[philtrick123]

Hi newbie here...

I'm just planning my next vehicle to buy and the X3 seems to be the prefered if expensive option.
Can anyone help with the following questions-

1- Main Dealer or Internet Broker, I'm keen to use the local dealer but only if I don't pay too much of a premium. Will BMW dealers be willing to match prices, or will I be given the cold shoulder?
2- Can you recommend the cheapest way to purchase/ lease/PCP an X3 in the UK? I'd prefer to have the option to buy.
3- Can you recommend which options are classed as 'essential'. The UK motoring press seem to say that the electronic damping control option should be standard, any ideas on this?
4- Given I generally only keep my cars for 2 years which options are likely to retain there value? I don't want to add options that have zero value come trade in time. Sat-nav looks very expensive on the X3- is it worth £2k+ , when I have sat-nav on my smart phone?
5- Which paint/ interior options will hold there value best? I quite like the bronze colour paint, and red leather interior, but imagine that could limit its value come trade in time.
6- I've seen a seperate thread about delivery times- can I guess at a 4 month delivery time from order for a 2.0d SE, or have times improved?

Thanks in advance

[April1]

1. No broker will give you the best deal unless you work hard for it.
2. Link the price to invoice plus xx dollars incl options. Lease or purchase is your decision but as you said you keep the cars for 2 years only then lease could be the better option.
3. If you want to enjoy X3, you need to add options. It's a balance between fun and essentials which is purely personal choice. For me X3 without Nav has no meaning but I see you have a different value to Nav. It's not just Nav in X3, it's used as wide screen to display many other things too.
4. Same as above.
5. Go for your choice of color, all are good and will have values.
6. No comments

[plymjack]

1. Dealer is likely to give you a better deal at trade in time - discounts are very limited at present everywhere.
2. as April1
3. Nav options is good IF you are only keeping car 2 years ( but like you I use my phone), as is the automatic option.
(The car used by the press had the damping option so they all liked it, but it is not a "major" one to have.)
4. As 3
5. As April1
6. We got ours in 2 months - we had a good dealer and luck... They are still quoting 4 months for new cars so I guess it wont be much less.

Its our first "expensive" car - and it is worth it.. the electric seats are great (if you have 2 drivers), we also have DAB, auto dimming and RFTs and the only thing I would change in ours is to have a sports steering wheel!

[philtrick123]

Thanks for the replies so far-
I'm struggling with the options list because there is so much choice- but the price can be racked up very quickly.
My current car is a 'Value Brand' Hyundai Santa Fe Premium. Good car- £24k new for the size of an X5. It also includes most of the features I want i.e. electric drivers seat (heated), auto, satnav.
I'm trying to base my buying the X3 on reasoned choice rather then making an expensive going with my heart.
It seems to me that given the low depreciation/ higher mpg that the X3 attacts, it should have lower overall running costs compared to Santa Fe.

Interestingly the UK What Car magazine (May 2012 issue) ran a feature on options that add/ devalue your car.
Options that add value- Leather, Air Con, Sat Nav, Media, Alloy Wheels
Options that devalue- bodykits, wrong paint (Gold X5 looses £2k), wood detailing, unsuitable suspension, tinted windows.

At the moment I'm thinking the essentials for me are- 2.0 Diesel SE, Metalic Paint, Auto
Maybe options- electric seat, sat nav (with USB input), VDC
Colour and interior=????? What is a good combination.

Any other views?

[clivem2]

It's so hard to say where options are concerned. I don't think they add value so much but they make the car easier to sell as the buyer receives more value (you loose more).

My leasing company charges full price for most options except for Auto and sunroof - they reckon these have some residual value.

[swfrom07]

Originally Posted by philtrick123

Thanks for the replies so far-
I'm struggling with the options list because there is so much choice- but the price can be racked up very quickly.
My current car is a 'Value Brand' Hyundai Santa Fe Premium. Good car- £24k new for the size of an X5. It also includes most of the features I want i.e. electric drivers seat (heated), auto, satnav.
I'm trying to base my buying the X3 on reasoned choice rather then making an expensive going with my heart.
It seems to me that given the low depreciation/ higher mpg that the X3 attacts, it should have lower overall running costs compared to Santa Fe.

Interestingly the UK What Car magazine (May 2012 issue) ran a feature on options that add/ devalue your car.
Options that add value- Leather, Air Con, Sat Nav, Media, Alloy Wheels
Options that devalue- bodykits, wrong paint (Gold X5 looses £2k), wood detailing, unsuitable suspension, tinted windows.

At the moment I'm thinking the essentials for me are- 2.0 Diesel SE, Metalic Paint, Auto
Maybe options- electric seat, sat nav (with USB input), VDC
Colour and interior=????? What is a good combination.

Any other views?

It is our first BMW but having read up on how the options push up the price very quickly, it is best to set out a target amount you want to spend and then chop and change the options based on your preference.

