[klaxhu]

Hi all,

New to the forum here and need some advice.
With the updated X3 coming out, we had some good offers here in the UK on the now "old" shape. It is a £2000 deposit and £299/month for 48 months for the xDrive 20d M Sport. (with 3 years service included and 8000 miles limit/year which is more than enough for what I need it for).
The dealer's contribution towards deposit is of ca. £11000 which is huge.
The plan is that I give it back in about 3 years or so or upgrade or ..who knows, but I will not keep this car.

First of all - does this look as good as a deal to you as it did to me? [barely anything out there compared to this deal for me as I want as low as possible deposit and low monthly payments, so I could not find a good alternative to this deal, not even with the lower specced 3 series]

So I paid a deposit and configured myself one as I wanted one with at least also a two bar added which I definitely need.

I am currently on a 2005 E61 that has a very good spec though (comfort seats, xenon, etc etc) so it feels like a downgrade to go now to a car with no electric seats, no adaptive headlights, and so on but I do want to keep the monthly payments as low as possible.

Having said all that, with the tow bar I am at £320 pm and with the interior comfort package that would give me the electric seats and some other good stuff, somewhere at £365 pm.

Is the visibility pack worth it? I do not commute and drive rarely at night so just cannot justify too much spend for the car to be mostly used at weekends. Adding that would take me over £410 pm.

Any opinions from people who specced similar cars in the past and have gone to use them. Would be good to know what options they are missing and what they wished they haven't added perhaps?

All feedback welcome!

PS: I cannot believe how expensive BMW has made the option to get LED lights, here in the UK it would cost me above £2500 just for that when other cars have it as standard now.
PS2: I should also add that, at 35 years old I am a bit new to leasing cars as this is my first EVER new car so it is a big shock for me to spend "this much" monthly on a car, since the hesitation with some of the above speccing up. It is about money spent wisely rather than being cheap, but I don't really drive that much so I just cannot justify spending a lot on a car right now.

[WaterlooMike]

I'm not going to try to say if different packages are worth it or not, I just thought to add my perspective. Prior to my current vehicle I was always buying new. I would then try to get everything that I wanted without breaking the budget and never succeeded,

I was always regretful of not getting something or other, especially when I saw the exact same car as mine and I could tell that they had something I wanted in my car.

So then I started shopping lightly used, off lease / demonstrator vehicles. I was getting most everything I wanted at about half the sticker price of the new car. Sure there was always something in the new model that I would want but I was getting so much more for the money.

That said, get what you want up to what you can afford. Just don't get into a situation where you are going to regret your decision now for the next 3 years.

(FYI - the one you are looking at is almost certainly nicer than mine. Enjoy it however you get it )

[Scout10]

There have been payments of some amount in your past.
And are the lease pymts less than a purchase pymt?
A lease usually gets you more vehicle for less per month.
But there is the piper to pay if going back to purchase at the end.

[klaxhu]

Originally Posted by Scout10

There have been payments of some amount in your past.
And are the lease pymts less than a purchase pymt?
A lease usually gets you more vehicle for less per month.
But there is the piper to pay if going back to purchase at the end.

Exactly! That is exactly what I thought the case might be so I started looking at X3's with the spec that I wanted at the dealer with 5k/10k/15k miles on the clock, maybe a few years old. However when putting down 2k the monthly payments are way over the £300-350 mark as I would get with this X3 "on offer" (BMW leasing currently for used sits at 10,5%). And yes, I do want to give if back at the end so that complicates things a bit especially with an external leasing company.

I did a calculation with a F11 and an X3, good spec, but would still have to add a tow bar cause they are rare, good milage so cost somewhere around 20-25k (keep in mind this x3 is 40k-43k). When putting down 2k the monthly rates are much bigger (over 350 a month) and the only positive is I am getting the spec that I want but a car with some miles on so not new. If I could have it for less I would definitely go for a used one but again, I do not want to keep it at the end.

