Looking to buy my first car

>15-20k
Don't even spend that much dude. Wait until you've had a few cars before you really put money into something. Own as many cars throughout your life as you can until you find THE ONE car that you want to sink money into forever.

It needs to be sporty, fast yet elegant.

Looks wise the 335i coupe has exactly what I want.

It doesn't "need" to be sporty, you WANT it to be sporty

You asked what I was looking for in a car

So what would be a good beemer to start of with?

Why not an accord or a camry or something simple?

Your first car and first BIG job is a huge risk, you don't know if your job is stable or permanent, you don't seem to ACTUALLY have a lot of money because if you lose your job your car payments don't magically stop happening.

Its far better to start with a significantly less risky, significantly less costly car that has superior reliability

Just because you can afford to buy it doesn't mean you can afford to own and maintain it.

Well lets be honest, if we only bought cars that we NEEDED we would all be driving around in a 1.6 Focus or something. OP has a decent budget and wants a nice car, what is wrong with that? This is Veeky Forums not some fucking poverty personal finance board on leddit.

OP - turbos and fuel pumps are the main issues, especially if they have been remapped. Stock ones are generally fine. Check history and paperwork thoroughly. Automatic gearboxes can shit themselves if the fluid isn't changed, but you get manual ones.

anything made before the mid-90's

>30 year old car

I wouldn't go that far, but I would recommend you don't spend your entire budget on the car and keep some in reserve for any issues. Thought that went without saying with second hand car purchases. If you have a 20k budget that should easily be doable, no reason to have some crappy accord?

I'd say anything up to the E46 and E39 for maximum reliability - the M52 and M54 engines are solid so long as you keep an eye on the cooling systems. Only other issues are rust, but that may not be an issue depending where you live. The electronics started creeping in with the E90 and E60.

>nearly 30 year old car
>reliable
I'll take "no" for 400 alex

OP, save your money, get a civic for 3k until you have a lot of money saved. Blowing all your money at once is retarded especially on a shit beemer

You asked and thats the proper answer.

If you don't like it, you can go cry in a corner, I've owned several BMW's I love the cars, but in used form they are not cars people who've never worked on a car in their lives.
.If something does go wrong, most indies will charge you $60 an hour to fix something, dealerships will charge you $80 plus an hour to fix it.

So either buck up and be prepared to learn, or don't and pay the price of ownership.

I get that you guys are trying to make me aware of the risks that come with such a car and I appreciate it.

But it's not like it's a major risk, sure I understand if expensive parts break it would cost a shitton. But It's not like I'm spending everything I have on this car.

People don't recommend bmws because they're expensive to both maintain and repair. For example, I had an e46 for a year and a half and spent 1000$ in repairs and about 400 in maintenance, oil changes cost about 80$ each time. I had a Ford Focus for two years before that and spent 0$ On repairs and oil changes were about 30$

V6 Cumry, shitlord

I own a E39 and the electrical are not that easy to diagnose on nor are that reliable.

The E30 I own electricals aren't that reliable either but the parts and wires are at least easy to get to.

E46 was made up until 2006 and the E39 was made up until 2004. They are more reliable than the newer ones due to simple mechanical components and under stressed engines. The newer ones mainly suffer issues with electronics which are much more costly to diagnose and fix.

Do you know anything at all about cars?

That looks like an old mans car

>I get that you guys are trying to make me aware of the risks that come with such a car and I appreciate it.
its not just such a car its such a financial decision.

>its not like a major risk
it is, you're looking at a 10 year old car thats going to have awfully expensive maintenance issues and at that point the reliability is going to go down the shitter

>its not like I'm spending everything I have on this car
sure seems like you are, this is why I said take like 6-8k of it and spend it on an accord or something from 5 years ago that isn't going to have any of those issues, is going to be significantly easier and cheaper to repair and will last you significantly longer without repairs that that beemer does.

You seem like your mind is made already. Why make the thread? Go buy your bmw.

Going off topic I know, but what electrical issues have you had? I have had 3, biggest electrical problem was the final stage resistor. With all the resources online I find them very easy to DIY

>Been thinking about getting a 335i, does anyone have any experience with this car. Should I get it or not., what am I in for?
If you have to ask this you:
1. haven't done enough research on the car you want
2. don't know what you want in actuality
3. are willing (or stupidly willing) to buy a car you don't know much about then you're asking for trouble

stfu and buy a Lexus

This thread is actualy part of my research

An Accord doesn't look like enticing at all though, it just looks plain boring.

I'm in a position where I'm single, got plenty of cash to blow, I want to buy something that's amazing, and that will make me smile every time I sit in it.

If 5 years I might have kids and I will be forced to buy some boring family car, before that time I want to have some fun

You're not learning if you're not making mistakes.

