures

Character building measures

No Satellite Navigation. No Apple Car Play or Android Auto to connect the map. So you have to learn the ways of the old and learn the roads. Or ask people for directions with some human interaction. Or buy a mobile phone holder and figure out stuff. All character building
No music connectivity to Bluetooth from a cell phone. This means you have to buy the Bluetooth converter thing. And you learn some DIY. Character building
None of the electronic nice bling things like Heads up display, those 100s of sensors that tell you to tyre temps, pressures, etc etc. So you have to live like the old enthusiasts who did it all by instinct. Again, character building
No room for a spare tire. You drive carefully, avoid big potholes and treat your car with love. Or you can keep a spare tire, but you don’t have space for luggage. So you learn to pack light, be frugal and adopt minimalism. You pick your character-building thing
The stock BMW does not even come with a spare tyre because of Run Flats. You can get a spare tyre additionally though
The rear AC is not that nice. So the front ducts have to be turned down a bit for the rear passenger to get air. Teaches you to share resources. Did I say character-building?
No rear parking camera, no front parking sensors, no front camera, no 360-degree camera, no nothing. You drive it with skill. You park it with great difficulty. This makes you a better driver, and you guessed it right - builds character
Expensive to maintain in a dealership. So you will end up making local mechanic friends. That supports local jobs and prevents money from being exported to Germany. Nationalistic and character building

Comparison with a Polo GT TSI

I also have a Polo GT TSI. My first car. I have to say, it is still the best hatchback you can get in this country for around 10L. When it comes to the sheer fun of driving, and the solid feel of a car, it stands out. And one of the very few safe small cars around. Unfortunately, they stopped production. If you are looking for a fun car, do not care about features, and are okay buying a pre-owned one, buy a Polo.

So why this comparison? How can you compare a Prussian Aristocrat with the People’s Car? It is unfair, yes. But I thought I will do it because most Polo owners do not have something to upgrade to in terms of the sheer fun of driving. And a used BMW 3 I think is the most budget-friendly sensible choice for a Polo person. So here goes:

Speed and acceleration

Polo and BMW 3 do not feel that different between 0 to 60 kph, tbh. In fact, the Polo might seem more pleasant because of the petrol engine sound. But then at 80, the Polo tells you it has limits. At 120, it tells you that this is not really a good thing. Every kph after that is a steep struggle. At 140 or so it starts giving a sense of living on the edge. Polo tops out around 190, I am told

It is when you go above 80 that a BMW tells you why a 2Litre Twin Turbo engine with 200 horses and 400 NM torque matters. It gives you the same vibe at 140 that you get on Polo at 80. Even at 150 plus, it tells you it has more to give, and effortlessly. BMW is limited to 230 Kph by the laws of air resistance, I am told

Safety

Polo - 4 Star Euro NCAP, 2 airbags
BMW - 5 Star Euro NCAP, 6 airbags

Ride and handling

BMW vibrates and shakes a lot less than Polo whether it is in potholes, rumble strips, or just uneven roads. And it takes high-speed corners with much more stability. At no point it makes you feel it is going to lose control

Comfort

By the time I reach Kerala from Bangalore, I am dead in a Polo. In the BMW3, I feel as if I am coming out of a spa. Also, the back seat is a horror in Polo if you have long legs. In BMW, it is comfortable for the back seat passengers. If you have tall parents who like sitting in the back seat during long drives, this is a good idea. Even in the front seat, the BMW has a lot of room. Like a lot of room. My wife says the leg space is simply not ending

Practicality

Not sure if this is the car, or just me, but I find Polo so much easier to drive in city traffic. It just zips through so effortlessly in the tiniest of gaps. But I struggle with the BMW here. Also when it comes to speed breakers - I have never hit the Polo on a speed breaker. The BMW has not hit a speed breaker only because of the extremely delicate care with which I go over them. The ground clearance is much better in a Polo (165mm) than BMW (130+mm)

