Jim Banville

I am REALLY smitten by the new 325i! I think I may put my C230 on eBay for $27,900 Buy It Now. Seems reasonable for perfect condition, 5 months old, 4500 miles, tinted windows and built-in XM

mick1

with the bmw, you would have free maintenance for 4 years too. that's a bit of money

amdeutsch

Damn Jim,

You keep changing your mind about MBs with the same frequency of that 617 character creating a new alias.

Kenzmbz

the new 3 is ok. Its just bad when you compare it to the e46 ! The e90 does not live up to the BMW i thought it was. I may like it because its a bmw,but if the KIA name is on that car. i would understand why i dislike it. Now if i see the 05 230 with a KIA name. I would say damn,hot car.but i wouldnt buy it. KIA sucks....

S_kLaSse

Get the 325.

caliboy

Sorry Jimbo, gotta disagree with you on this one. i actually felt the same way as you did at first ... and I could not believe I was in love with a bimmer.........The when iwent to see the car and sit in it in person...........YUCK......The interior looks and feels like an old man's car and outdated. the ultimate test was when i put my girlfriend to sit in the front seat and she said ILK you actually like this car........ This interior is hideous....The outside I thought was hot, but now looks just alright. She ran right back to the benzo and said let's get out of here all these cars look the same BUTT UGLY inside. And you know you gotta go with a girls opinion, you know how girls are they always have great taste for style and to show you she is not biased towards Mb or any car she fell in love with the 600 series coupe that was right next to the 325. Now that car is about the only banging car right now for BMW off the hook! So think about it carefully before selling your car for that..........THING! lol!

Guest0001

I like the E90. I Can't wait to see the coupe.

Jim Banville

The interior of the 3 is OK, but I didn't think the old BMW interiors were anything to write home about either. Yes, the NEW C class does look better on the inside. Until the W203, I never liked the interior or exterior styling of MB's. They were too boxy. I think the new 3 looks more aggressive than the C class.
Caliboy, did you actually drive the 3? Did you seat in the sport seats. They feel every bit as good as my C230's!

Tishers

Why not look at a 280 or a 350? Bigger motors than the 240/320's.

The 230 seemed a little "buzzy" to me.

<j/k> that way you won't have to be exiled to the bm'er circle of hell.

What didn't you like about your 230?

baodovvn

dude i want ur car.. i have an old c240 o3 with eclipse titanium sub, zapco 1000 watt and 360/4 zapco for the speakers and a dvd indash player!!! if your willing to trade and ill pay you an extra 5 - 7 thousand

amdeutsch

You might want to search what he used to own. Plus he is talking about a sportier, faster car with the darkside choice.

Jim Banville

Jim Banville

Can anyone with access to wholesale auto auction prices let me know what '05 C230 sedan's are going for? I think they were going for $27K-$28K a couple months ago. There are no listings I can find anywhere with '05 C230 sedan used pricing.

thanks
Jim

Buellwinkle

Now that the 2006's are really close and they have newer better engines, I would imagine that the 2005's dropped significantly in the last few months. I would guess that you can probably get KBB.com private party sale price for a 2004 with 4500 miles which is about $24K, wholesale is about $21K. Maybe slightly more for a 2005. People that buy used generally don't shop for 5 month old cars and sometimes these cars sell for less because people think there's something wrong with them and are being dumped.

Jim Banville

My local MB dealer offered me $26.5K for my car in trade (wholesale) a month or so ago when I was thinking about getting an automatic.

Jim Banville

Looking at the value of a used '03 C230 sedan vs. identical used '04, the '04 is worth $3K more today. It seems that the updated interior/exterior on my used '05 would make it worth more than $3K more than an otherwise identical '04, but I'm not in the car biz so what do I know

Rick

ew....
Bangle-fied cars make me cringe.

Buellwinkle

That's pretty impressive to get 26.5K for a 2005 C230 6-spd from a dealer, not around here in So Cal. When I got my 2004.5 for $25K, a 2005 would have cost me about $27.5K, just wanted the free maintenance more than what the 2005 had to offer. I don't know what I would do if they offered 23.5K (assuming the 2004 is worth $3k less than the 2005 as you said) for my C230, I would probably take it. I say go for it, get the car that you want, specially if you can get so much for your C230.

victor20170

I've been debating whether to get the new 3 series also :p There's a good lease offer right now.

$399 / 36 months - 10k miles per year
$3299 Down Payment.

Specially since the W204s are coming out until 2007, it just makes sense to get something different for the next 3 years. Once your 3 year lease is over, then you get a 2nd generation W204

caliboy

Jim No I didn't get a chance to drive it which I was mad at because I know that driving it would have been amazing according to some of my buddies.
The seats were great! I do agree with you, but damn that interior! Good luck getting it though seriously...it's a great car.

Saprissa

SELL IT !

ctC230K

HEY you better watch your back man! lol Jim good luck getting $27k. what options do u have?

mick1

I came from the darkside and they were selling these t-shirts at the bmw dealer

Guest0001

hahah b@stards

FrankW

haven't drove the e90 yet, but sat in one. I like how the interior are made with better quality than my 00 e46 328Ci. IMO the car looks decent in person, but it gotta have wheels > or = 17s because those stocker on the 325 i've seen on the road are nasty, especially now that the e90 is bigger than the e46.

overall design wise, bangle still deserves to be shot.