Is this a good first car?

[Ravang]

I was checking on the internet of BMW 3 series around where my dad lives and found a few for less than a 7 series, so I may go with one of them.

In the UK he wouldn't get insurance for any car at 16 ..... you can't get a provisional license till you're 17 .... soon to be 18 if the government gets their way.

Wow, I've have my beginners license for a year and a half now! Not one accident or ticket yet.

Check the Insurance Premium required*...BEFOREHAND...  :o...!!

Yeah, I'll check into that but here in the U.S. I'll get 20% for taking the driver ed. class in high school, and 10% off for having A's and B's

The only thing living where I live (in a rural area) is that I can't get a job without a car as the closest place of employment is 7 miles away.

[elite marksman]

Ravang, what area do you live in? That will help a little bit with finding a car. Your best freinds are the newspaper, classified ads which are available for free at most supermarkets, and the internet, I think I used cars.com a lot. Also, check out kbb.com (kelly blue book) to see if the deal is a good one before buying.

As for the car, tbh, you don't really need one all that powerful. My first car, a 2000 grand am that I've had for a little over a year and now has 116k miles on it, still runs great and has plenty of power. If you take car of your car, and it is late -90s or newer, it WILL do 200k miles, especially if its a honda. My sister had an 89 Prelude, thing just didnt want to die. The engine was still purring like a kitten while the rest of the car fell apart around it .

My Grand Am has a 2.5L I4 in it, with 135 HP. Even though its only a four, it still gets going quickly if you need it to. With the 4-speed auto I've stood on the pedal to get into extremely congested highway traffic, and have been able to get from 0 to 55 in maybe a 6-7 second gap in traffic. Granted, I wouldn't want to take this car into some areas around my college in the winter, but thats mainly because I wouldnt take ANY car there. 30-45* inclines and snow DO NOT mix, regardless of 4wd, AWD, traction control, or whatever.

[Ivan]

Ok, so if a BMW is a no-go what would be a good car, I would need one to be reliable, be able to handle the 75mph interstate speed limit for 1 hour or more, have 4 seats, a powerful engine (as I live in a area with very steep hills), and not the most important thing in the world but be a European car (for some reason I like them better)

What not to take: any 2 litre saab pre 2005 with auto gearbox, as that kills the engine.

For the same category as a 7 series, try a Lexus LS400. Same level as a BMW7 series but a lot better and cheaper.

But for the steep hills... maybe try a Subaru Impreza / legacy instead

[TSC.]

I've got a 730i & I love it, I don't think there's much that can touch it for long distance loafing, but if your going to be doing a lot of town driving you'll soon realise it's a big car - & a thirsty one.

Cold engine / short trip = 8 mpg
Town driving / warm engine = 15-20 mpg
Motorway = 30 mpg

But don't let those costs put you off, I regularly do a 550 mile trip & it costs me

[Ravang]

[quote]I've got a 730i & I love it, I don't think there's much that can touch it for long distance loafing, but if your going to be doing a lot of town driving you'll soon realise it's a big car - & a thirsty one.

Cold engine / short trip = 8 mpg
Town driving / warm engine = 15-20 mpg
Motorway = 30 mpg

But don't let those costs put you off, I regularly do a 550 mile trip & it costs me

[TSC.]

Just to clear up Ravang, 'Inspection 1' etc, are the terms BMW use for their car services, 1 is like the oil change, The other 'Inspections, 2 & 3' involve more work, you know, brake pads & stuff. They're not a legal requirement, but they will help to keep the car running well.

If your maintaining the car properly then these inspections/services should be carried out in the correct order, IE, my last service was the '1', so my next service will be '2', then '3', then back to '1' again.



TSC.

[Ivan]

what he means with 'inspection' is the regular service intervals. What you think he says is the MOT / APK (dutch) test

Just to clear up Ravang, 'Inspection 1' etc, are the terms BMW use for their car services, 1 is like the oil change, The other 'Inspections, 2 & 3' involve more work, you know, brake pads & stuff. They're not a legal requirement, but they will help to keep the car running well.

Also, skipping these voids warranty on parts and might have influence on insurance payout in case there is clear evidence of bad maitnance to essential parts

I dont know how things are done with insurance where you live but here in holland you will pay big time for anything with a lot of engine power at your age (or they wont accept you at all). Stuff like Volkswagen GTI and Honda CRX for youg drivers is only accepted at very few insurers with a HUGE price tag and a truckload of exclusion clauses.

To give an indication of the insurance costs, i'll quote a few numbers from my insurance stuff.

Stuff that is used in the calculation:
[*]vehicle weight, original price, engine power, turbo yes/no
[*]age of the owner, amount of years insured, number of claims

With my insurance i revieved a nice categorized overview with a good explanation of which parameter is the main factor used for the various sections of the insurance. Age and car accident statistics are used in every calculation.
For every damage free year i get 5% discount on the price (currently)
Yearly sum paid is around 1100 euros for this year... not too bad for a high power car on my age