[klaxhu]

Originally Posted by WaterlooMike

I'm not going to try to say if different packages are worth it or not, I just thought to add my perspective. Prior to my current vehicle I was always buying new. I would then try to get everything that I wanted without breaking the budget and never succeeded,

I was always regretful of not getting something or other, especially when I saw the exact same car as mine and I could tell that they had something I wanted in my car.

So then I started shopping lightly used, off lease / demonstrator vehicles. I was getting most everything I wanted at about half the sticker price of the new car. Sure there was always something in the new model that I would want but I was getting so much more for the money.

That said, get what you want up to what you can afford. Just don't get into a situation where you are going to regret your decision now for the next 3 years.

(FYI - the one you are looking at is almost certainly nicer than mine. Enjoy it however you get it )

So true! that's why I spent almost 3 months waiting before I found this current E61 with the spec that I wanted and just by chance the woman that was selling it did not know what she had there with the xenons and the comfort seat being so rare.

Also, because we as in the ones leasing these new cars never get the high spec or rarely, it is much harder to find a good specced car that is used.

[Smithy2014]

My fully loaded (£8K of options) 2.0d msport that went back after the 3 year lease landed at a car supermarket in London - it was sold before they even got chance to get proper photos up on their website - it went for £24K.

My lease is a lot more per month than yours but I am on a 3 year plan with 18000 miles per annum, I also put on quite a few options as I spend alot of time driving it - list price if bought new without finance would have been circa £46K. The way I look at I would never be able to afford to buy new so the lease option bests suits me and after the 3 years hand it back and have something else, all servicing costs covered and warranty takes care of the rest during my ownership.

[klaxhu]

did you lease with BMW leasing or choose an external leasing product?
any hints to something out there that accepts very low deposit and ca 6% APR?

thanks for the feedback!

[Lurcher]

So it sounds like the answer is get what you can afford. No sense "wishing" if you can't afford it. Figure out what the priority is. Or look at a cheaper vehicle with all the toys added on.


BMW leasing typically offers a good deal with these offers

[klaxhu]

Originally Posted by Lurcher

So it sounds like the answer is get what you can afford. No sense "wishing" if you can't afford it. Figure out what the priority is. Or look at a cheaper vehicle with all the toys added on.


BMW leasing typically offers a good deal with these offers

Sensible approach!
I can afford a Tesla model S, but that is not the point

I tried hard the past few days and looked at leasing options with fully specced cars with some miles on and most turned out more expensive than this deal that is currently on.

Have any of you experienced the dealer ever give any discount on additional packages at all?

[Lurcher]

Originally Posted by klaxhu

Sensible approach!
I can afford a Tesla model S, but that is not the point

I tried hard the past few days and looked at leasing options with fully specced cars with some miles on and most turned out more expensive than this deal that is currently on.

Have any of you experienced the dealer ever give any discount on additional packages at all?

So now sounds like you want the toys? I don't blame you - I would rather wait and get what I want instead of settling for less, especially for something I'm using daily for 3 yrs or more.

Wants vs needs I had to convince the wifey she "needed" the 35i in the X

6 months to find my e38, only 2 months for the Z, 1 month for the X

[klaxhu]

Originally Posted by Lurcher

So now sounds like you want the toys? I don't blame you - I would rather wait and get what I want instead of settling for less, especially for something I'm using daily for 3 yrs or more.

Wants vs needs I had to convince the wifey she "needed" the 35i in the X

6 months to find my e38, only 2 months for the Z, 1 month for the X

very true!
it is more about convincing myself

[klaxhu]

Just placed the order a few hours ago
I went for the below configuration in the end. I could have not lived without xenons and electric seats to be fair after having them in the last two BMW's.