Sound system

Much much better quality audio. But then you would assume that. Because hey, a new BMW 3 costs more than 5 times as much as a new Polo. That ought to get a better sound

The story, the mini-reviews of the other cars, and my key lessons

Just to give you the incentive to read till the end, I am going to share some valuable lessons at the end. Just like the Youtube influencers make you watch the whole video. Wink wink

How did I start looking

Fun fact: I never owned a car till 2021. The companies I used to work in used to give me one. A Swift, a Duster, a Linea, a Scorpio, an Indica, and I even had a Nano. So I never really needed to buy one. And finally Uber took over, and I parked the idea of buying one for a bit

This was till the wrong Chinese bat (or the lab by Communist Party of Ch.. oh wait let's turn my political correctness control setting on) convinced me to stay safe from viruses in public transport.

So in 2021 Jan, I got my first one, a VW Polo GT TSI. First love, will always be loved. A truly beautiful car. I will write the story of that in another post. By the way, the single biggest reason I bought the Polo was Team BHP reviews, and my undying love for all things German engineering. The car was quick, fun to drive, and delightful on highways and winding mountain roads alike. I thought I was missing nothing in life. I thought I will be happy with this, and shelved all plans of buying anything bigger or “better”

Anyway, two beautiful years later, a friend told me he had a 2011 BMW 320i (E90) to sell. Went for a test drive.

BMW 2011 E90 320i Mini Review

Got to admit, it was not fun. Polo was snappier and more alive.

The car had hydraulic steering. Great for enthusiasts. Not so great for me as I did not have enough money for the weekly physiotherapy sessions I will need after driving this car from Bangalore to Kozhikode through the Western Ghats.

I passed. But I did appreciate some niceties of the E90 - including the ridiculously cheap price tag of an old car

So I started passively looking for some cars that - appealed to “degenerates with the maturity of 8-year-olds when it comes to cars” - a term I use to describe myself, and most men

The other cars I tested

I was very clear on the additional features I wanted

Criteria

Bigger better engine
More fun to drive than a Polo
Five-star Safety
6 Airbags
European Car
Lots of space, and comfort - Especially in the back seat. I know my in-laws secretly despised me for the Polo. I want to add a smiley here, but come on Team BHP, why not more than 2 smileys in a post?

Here is a list of cars that fulfil all my criteria:

Skoda Octavia
Skoda Superb
Volkswagen Virtus
Volkswagen Jetta
Volkswagen Passat

And here is a list of cars that I came up with after discarding the above list that filled my objective criteria:

Anything that goes vroom - Mercedes C, Audi A4, Volvo S60, BMW 3, Skoda Octavia - RS
Anything that goes vroom-vroom - Mercedes C43 AMG, Mercedes GLA45 AMG, BMW M Cars

I went to a few used car showrooms and tried some. Here are my shortened reviews of the other used cars I did a test drive

Shortened reviews of the other cars

Mercedes C - It is for 60-year-old couples who married each other as college sweethearts, lived without drama, and raised mentally healthy normal children who live in New Jersey. They use this car to sit in the backseat while they got a foot massage listening to the most tranquil pastoral ballads of the 80s. In other words, Merc cars are really backseat cars. They are not for front-seat adrenaline. 220D was alright, but it did not make me feel alive enough. Something was missing, but then I do not know what that something is. I am told C300D is brilliant, but I did not find one in my budget

Audi A4 - Checks all the boxes. Practical. But I didn’t like the looks. To me, it looks like an unholy offspring of a Honda and a German car. And I thought it was a tad too tame. Very very subjective opinion, though. Plus there is the infamous Audi understeer, although I am pretty sure I will not encounter it on drives through the Western Ghats or the Silk Board Junction.

Volvo S60 - Unless I am a DJ, a pilot, or a 17-year-old on an acid trip, I have no business being inside a room with so many buttons and glowing controls. Plus, the whole idea of electronically limiting the speed to 180 in all Volvos was such a turn-off. Not that I intend to go at 180+ on a road in here, but still...

