Whats up guys? Anybody got a review on BMW X3?

[fsstnotch]

Thinking about trading my gas guzzling expedition in on an X3 with the 3.0i. Anybody have one? The good the bad?

The one I'm looking at is fully loaded with a 6 speed manual.

Life has been BUUUUSY since I've been back in the country.

[392cobra]

Originally Posted by fsstnotch

Thinking about trading my gas guzzling expedition in on an X3 with the 3.0i.

The one I'm looking at is fully loaded with a 6 speed manual.

Life has been BUUUUSY since I've been back in the country.

Good to see you back in country.Looks like you are readjusting.

First..If you really like the car and want to buy it...buy it and enjoy it.

Don't buy it if the purpose is to save money on the gas milage difference between this one and your SUV.

You are going to save any money,period.

Look at the difference in your new car price and your trade in. The depreciation you'll eat on the new one.The higher insurance rates.

See what I mean ?

[Excaliber]

392Cobra, solid advice as I THINK you meant to place a "not" in there...

You are (not) going to save any money,period.

But there are other factors to consider beyond the singular mpg question. Were you about to trade off or up the previous vehicle anyway? Need a bigger 'grin' factor? Don't need the room of an Expedition and something smaller would be adequate and more fun?

I'm not about to dump my V8 Cherokee, simply because I rarely drive it anyway AND I would take a beating on tradein value and cost of repliacement. On occasion, I NEED the 4 wheel drive, the towing capacity, the room, the power. I might consider a smaller car if I was using the Jeep on a regular basis however AND it had outgrown my needs for such a large vehicle. For me, it would be smarter to buy another car and keep the Jeep, except, I don't need another car anyway, so I'll sit tight.

My motorcycle is my basic everyday transportation all ready, it gets 50 mpg and I can ride it all year. I'm good to go! I did 'work the numbers' compared to the Jeep, my miles driven, mpg 14 Jeep/50 Motorcycle. Cost of vehicles, maintenance, insurance, etc. Even at 50 mpg it would take YEARS to reach a break even point to justify selling the Jeep and buying the motorcycle. And thats riding it EVERYDAY year round! Difficult to factor in the 'grin' part of the equation, riding the bike is WAY more fun than driving the Jeep. I'd be sold on grin factor alone, which is I keep the Cobra as well, by the way.

[392cobra]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

392Cobra, solid advice as I THINK you meant to place a "not" in there...

But there are other factors to consider beyond the singular mpg question.

Yep,forget to get the "not" in there.

For sure people can have all kinds of reasons to decide they need or more likely just want a new car.Some valid,some not.
I believe most people purchase cars on an emotional want than any other reason.Leading up to laying their credit on the line they start coming up with all kinds of "reasons" to justify it.

The most popular now days is MPG,which very rarely is a valid reason on it's on.

Here is a good example and even with the bigger difference in mpg than X3 vs SUV and most likely less cost,makes no sense...
I have been seeing a lot of guys convincing their wifes that a Harley is what is needed to fight the high gas prices.
At an average of $20k and 40-45 mpg,it would take riding the Harley 150k-200k miles to even start seeing a savings.
And this is if he paid cash up front for it.Not including insurance,depreciation,up keep and of course the extra stuff we have to put on it.

So,just don't try to justify a want with a MPG argument.

You can go broke saving money like that.

[fsstnotch]

Well, we have the expedition right now. it's an 03 and we've driven the piss out of it! It has 106k on the clock and we're really probably a bit overdue on a trade. it's just my wife, daughter and myself and hte expedition is really waaay bigger than we need. it averages around 12mpg with the lift and bigger wheels, we've got up to 14 on the highway since the lift and wheels.

So with the X3, we get better mpg, warranty, refresh the miles, etc etc. I've just never owned a BMW and wondered it there was anything I should look for.

[Excaliber]

You know in todays market with the huge drop in SUV prices I bet you could find a really good used one at a great price!