>this is why I said take like 6-8k of it and spend it on an accord or something from 5 years ag

>OP has budget of 20k which he already has said isn't all of his money
>wants a nice looking car with good performance
>you recommend a 6k accord

wut

>OP - turbos and fuel pumps are the main issues, especially if they have been remapped. Stock ones are generally fine. Check history and paperwork thoroughly. Automatic gearboxes can shit themselves if the fluid isn't changed, but you get manual ones.

Thanks, now that is some useful advice

I have an 03 540i Msport.

The biggest one i've had was when the Alternator shit itself, and since its water cooled and at the bottom of the engine you have to pull the radiator, drain the coolant (undiluted mix is $25 a bottle and the engine takes 4 gallons) and a good portion of the pulley system to get to to it.

I've had a few intermittent lights dimming.
I have seat twist, which depending on your POV that could or could not be an eletrical issue

I haven't had the gauge cluster start losing pixels, nor the ignition switch fail, which are both common problems too.

Granted these are not major issues to me or yous since I can do repairs myself but, to someone whom has no repair experience at all, they wouldn't know where to start and would have to take it to a dealership or shop.

>If 5 years I might have kids and I will be forced to buy some boring family car, before that time I want to have some fun

That's what a second car or motorcycle is for.

just buy a brand new car with that budget
you can get pretty good deals in that range

I'm not looking for a car that will last me 15 years.

I'm looking for something amazing, that I will sell off in a couple of years when I want to start a family. I don't mind if I have to pay a 1000$ in maintenance each year

>1k maintenance per year
>BMW

Oh my sweet summer child.

3k civic then

Give me some realistic figures then

Ive had mine for the past 25k miles. It has close to 150k now. Havent had any issues with electrics, ive replaced a wheel bearing, injectors, coils, and thermostat. The turbos were replaced by previous owner but from the way the car looked i think thats all he did. Mine was well below 10 to 15k. It only cost me 7500.
I like it, its a cool toy, but I got it to see if owning a bmw really sucked as much as people say it does, and i was going to buy a new bmw if i liked it enough. Its not that bad but it is more expensive than other cars of the year.
Do not get one of these if you dont have the patience to work on it yourself or money to have things fixed. Everythings a pain in the ass to fix. Even injectors required me to install a coding program on my pc, which was annoying in itself cause they are all old programs that you have to screw with to work with windows 10.
I wouldnt trust it as an only car desu. Fixing things takes way too long, the only way you can get parts at a reasonable price is online, which takes about a week to show up. Unless you overnight the parts from japan.

I said something amazing

Als je op marktplaats kijkt, kijk naar de naam van de verkoper. Als het een mo, ahmet, youssef of een variatie daarop betreft, niet kopen!

It's a beauty mate, although I would never buy a car in white. Thanks for the extra info though I appreciate it.
Dat is sowieso een vuistregel voor marktplaats ;)

Op here, any alternatives that are not grandpa cars but that are more reliable?

Go for the 335i if you're european.
Euro cars are cheap to maintain in europe and 335i is probably the best price:performance for 15k euros.

Shut up mom

I am Western European, does that really make a big difference?

European cars in america are 3-4 times more expensive to upkeep than in Europe (parts and labour is overpriced for premium brands), thats why people in america love jap crapboxes so much

Well, that explains a lot of the responses in this thread. That's a good point you rase

HE WANTS A BMW AS HIS FIRST CAR
LMFAO XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Just buy a Toyota Corolla.

Why so salty?

Salty?
LMFAO stands for - Laughing My Fucking Ass Off

Hahaha mein drempel freund hat recht. Gib kersflap

go for it mang. lemme remind you the first thing girls check if its a 335 5 speed with the twin tarbo. if you don't get that trim they wont fuck with you

Go ride your toyata Prius you salty cuck

That is the official car of the 15K millionaire. Might as well get some studs in your ears and a sleeve tattoo fagget

Let me guess, you drive some cheap Japanese shitbox

>amazing
>BMW

>amazing
>civic

For the money, for longevity, absolutely

Stop already

Get a lada and you will know what is superior driving experience. Consider Moskvitsh with superior copied 70s BMW engine.

Will turn more heads than a BWM.

...

>stop being right
unable to comply

Some people want cheap and reliable.

Others want exciting and risky.

If you want exciting and risky you can buy a clapped out s13 with a salvage title and go rip it on some back roads.
Anything you're investing over a grand into per year isnt something that should be your only vehicle

That all depends on your budget

I have a 2008 BMW 335i. I'm 23, and making decent money. That being said, even though I make decent money, premium gas, repairs and just the amount of shit you can expect to happen IS expensive. I got mine for 10000.00 2 years ago from a client of mine. I'd say if you don't get a fantastic deal on it, then fuck no don't buy one. You need to look into the last time the HPFP was replaced, the Ignition coils, and make sure the previous owner did all of the scheduled maintenance. That being said, for 10k, the car is fun as fuck. Fast as shit stock, exhaust sounds alright stock, and you get around 300hp/300fp/t bone stock, let alone the simple bolt-ons you can install as well as tuning with JB4 or some shit. The car is fun but you have to know how to work on it or you're gonna get assraped by dealership/mechanic.