Skoda Octavia RS - Gotta be honest - 30 lakhs+ is a lot of money for a used car. But what a car! Beautiful to drive, petrol, explosive sound, great handling, full-on alive feeling. If money, comfort, space, features, dealer network, reliability, common sense, practicality, wife’s opinions, etc did not matter, I would have gone for this

C43 AMG - Unbelievable car. A true beast that is a class apart. Even the sound is enough to sell this to a car lover. But... this has a ground clearance of 112 mm. My primary use case is driving to a hilly place in Kozhikode in Kerala. I can think of at least 3-speed breakers where this car can be used to play see-saw between front and back passengers

GLA45 AMG - 0-100 in 5 seconds. Very exciting. Good for some minor off-roading too. Too much attention on the outside with the fancy vinyl.

BMW X3 M sport - I tried this from a used car dealership. They made me slam it flat out up an empty overbridge in Kammanahalli. That experience! - Holy hell's bells I say. I have never experienced that kind of raw power. Every time I step on the accelerator the car goes first and then I catch up as I am holding on to the steering with dear life. As a bonafide Kerala man, I can guarantee you that this is the closest I have come to sit on an elephant, that is the Usain Bolt of the Elephant world. Do not get me wrong. This is a great car. It is just that I am not a caveman enough to handle the beast. And I did come very very close to getting this. But the price was not right. And this car is the one which made me realize I did not love sedans for their speed. I liked sedans for the handling and the feel.

BMW M series - At some point, the middle-class upbringing and the voice of your plebian ancestors inside you ask you to wake up and stop being a douchebag. This was that point for me

My lessons from test drives

I realized two things at the end of it:

Used car showrooms are the biggest rip-offs in the world. The only competitors I can think of are real estate developers or the tax department. Buying a car from an unorganized used car showroom is a HUGE risk.
Real enthusiasts drive boat-sized Sedans. They are impractical, inconvenient, do not have much space, difficult to park, cry in potholes, scrape the speed breakers, will struggle on the way to most hill stations and resorts, your parents will hate the low seating position, your significant other who is shorter will curse you because she can’t see anything outside. But Lord above, they are fun

Meeting "The One"

So one of these days I found a post on OLX from d3mon that basically said:

Looking to sell a BMW 320 D 2014
Maintained immaculately
Car dealers please excuse me, please don't waste my time
Team-BHP member

Gotta admit the last bit got me, for real. I saw the pictures, they looked good as new

This is the car, btw

It was a Sunday, the 1st of Jan. I fixed a visit on a Tuesday morning, the 3rd of Jan. For some reason, I woke up feeling rather low, very early in the morning. And d3mon lives 70+ minutes away in Bangalore. So it was pretty awful for me when I got to his place finally

Love, at first sight, bullet-pointed version

The car looked like new. I later realized he does not even wash the car other than with pressure wash places to avoid scratches
d3Mon is an absolute car nerd. He told me things about the technicalities of the car I have never heard of
I realized that I was looking at a car owned by a car nerd who knows everything about the car and who cared for his car like a puppy (the puppy at the opening of the post)
He was very nice and gave to me a 60 kilometres test drive on the highway towards Hoskote early morning. He did some stunts to show the agility of the car initially and let me take over for the most part
The car was quick and agile, the ride was astonishingly good. I had driven a 3GT before, and a few mercs, but this was better than all of them
The ECU was tuned to make it even more responsive than the stock car, and another 30 horses or so. Zero to 100 took around 6 seconds. I clearly understood what I was missing in a Polo.
The whole morning I was low, but after this test drive, I realized I was happy. It was one of those morning drives on a beautiful morning that makes you feel glad that you are alive. That car did that to me. And this was when I decided to get it. I’ve heard of love at first sight. Gotta admit, that this happened to me at the age of 38 to this car. I hope my wife never reads this part. If she does, it was nice knowing you all
Anyway, I confirmed within minutes and it was a done deal. I got the car within the next 7 days if I remember correctly

Everything after this was smooth. D3mon was super helpful with everything including the paperwork and did even the stuff I had to do. In fact the only thing he has asked me to do repeatedly is to write this post. So I hope this does justice to that, d3mon

So objectively, why did I zero in on this car?

