bluechipBMW

You have a good point and you make wonder since I'm also looking for a car. Does it make more sense then to find that's less than 4 years and has less than 50k miles and purchase the BMW Plantinum Extended Warranty? I know it's pretty expensive but this at least covers you NAV and other electrical stuff.

White5er

I bought a 2008 528xi CPO car in the spring. This is the chance to get all of the options you would have wanted. On the used side you are not really paying for options. The key options I was after were Sport Package (this includes the great sport seats, better steering wheel, blacked out trim), navigation, Logic7 stereo (this is amazing), comfort access, spare tire, 6 speed manual, etc. Mine was 3 years old with 28K miles. At the time I got mine they offered free extended maintenance up to the 6 years, 100K miles if you financed $7500 for 2 years. That is over for now, but watch for special incentives. The xi will limit wheel options, but you just have to work harder to make it work with xi offsets. Search across the country through the BMW NA site to find exactly what you want. Most used 5s don't have very many options since all of the essentials are standard. These are fabulous cars! Good luck with your search.

Tom71581

I just bought a 08 535xi with 33k miles this past march. I have had no problems so far. The car was exactly what I wanted Saphire Black with cream interior and has almost every option,premium, cold weather, comfort acess, park assist, rear heated seats, nav, hd radio, logic 7, sirius, heads up display, and 20 way power seats without the sport package. It was very uncommon to find 20 way power seats that come standard with the sport package on a car without the sport package. I like the chromeish trim over the shadow trim that comes with the sport package. On the XI model there is no suspension difference. For what its worth I paid 36k in the philadelphia area which I felt was a little high but acceptable because I was having a difficult time finding the options I wanted in the right colors. From a service standpoint my pump had been replaced once already and the sunroof was in for realignment. I was glad to see this done so that I did not have to worry about water getting to the electronics in the trunk. I have since had all the windows tinted at 15% and had a local authorized shop put dinan stage II on. I just ordered GP Thunders to replace the yellow looking angel eyes that drive me crazy. The 17" standard wheels are almost impossible to clean due to a ring that goes behind the spokes. A tip, most of these come off leases if you find one that they have not posted pictures of yet it means they have not detailed the car. I just showed up after finding out my car had all the options I wanted. It was filthy from the previous owner. I was able to use its condition to negotiate the price and signed a conditional purchase with the right to refuse if the detailing wasn't to my liking. I was able to get them to fix every little thing making the car like new. I took the .9% financing of the 3 special offers.

FYI I was not looking for the heads up display, after owning it I don't know how I lived without it. It is much easier to monitor your speed as well as have the nav come up on the windshield. I also found that in my area there appears to be no ressesion, every time I found a car I liked it would be sold. I would try and act fast if you find what you want.

sixtysixpony

I am also planning to purchase a 2008 535xi with 8 months left on the warranty. I asked the dealer (non-BMW) selling the car if they could get the service history on it. They said they tried and the BMW dealership it was originally sold from would not release the service history to them even though they own the car. Think that is true or BS? I would like to know the service history before it buy, but with warranty remaining I'll be able to get any issues that may exist fixed at no cost.