Haris

Wow, I love BMW's SMG transmission. Until mazda strarts making SMTs, I'd have to say get bimmer. Or hydrogen Rx8 if your worried about gas milage.

Bigcat44

I love the M3s and M5s but the 330? No thanks. I got a chance to run with one for a couple lights through some tight turns and had no problems with him at all. When we were done (ended up pulling into the same parking lot) he said nice car pretty quick too! I would like to get an M5 though!!!

Kev

How about an all wheel drive high performance Mazda 6. that's more of an apples to apples comparison to a 3 series.

I got the 8 because I liked it more than everything else I looked at that was up to double the price of the 8.

The 8 is a unique body design and that is something that makes a car special to me, the manufacturer bothered to make their sports car different! Mazda even went to the effort of making it viable for a family man - a non selfish sports car.

Zonker04

Ummm. OK. I guess I should ignore your bait, but since you don't even try to explain yourself I can't resist asking, what are you talking about? Calling my opinions silly without explaining your own is kind of pointless.

All I'm saying is that the regular three-series (and five-series, and seven-series) sedans (and even the two-doors are sedans), are not what I consider to be sports cars (in the general sense of the term, so as to include GTs), although they certainly are sporty. I was not mentioning other Bimmers such as Z4s, M3s, M5s, etc.

I have driven quite a few three-series over the years so I guess I'm entitled to my opinion, but since you don't bother to say why it's baseless I can't really address your reasoning.

Just to beat this thing to death (speaking of silly, why, o why, do I rise to bait sometimes?), I have to add that a good definition of a silly opinion is one lacking any basis. And here are some bases in the form of both facts and subjective impressions to support my opinion:

I have owned and/or driven the following BMWs: 2002 tii, 318i, 320i, 325i, 325is, 330xi, Z3 2.6 (I think it was), 630i, 735i and probably half a dozen others that don't spring to mind right now. The three-series that I drove (every one of them) had seats that were too flat, shifters too tall, body roll too much, steering too boosted, and general sense of lightness and tossability too absent, to qualify in my mind and in my humble opinion, as sports cars.

But anyway, so it goes. :o I'm not going to rise to any more flame bait, at least for today.

med_mx6

This is not a generalization of BMWs or anything, but simply a fact:

My wife leases a CPO 1998 528i. It had 14K miles back in April 1999 when we got it; it has 66k now. Since then, we had the sunroof rails replaced three times. The front/rear cup holders have been broken for the past year. The "make-it-colder" button of the A/C unit was broken and superglued back into place. and the worse thing: the driver seat controls have been broken 3 or 4 times since the beginning of the lease. Now my wife is not abusive by any means, but we were quite disappointed to find that a $44k car has so many problems. Perhaps we got a CPO lemon, but I definitely would think twice hard about getting another BMW. We love the way it feels when we drive but the quality of the creature comforts seem too low a priority in this car. My in-laws bought a brand new Lexus LS430 back in 1992, and it had no problems that the family didn't cause themselves (like spilling a Coke down the shifter) except the fake wood dash on the driver door came off and had to be epoxied down again.

Anyway.... as for the original question, if you can get such a great price on the 3-series BMW, I think I would get that. The longer you wait for an RX-8, the better it'll be anyway. hahahahaha...

DefBringer

I've only driven a 330 Coupe, don't care much for the sedans, but if the sedan is anything like the coupe, you really can't go wrong with the BMW. Germans just build cars better than anybody, including the Japanese. The thing is a tank.

I think I speak for about 90% of us when I say that if we could afford a 330Ci, none of us would be driving an RX-8.

Now here comes the remaining 10% to say:

lurcher

Eh?

Never been much of a BMW fan personally. I wouldn't complain too loudly if someone tossed me the keys to an M3 though...