A trustworthy seller - Not buying from a dealer, and buying from a regular person, just like me, who loved this car.
Unmatched performance in the segment. The comparable cars here are Merc C, Volvo S60, and Audi A4. This is the best driver's car of the category, as everyone already knows
Safety - 5Star Euro NCAP, 6 airbags compared to just 2 in Polo. We do Bangalore - Mysore Expressway often, and Bangalore Goa occasionally. I do not want to sit with 2 airbags in those roads full of degens who drive at 180kph in their high centre-of-gravity SUVs
At around 16L, the price was a major consideration

Ownership experience after around 6k kilometres

Engine performance & driveability in the city

It is boring in Bangalore traffic, got to admit this

Engine performance & driveability on the highway

One word. Astonishing. It has 4 modes - Eco, Comfort, Sports, and Sports+
Even in the lower mode, the car is responsive and reasonably revv happy. I could not notice any turbo lag, but I do not have a benchmark here

Gearbox

ZF8 is an automotive wonder. One huge difference I can realize already is that I do not feel the gearshift, unlike in Polo

Fuel efficiency: City and Highway

Around 15 in the city. Highway varies from 15 to 25 depending on how you drive

Suspension & ride quality

Comfort mode is very nice. Sports mode is stiff.

Braking

This is crazy. Nothing prepared me for how strongly these things break till I hit my first hard break. It is linear and smooth, but VERY VERY strong. In Polo, the breaking was neither this linear nor this strong. And nowhere as strong

Any niggles, problems or part replacements

The handrest on the sides has a resin that melts. My mechanic friend says that is the story of all BMWs in Indian temperatures. They also have a procedure to cover this
The AC vent does not hold its vertical position. Got to get that checked
The USB port is not powerful enough to charge an iPhone. So I had to buy the one which takes power from the 12V Cigarette lighter Port
In the eco-pro mode, the engine turns off automatically when you stop the car, and it turns on again when you release the brake. I found this very weird. But I am sure this is good for the Polar Bear, so I will let that be

Cost of upkeep & maintenance

So far I have done the following:

Rear Brake Discs - 20k
Breakpad and Sensor replacement - 6k for the front, 6 for back - 12k total
Engine Oil Change - 6k
Brake fluid change - 700
Filters Change - 8k

So far, it is around 50k

You will have to allocate around 20k for routine yearly maintenance. And once in 20k, you will have to change the brake pads

My key lessons

Always buy a pre-loved car. It is a criminal waste of money to buy a new one. Unless of course, you are also the kind of guy who buys a Christian Dior 50,000 dollar bag for exquisite craftsmanship and stuff like that
These cars drop in value when you buy them pre-owned like crazy. Some people buy these for prestige, and not the love of cars. They do not like the "Second-owner" or "Third-owner" tag and they want the first-owner tag, which commands a premium. If you do not care about this "first-owner" thing, you can go for it. Here is a fun fact. Someone I know with a net worth in excess of 10,000 Crores never buys a first car. He has a Porsche, 2 high-end BMWs, and an Audi, that I know of - all pre-owned. He says he hates paying so much tax and feels bad if he scratches a new car
Never buy from a dealer. Always buy from a car enthusiast who knows and loves his cars. Not one of those degens who race on potholes, treat them harshly and modify stage 3 and kill them engine though
I realized most people do not know how cheap it is to get and maintain a pre-loved German car. Based on no data points, but purely pre-existing notions. Get rid of them, get in the market, and find out what these things cost
Never buy a car for too many features. It does not make sense to me. For me, it is just about how it makes me feel - engine, handling. I don’t care if the Bluetooth will auto-connect to the car play, or automatically take phone calls with gestures, or if the AC has courtesy lamps. Optimize for one of two things in life. Do not optimize for everything.

Here are a few more pictures