Thanks for the info.

Someone did mention these cards are cheaper to maintain in Europe though. I assume you are American? Still I understand that maintenance costs won't be cheap with a car like that.

Yeah, I'm american. HPFP needs tools most people don't have to drain fuel lines, etc. so it was an expensive job.

Only if you live in US and visit repair shops frequently. Unless you need to rebuild whole engine or you need extra expensive tools to fix some difficult shit, theres no need to go to mechanic every time. No idea where that "visit repair shop every time bolt unscrews itself" came from, but its quite popular in US. Here in Europe we do everything by ourselves. Oil change is being done ourselves (owners) and it is as basic and mandatory to know as you brush your teeth. Rebuild suspension? No probs. Buy parts, change them yourself in shitty garage. Youd be laughed at if someone from dudes heared you going to repair shop to swap wheels. Its like easy 15min job and free too and the end of the day. Engine rebuild are very rare too, unless its some complicated German V8 or V12.

>You need to look into the last time the HPFP was replaced
Good advice, but that should really only need doing once as it is not a consumable. I am sure the replacement ones are better than the factory ones

OP, I'm all for fun cars, but you're going to be remortgaging your house with how many fucking water pumps you'll be replacing.

Get something American with a V8.

>sporty
>fast
>elegant
>335i
lmao

get a corvette c5

OP is better off leasing a brand new 3 series that will be BRAND NEW when he gets it, not some old 10 year old wannabe car. His credit score will go up and he can get better lease deals down the road. He even has 20k in hand, that's waaay more than people have when they lease a 3 series.

In what world is leasing a brand new car a better financial decision than buying an older one at the bottom of its depreciation curve? You are a fucking idiot.

dont let Veeky Forums gatekeep you away from one of these. 335i's are great, make sure you get a N54 (2007-2010). Had a 335i for a long time and eventually sold it @ 750hp with a 6766 turbo. These arent that hard to work on, learn to wrench yourself and its fine. Common oil leaks are oil filter housing gasket, oil filter to oil cooling gasket, valve cover gasket, and oil pan gasket. (I had a rear main seal leak as well, not sure how common that is). #1 cost of maintenance is if the turbos go bad. If you can find a car with low mileage or new/oem turbos you are good to go. HPFP and fuel injectors are usually covered by warranty to 100k miles until 2019, depending on car. Don't sweat yourself into the 6 speed manual, the automatic is better the further you go into modifications.

nope 2 Mercs

Veeky Forums wishes they had money so they gatekeep anyone buying a nice car

youtube.com/watch?v=FkKhArm8Ods . You can reach 800whp/850 wtq on this car with

Are American BMWs made differently to Euro ones? Seems a lot of people here are saying they are unreliable money pits, which isn't the case in bongland or Europe? I know parts will be more expensive, but the cars themselves shouldn't be much different? My 550i hasn't cost me any more in maintenance than my old Ford Mondeo, only real difference is the fuck economy is worse, which isn't surprising.

Even my Dad has driven 5+ year old BMWs and Audis for years, worst bill he has had was £900 for a clutch and dual mass flywheel on his 3.0 TDI Audi A6 with 180k on it

>the automatic is better the further you go into modifications
Do you also prefer wearing women's underwear?

that point is moot, do you think op is going to dump that much into his bimmer?

And look like a retard in the process? No thanks

Een bmw in nederland is goedkoper dan al die japanse shitboxes die in deze thread worden voorgesteld. Ik heb nu 3 jaar een e91 325i touring, en ben aan onderhoud hetzelfde kwijt als mijn vorige auto (suffe renault). Het is zelfs duurder om een japanse auto te hebben hier, dan een bmw aangezien onderdelen van duitse autos’s bij elke turk op de hoek te halen zijn, maar voor een japanse auto moet je al snel naar een specialist. Laat je niks wijsmaken door alle wijsneuzen hier, zeker als je in de 15 tot 20k prijsklasse aan het kijken bent, dat zijn vaak goed onderhouden modellen met weinig km op de teller. De afgetrapte bakken vind je meestal in de buurt van de 5k.

here people get their oil changed once a year and never do any maintenance, we just drive our car until it strands us and then use that to determine reliability. So a 2002 corolla with 50 things wrong on it but starts is more reliable than a bmw that doesnt run because it needs new plugs/coils

The ones in europe are spartan compared to the ones sold in the US.

Parts are more expensive and the dealerships cost significantly more to have repairs done.

For what's it worth the pre-2000s BMW's were actually some of the best cars coming out of Germany. For you it's probably not very exciting or nice to drive a Bimmer that old but I don't know what else I could say for the more modern BMWs. Buying them as used cars can be an absolute disaster if you aren't careful, if you know a mechanic you know personally that will help you scout out some used BMWs it would be better than doing it yourself.