The first one looks nice, however, I am pretty sure that at 135K miles it will be needing a new DPF which costs about ?1K. That isnt the M5 wheel btw, the M5 wheel has paddle shifts. Its most likely the sport wheel that the owner has fitted.

The second one also looks nice but the lack of a leather interior would put me off, did you notice the stain on the passenger seat. I guess the passenger wasnt a fan of the drivers driving style. You could buy this one and purchase a leather interior from a salvage yard i guess.

 

[edit] oops, double posted...

 

what, they introduced DPF's that early? surely they last the life of the car?

how hard would retrofitting the whole interior be? and anyone know why it doesn't have leather in the first place? It's driving me craaaaaaaaaaaazy!


so it's either a low mileage, 1 owner, 55 plate (minor updates...), bi xenons, climate control WITHOUT leather
or
04 plate, tinted windows, a colour i like, beige ( leather interior, cd multi changer + remote, WITH high mileage, no xenons, no climate control & now this DPF problem?

the 04 seems more tempting... the only thing that can swing it towards the 55 plate is if in the minor update, BMW removed the swirl flaps AS WELL... i've tried searching the forum but can't find a definitive answer- who knows when BMW stopped using the swirl flaps?

Sanj

 

Sanj, neither of those cars are doing it for me, soz.
I've just been on the trader and found 3 or 4 nice cars, all in your price range, If I could figure out how to send you the links I would
If you pm me your email I can send the links from autotrader

 

aww thanks wickster!
check your inbox...


Sanj

 

I have 2004 525D which has a DPF, they need replaced at around 140K miles. The onboard computer will tell you exactly when it is due to be replaced.

Regarding the interior, I like to figure things out and I am pretty handy with a spanner so that wouldnt bother me try to do it myself. The other option is enlisting the help of a friend or paying someone to do it.

The 55 reg will have swirl flaps according to realoem, it is no biggy you just need to remove them and fit blanking plates. Not sure when BMW stopped using the flaps, I would guess 07 LCI onwards.

One last tip, check for paint lines on the inside of each door, you can usually see a line or feel a line. That will tell you if the car has been spray painted or not, always ask if the car has every been writen off it is illegal for anyone to lie about that.

Good luck with the hunt, share with us what you get.