Thinking of going for this : http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carid=671430 - http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car& carid=671430

Anyone got any thoughts?  I've emailed for the price. The garage are a bmw dealer, so should be safe enough?

I'll be selling / trading my e46 323ci, if anyone knows anyone who might be interested in one.

They are a very recent addition as a BMW dealer, so the chances are that a lot of their stock - especially the sub 3 year olds - are bought in rather than traded and may have been sourced through BMW Ireland as part of their start up package.  This should be a good thing in that the stock will have been hand picked.  They are/were also an Opel dealer.

I assume it will be sold as a full BMW Approved Used car?  My sister and her hubby have had a few cars of this standard from BMW dealers in the UK over the years and over there they can virtually be bought sight unseen. 

I'm not sure what the situation is now but a couple of years ago the Approved Used warranty was provided by a third party insurer and I know of one member here who had significant problems in getting any satisfaction when his Approved Used car showed nikasil problems from the outset.  Neither the insurer nor the dealer would take responsibility and the dealer was less than no help in getting any satisfaction with BMW Ireland either.  Eventually it took a dealer in NI with no link to the transaction to resolve the problem with a goodwill gesture from BMW UK.

As far as the car itself is concerned the spec looks reasonable.  The fact that the leather isn't the more common combination of grey with Orient Blue is a bonus.  Orient Blue is a nice colour when clean and polished (my 330, my sisters 330 M-Sport conv and her 328i Touring are all Orient blue!).  Don't be surprised to see a €40k price tag on it.

Dergside wrote: I assume it will be sold as a full BMW Approved Used car?  My sister and her hubby have had a few cars of this standard from BMW dealers in the UK over the years and over there they can virtually be bought sight unseen.

Wow, that's good for peace of mind.

Thanks for that Dergside. Appreciated.

The car looks very nice, while we are talking about BMW approved used cars don't assume that because it is from a dealer that it is going to be a good one, give the car a good check over. I bought a 01 330ci with 35k on it from an approved dealer in N. Ireland and did not check it over properly as I ASSUMED it would be perfect. When I took delivery of the car it looked very shiney but it had had alot of body work done to the rear quarter panel on close inspection both sides of the car were covered in scrapes and door dings, there was rust under the front mud flaps and it drank 1 litre of oil every 1000 miles. The rust was repaired by the garage and they said that the oil issue was normal, my reply to that is that it within acceptable BMW limits but it is far from normal. In the end I fell out of love with the car and sold it a few months later. On the other side of the coin I bought a 1996 e36 323i coupe with 25k on it from Maxwell motors in 2001 and I still have it, a fantastic car.

My point being dont assume that because BMW are selling it that it is perfect treat it as you would any second hand car. I hope I havn't put you off cr1272 your car looks really nice and chances are its a peach. The 330ci will put a seriously big smile on your face.

Regards,

Bayerische

Bayerische wrote: The 330ci will put a seriously big smile on your face.

I'll second that!

Thanks for the advice guys. I would have treated it as any other 2nd hand car, but I think it's a bit too much to stretch at the moment. (39950 is the price).

Lovely looking car though. Shame.

Nice car, you might get a 2002 M3 in from the uk for that price tho.

It might have a few more miles on it but you should be able to get a decent one on irish plates for under €40K

b318isp wrote: Also look at http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car& carID=763107

Of note is the fact that the shells have been done. 

One thing to check if looking at it is that it seems to have been serviced by a number of dealers from the North West of England down to towards the Midlands.  The ad says that its had 2 owners (assuming one is the "private" seller).  Its unusual for a single owner to have a car serviced by dealers over such a wide geographical area.  Also, the photo's show it carrying no number plates.  Another "private" trader sale I'd guess.  I'd be a tad nervous of a dealer trying to abdicate responsibility for a car like an M3 by masquerading as a private seller.

You could buy a similar car for top end retail money from a recognized UK specialist yourself and get it back here for no more, and likely less, than the asking price on this one.