I bought the wife a 99 323i new when they first came out(yeah, for me too).
Are there any problems that he should know about? There has been 1 recall that replaced the thermostat and we have about 39k miles on it now. The car is very comfortable, good power and a joy to drive.
Any recommendations that he should consider?
Wow, thats a broad question. There are so many options. I wanted to keep the costs down on the car, as you could easily add 5000 bucks in options with the way BMW charges. I opted for these 5 options.
1. Xenon headlights. Turns nights into the DAY. BMW makes you buy foglights before they let you order Xenon lights. I told them that I was spending 500 bucks on the Xenons and I'm not spending 200 bucks on the foglights, making the Xenons cost 700 bucks. They threw them in for free.
2. HarmannKardon stereo upgrade. A good upgrade from the stock stereo. CD in dash.
3. Fold down rear seat. Trunks not to big, I've used it more than I thought.
4. Automatic. Wife can't drive stick and this tranny is smooth as silk. ALWAYS in the right gear without a hiccup. Also has a Sport mode.
5. Convenience package. This includes power seats, cruise control, multi function steering wheel(with cruise, stereo and phone control buttons), on board computer(shows: outside temp, AVG. speed, AVG. MPG, Miles to empty) and the ability to have three keys programmed so when you either press unlock or insert the key, the presets(stereo, seats and climate control) return themselves to user settings.
We bought the car at 1000 dollars over cost. We paid 33,000 out the door and the price started at 27,XXX(forget). I knew the options and called local dealers and told them if they wanted to order the car(without the sunroof, none existed) I would pay 33 out the door(this allowed 1000 profit) I got a call in 5 minutes and put down a deposit. It took exactly 3 mos. for the car to arrive. Seemed like forever, but it allowed us to save more money for the car.
BTW,
When I called my insurance agent to find out how much ins. was for this new car, the first question was is there a "M" somewhere in the name. BIG difference in price. M's weren't around yet for this model year.
Sorry for such a long post, there is so much info and so little time......
Questions? Feel free to ask.
Sincerely,
John Richards
[This message has been edited by ANYTIME (edited 16 December 2001).]
