V70Cat

The lease ends in October and the buyout price is $35,000 plus $2,000 for CPO.

I like the car but it seems like a lot of money?

Wonder if the new 3 will come through as a wagon? I also heard rumors that they may drop the GT and bring the new wagon back.

norsecarnut

A. The "new" 3 series will not be realized in the wagon version for next year/2012 models. Do not take this to mean there is no 2012 3 series wagon, in fact it will be identical to the 2011 and still a "E91". The "new" 3 cars will be only in the other variants for next year with the wagons a year behind.

B. Whether or not the pricing you listed is a fair market value or not depends entirely on the build sheet. Meaning, if your car were on the used bmw/cpo market, would it be priced for $37,000?

If you both like the one you have, and the pricing above is close enough, why not just keep it? A new E91 would cost considerably more $ even with absolutely no options or upgrades.

Same goes, x2 for any potentially new generation F11 (newest bmw wagon). It would cost considerably more than the price to "keep" your current car.

You surely know the 3 series wagon is different, possibly inferior, in several ways. E61 = more cargo space, passenger space as well as occupancy comfort in addition to higher load capacity, more power (a lot more), higher resale value (if you do decide to get something new if/when it comes, you won't loose a whole lot between keeping the current car and selling it later as opposed to jumping now on a newer car and then wanting something else in a couple years).

Other considerations would be, do you have a car now that has features potentially unavailable later? such as a manual gearbox, or it's sweet true twin turbo inline 6? Personally, I like the "idea" of a new 2012 5 series wagon, but not if the US only gets an automatic or a 4 cylinder engine. Now, if it comes with a manual and a powerful "35d" engine, then I'd be listing my current wagon as soon as I ordered said dream wagon. That 35d engine in the 5 touring would easily net 35 mpg with it's lower weight and better aerodynamics. I think it's ridiculous that engine only went into an automatic rwd 3 series and the x5.

luigi524td

Most people considering buying out a lease don't realize that price is negotiable. If your research proves that a comparable car is selling for a lower price that is the negotiating position. The fee to CPO the car, likewise, is also negotiable. And any work to bring it to CPO standards (like new tires, brakes, etc) should be performed at no additional charge to the final price to CPO the car.

vanos

jwestpro sums it up pretty well. If you love the car and meets your needs, I would keep it. It will be difficult to find a replacement and going down to a 3 Series Touring may disappoint you. And all prices are negotiable, including the cpo.

V70Cat

The price is not market the $35,000 (full retail)is about what you would pay from a dealer for used 08 with Nav. The $2,000 extra for CPO makes it $2,000 over market yet a dealer car would come CPO.

Theo

The main reason I bought my E61 after lease was that I knew the car.
Some fixes and problems it had gone through but also all the known weak functionalities of the type that worked flawlessly on her.
Those could very well cause problems at some point if I would opt for another, completely unfamiliar, car.

I think that with these quite complicated cars it is invaluable to know and trust your car, especially if you intend to own it after CPO.

I'd weigh that in as well.

norsecarnut

Those numbers are irrelevant without a build list of your car and the mileage.

Limey-

My 08 535XI has everything except the HUD. I paid 37k 5 months ago. I looked around. That was a decent price.
I drove the 335IX none T for a week. No comparison.

norsecarnut

More often than not, people say "loaded" or "everything" and it's not true mostly because they were not familiar with the full list of options.

Does it have "night vision" and "ventilated seats" ? I doubt it because if it had those then it would probably have had the HUD as well.

Those options were available on late 08's apparently and the only source of remorse with mine.

Limey-

No HUD then no Night vision. I think the ventilated seats came later.