We did not order a lot of options, primarily because our budget wouldnt stretch that far. I still cannot justify spending 2.5K+ on Sat Nav. I know everyone here who has the Pro Nav says its the best thing with loads of features and if I could somehow justify it I wouldve gone for it. But I cannot when I have a TomTom Live bought for 120 quid which gives me live traffic and the basic sat nav functionality.
In the end we chose quite a basic spec, added Auto, Metallic Paint, Bluetooth with USB (sorts the music from phone) and Xenons.

With so many options, I think its very rare to find 2 X3s that are the same and thats what makes them unique

[philtrick123]

Thanks for the replies-

Can you give me some advice about buying option in the UK.
I was fortunate with my last car that Hyundai had a corparate deal which immediately took £2500 off list which meant I had to do very little haggling over price with the local dealer.
When I last looked at the X3 the 2nd Gen had just come out, and discounts were not available in the UK.
Has anyone used an Internet Broker, or do you prefer to stick to the BMW main dealer. Am I likely to get something off the X3 base price, but have to pay RRP for the options?
Given the low depreciation are there good lease rates available?

Regards Phil

[cc3]

You should consider Auto on 2.0d as a high percentage are being sold with it, manuals may be more difficult to part ex, some dealers seem to ask for a bigger deposit if you order a manual as if you cancel they will find it harder to shift.

Agree only other extras that tend to retain any value are the Nav and metallic paint, heated front seats are a must with leather, should be standard. What Car I recall can direct you towards a dealer who might discount

[ninoo]

I only added auto gearbox, sports seats , black leather with brushed aluminium trim.Happy with my lot.

[Horsey]

Here are stats regarding colour choices of Regular/M-Sports in the UK for the last 6 weeks.

I have grouped the colours as I assume that in a second hand market, the generalisation of black is probably more relevant than the specific black that was chosen.

Of course I can give you the full colour breakdown if you would prefer...

The distributions are quite different for Regular vs M-Sport body shape. I am not sure which "collection" is best to consider for second hand market. But if one assumes that the "Regular" X3 distribution represents the more average market choice, then that would deem that the most "popular" colour is Grey.

If you *wanted* an M-Sport, and wanted to maximize resale value I would imaging that a Grey M-Sport would have slighly higher demand. Grey seems to be a popular colour on the averages, and M-Sport would be a differentiator which people clearly wouldn't normaly pay for but may give you an edge in resale.

But as you can see, people who buy new M-Sports prefer black or white.

Finally I added another graph of the colour combinations.

[cooldude00]

i didn't go for sat nav as well.. couldn't justify 2k when a tomtom works just as well.. looks nice when it's integrated but ...

[Horsey]

Gray or Black car with Black or Oyster Leather or a White car with Black Leather makes up almost 70% of all cars.

Wana go out on a limb ... get a Blue car with Oyster leather ... anything else is niche.

[philtrick123]

Originally Posted by Horsey

Here are stats regarding colour choices of Regular/M-Sports in the UK for the last 6 weeks.

I have grouped the colours as I assume that in a second hand market, the generalisation of black is probably more relevant than the specific black that was chosen.

Of course I can give you the full colour breakdown if you would prefer...

The distributions are quite different for Regular vs M-Sport body shape. I am not sure which "collection" is best to consider for second hand market. But if one assumes that the "Regular" X3 distribution represents the more average market choice, then that would deem that the most "popular" colour is Grey.

If you *wanted* an M-Sport, and wanted to maximize resale value I would imaging that a Grey M-Sport would have slighly higher demand. Grey seems to be a popular colour on the averages, and M-Sport would be a differentiator which people clearly wouldn't normaly pay for but may give you an edge in resale.

But as you can see, people who buy new M-Sports prefer black or white.

Finally I added another graph of the colour combinations.

Thanks Horsey for the great data- could you let me know over what period the data is (from begining of production 2 years ago)? Is it UK only? Does it include fleet buyers? Do you have data on the options people most specify? Also the black paint in the data is it metalic or standard finish?

[Cropwell]

Originally Posted by philtrick123

Hi newbie here...

I'm just planning my next vehicle to buy and the X3 seems to be the prefered if expensive option.
Can anyone help with the following questions-

1- Main Dealer or Internet Broker, I'm keen to use the local dealer but only if I don't pay too much of a premium. Will BMW dealers be willing to match prices, or will I be given the cold shoulder?
2- Can you recommend the cheapest way to purchase/ lease/PCP an X3 in the UK? I'd prefer to have the option to buy.
3- Can you recommend which options are classed as 'essential'. The UK motoring press seem to say that the electronic damping control option should be standard, any ideas on this?
4- Given I generally only keep my cars for 2 years which options are likely to retain there value? I don't want to add options that have zero value come trade in time. Sat-nav looks very expensive on the X3- is it worth £2k+ , when I have sat-nav on my smart phone?
5- Which paint/ interior options will hold there value best? I quite like the bronze colour paint, and red leather interior, but imagine that could limit its value come trade in time.
6- I've seen a seperate thread about delivery times- can I guess at a 4 month delivery time from order for a 2.0d SE, or have times improved?