P00Man

my mom wanted me to get 330, even wanted me to get a 5 series lol.

bottom line the 8s a better car in general (concerning the 3), and when you factor in the price, its way better.

i personally wouldnt call the 3 series a world class car...
i didnt want the 5 cause im not 50, and i just dont like the way it looks, if this happened a year later though, i might have gotten one cause the new 5's are hottness, though the 8 still looks better!
________
SHIP SALE

lip

I am simply stating that saying the 3 series is not a sports car in comparison to the RX8 is silly. Yes, the bimmer costs more, no doubt and I'm not saying that it is the better deal(different discussion).
We could argue till the cows come home that they are both not sports cars and I would probably agree, as the bimmer is a sedan and IMHO anything with more than two doors stretches the sports car definition for me. The RX8 might *look* like a sports car(I like the styling personally) in some peoples minds but it's performance and target market would disagree with that.
Not sure that I would agree to differentiate between an M3 and other 3 series as other than the engine/suspension components and other *goodies*, the basic chassis and layout are the same for all cars (and yes, I have driven everything from the lowest diesel four banger 3 series to an M3 but have not driven an M5 and as of earlier in the week, have driven an RX8).

Regarding my message as "bait"...take it how you see it...I could care less...

Have a great day...
:D

LIP

Bigcat44

Nope, I definately do not agree. I would take a Lexus GS430 in a heart beat over ANY BMW and I am not much of a fan of German Cars though of the German Cars I like the Bavarian Motors cars the most.

mr_digital_uk

I did a quick count of the BMW's in our office car park the other day. 1 in 5 cars were BMW's .... That's why I chose the RX-8.

DefBringer

Lexus is overpriced Toyota trash for people who were driving Oldsmobiles 10 years ago.

There isn't a single Lexus or Toyota made today that exhibits a speck of passion or creativity. They are boring cars for boring people.

Are they built well? Sure. But not built as well as the Germans build theirs.

DefBringer

And you are smoking something if you'd pick a GS430 over any BMW other than a 325 or Z3.

Would you honestly rather drive a GS430 than a M5?

druck

The M5 isn't a better car, its a 520 with a better engine.

Bigcat44

You forgot to include "in your opinion" as I mentioned I think Lexus or Toyota for that matter make nice cars as do Nissan for Infinite. The 430 is anything but boring thougg I don't see how the style of the car is any different then a BMW excluding the M5 or M3. And the lex costs half of what the M5 costs. Plus Lexus was rated the number 1 car customer service venue for car manufacturers. My dad worked for Jaguar and BMW for about 17 years and he swears by his Lex. Are you saying the Supra twin turbo wasn't creative? It would smoke any BMW

Bigcat44

I would really love a GS430 but if given a car either the M5 or the Lex I would choose the M5..

Then I would sell it and but the Lex and pay off my 8!!
That is the only BMW I like, well yeah I like the M3 too but only the new ones. I looked into getting a 00 M3 a few months back and didn't think I was getting my money's worth. The new ones are pretty nice though. Sorry I love Japanese cars. I spent 5 years there and loved every minute of it!!!

CelticFan

This is kind of off the subject and I'm not trying to bash BMW cars. I've always liked most of their cars. Have any of you guys noticed that after a BMW gets a few years of it the dash splits all over the place? I have a friend that's a BMW mechanic and when I visit him at work I always notice that the dash on cars over 6 or 7 years look horrible.

DefBringer

lol

ok...next!

DefBringer

Interesting you mention the Supra, I had a 95 TT. Of course, I modified it and could smoke about any BMW ever created...but it was still a boring car to drive, complete with over-assisted power steering and a "not connected to the road" feel. I guess people look for different things in cars. As an RX-8 enthusiast, I would think you'd agree that there is more to cars than numbers....

Haris

GS430 is great, but I'd take BMW 745i or maybach. In luxury things, no way can japanese compare to bimmer and mercedes. You should see all these safety features and some advanced car controlled features than new 745 has. machbach is a big dog tho. It looks great, and this is the car where its better to be a passanger than a driver. :D

syntrix

The rear seat passengers have much more room that the drivers in a Maybach!

Great car, hella expensive, but it's more in a class that I would call "performance luxury short limo". :D

druck

A $55K car is great, but I'd take a $80K or $300K. Cause you freaking would!

I'd take the maybach, it wouldn't be much use to me as I dont have a chauffer, though it is bigger and costs more than my house so I could live in it. But I'd probably sell it and get an RX8 in each colour, and use the rest to pay for gas at $7 a gallon over here.

Cheers
---Dave