BMW X3 xDrive20d M Sport
Automatic transmission with gearshift paddles
Alpine White
19" M Double-spoke style 622M alloy wheels (All season tyres)
Saddle brown Nevada Leather
Brushed Aluminium Trim
Interior comfort package
Visibility package
Towbar - electrically folding
M sport suspention deletion
Model designation deletion
M Sport designation deletion (side)

Link: mybmw.co.uk/z2f5x6x6

Ended up spending more - as you do - but it will be 48 Months PCP, £3000 deposit with £365 monthly payments and definitely giving it back at the end of 4 years or upgrading in about 3 years to something electric from BMW, maybe i3 as my second car next to a Tesla.
I could not justify spend on: media package, folding mirrors, LED headlights or other toys that I would never get the benefit of in my 4-5k miles/year (can't believe how cheeky BMW are at charging another 1500 just for those upgrade from xenon)
Delivery set for somewhere in September so now to making my E61 look pretty and putting her on the market :-) Will be gone but never forgotten, a very solid cars the E6x series.

[Lurcher]

Sounds good - xenon for me was a must. My biggest gripe is missing the automatic/electric steering wheel tilt like on my e38.

These things are not priced low enough not to have some standard features anymore ...

[klaxhu]

oh man, so true! so many little things the have broken out into multiple options now like LED, lumbar support, and so on and the almost mandatory folding mirrors cost extra and quite a bit. Yet something that used to be quite expensive like the electric tailgate is now included with some packages.

[Crassus]

Originally Posted by klaxhu

Just placed the order a few hours ago
I went for the below configuration in the end. I could have not lived without xenons and electric seats to be fair after having them in the last two BMW's.

BMW X3 xDrive20d M Sport
Automatic transmission with gearshift paddles
Alpine White
19" M Double-spoke style 622M alloy wheels (All season tyres)
Saddle brown Nevada Leather
Brushed Aluminium Trim
Interior comfort package
Visibility package
Towbar - electrically folding
M sport suspention deletion
Model designation deletion
M Sport designation deletion (side)

Link: mybmw.co.uk/z2f5x6x6

Ended up spending more - as you do - but it will be 48 Months PCP, £3000 deposit with £365 monthly payments and definitely giving it back at the end of 4 years or upgrading in about 3 years to something electric from BMW, maybe i3 as my second car next to a Tesla.
I could not justify spend on: media package, folding mirrors, LED headlights or other toys that I would never get the benefit of in my 4-5k miles/year (can't believe how cheeky BMW are at charging another 1500 just for those upgrade from xenon)
Delivery set for somewhere in September so now to making my E61 look pretty and putting her on the market :-) Will be gone but never forgotten, a very solid cars the E6x series.

Congratulations! Despite the F25 being an outgoing model you got a good deal. The cheapest offer for the new Q5 is £6,854 down and £419/month before options. You might not feel much remorse as the G01 has the same interior room and doesn't feature any ground breaking technology that's not on the F25.

I have never driven an E61 but what might surprise you is that the cabin in the X3 is less insulated from engine noise and vibrations. You might find the rough - especially at idle and acceleration at low speeds. The 5-Series with the same engine has better insulation.

Having followed your link it seemed like you added Professional Media in the end?

[klaxhu]

Originally Posted by Crassus

Congratulations! Despite the F25 being an outgoing model you got a good deal. The cheapest offer for the new Q5 is £6,854 down and £419/month before options. You might not feel much remorse as the G01 has the same interior room and doesn't feature any ground breaking technology that's not on the F25.

I have never driven an E61 but what might surprise you is that the cabin in the X3 is less insulated from engine noise and vibrations. You might find the rough - especially at idle and acceleration at low speeds. The 5-Series with the same engine has better insulation.

Having followed your link it seemed like you added Professional Media in the end?

Great feedback, thank you!. Q5 was something I did indeed look at as an alternative but somehow I got back to BMW in the end - hard to resist at that deposit/monthly and spec. So were the XC60, RAV4 and others but all had a seemingly good offer to get you in the showroom door and then speccing the car up would mean you had to pay quite a bit to get a good car. RAV4 did not feel as premium as the BMW and even with this F25 I must say there are some disappointments. Example: the plastic back of the front seats rather then the E6x style leather backs. It is the little things but they do add up!

I have played around with that config and actually took the media package out in the end for the config I ordered, could not justify it. I am looking at the road and not at the satnav :-)
When I test drove the car at sub 70mph speeds the cabin noise was OK but It will be something I will monitor once I get it.