Thanks in advance

1. Depends whether you want to PX a vehicle in which case local dealer is preferable. Internet brokers will give you an idea of possible discounts.
Level of discount is variable and will depend on many factors, dealer targets
which vehicle you are ordering etc.
2. Cheapest way to purchase depends on your personal circumstances, eg is vehicle for business/company car in whcih case there are tax and benefit in kind factors to consider. Also worth shopping around for finance deals don't just accept BMW finance figures.
3. VDC would be a nice option but is not essential and will probably be worth very litle when you come to sell, very few cars have this. Seems to have been hyped up by motoring press as all the test cars had this when they were reviewed. Looks like BMW could eventually go down this direction instead of sports suspension as many people are now starting to delete this due to awful state of roads in UK.
4.If you are looking at 2.0d then auto would be a good choice as this will make car easier to sell. With regards to satnav opinions are divided, although it may make car more marketable if you pay 2K for it I would not anticipate a great return on this after 2 years. Unless you use it everyday you can use your smartphone or invest £100 in a Garmin satnav which is miles better than the bmw kit and is easier and cheaper to update.
Still seems a mystery why BMW and other manufacturers think thery can justify this sort of money for satnav.
5. The colour choice you suggest will be difficult to shift, bronze is a very unpopular colour and BMW buyers are quite conservative.
Most popular I guess would be black,white and titanium silver. Most of the secondhand X3's are ex dealer cars which tend to be either black or white.
Ultimately the colour choice is down to you, when I ordered mine and wanted silver the dealer tried to suggest titanium silver as it is easier to sell.
However I am not buying are car for them to sell so went for space grey.
6. Not sure what delivery times are on 2.0D, ask a few dealers to get an idea.

[mooney058]

Sante Fe is not X5 size, it is about the same size as the new X3 (wheelbase on X3 is even bigger); X3 has a big transmission tunel, so if you drive with 5 people very often, then it could be an issue - if only 4 passangers most of the time - X3 is the same size as sante fe. Sante fe is only a bit taller, for the rest they are prity much the same (I have been researching this for a long time, send a loan request to my bank before signing an order form)

on the side note - do you guys know when do bmw review standard equipment list? They add from time to time few addtional options - any updates foreseen/announced?

Originally Posted by philtrick123

Thanks for the replies so far-
I'm struggling with the options list because there is so much choice- but the price can be racked up very quickly.
My current car is a 'Value Brand' Hyundai Santa Fe Premium. Good car- £24k new for the size of an X5. It also includes most of the features I want i.e. electric drivers seat (heated), auto, satnav.
I'm trying to base my buying the X3 on reasoned choice rather then making an expensive going with my heart.
It seems to me that given the low depreciation/ higher mpg that the X3 attacts, it should have lower overall running costs compared to Santa Fe.

Interestingly the UK What Car magazine (May 2012 issue) ran a feature on options that add/ devalue your car.
Options that add value- Leather, Air Con, Sat Nav, Media, Alloy Wheels
Options that devalue- bodykits, wrong paint (Gold X5 looses £2k), wood detailing, unsuitable suspension, tinted windows.

At the moment I'm thinking the essentials for me are- 2.0 Diesel SE, Metalic Paint, Auto
Maybe options- electric seat, sat nav (with USB input), VDC
Colour and interior=????? What is a good combination.

Any other views?

[ChessToon]

Colour and spec are a very individual choices, but like others, I believe there are a couple that are essential if your looking to change again in a couple of years.
I would say that the auto box is the most important if going for the 2.0d.
Manual ones are very rare and don't hold their value too well. Metallic paint being the other. The Prof Nav is a very nice but expensive option. It will be much easier to sell later if fitted and will keep some of it's value but I doubt it would be the 2k cost.
Improving media integration for the future may be beneficial (6NF or 6NR). Neither are very costly but maybe something a future buyer may want.

In relation to discounts, you may get approx 7% to 8% with a broker. However it's likely that you will be the 2nd owner on the V5, although the first to drive etc. It's a risky way to buy as you don't get the V5 for approx 4 to 6 months. They also have the longest delivery times.
With a Dealer you may get approx 2k but doubt much more. They can sell the majority of their current availability without discounting. But they still have targets so timing could get you a good deal. (End of month)

BMW Finance is quite an expensive way to purchase a car. If your after a PCP then you should be looking at 10%apr with them. Looking online you could get this down to approx 6.9%.

Good luck with your decision making. Can prove quite difficult when you look at all the potential options.

[tank531]

For absolute 'best value' stick to auto, met paint perhaps heated seats. All the options are very expensive but as you can see from Horsey stats the average spend for options on 2.0D engines is £4-£5K

[dnw]

I am not sure about low spec 20ds but a number of us have achieved 8%+ discount on higher spec 30/35d orders. There are deals to be had. Negotiate hard and shop around - we're in a double dip recession!

[cc3]

You may get 5% on a 2.0d if you really push hard.

[benedirk]

I got 7.5% on a 2.0d, but I pushed hard

[manutd123]

I had a dealer offer me 1% off an X3, seeing as the other places were offering between 6% and 8%, i moved on.....

[Woody_]

I got 5% on my 2.0d