From boy racer to eco diesel ;)

[BatmanMW 8]

Hi all!

 

You may recall my thread from October last year when I was putting some serious thought in to getting rid of my old modified STI (240wkw at the time) and moving on to a 335i or 550i... well times have changed and the car is gone . I couldn't bring myself to do it back then but the car has been sold this long weekend already and now i'm in the market for a Bimmer again but criteria has changed somewhat (blame it on my old age? :P) . My old intro thread with bit of info of the old car and why

 

Cars i'm currently looking at are 2009 123d coupe  and 335d 2009-2011. I'm pretty new to the BMW market so quite open to suggestions.

 

The choice will mainly be driven by budget, ideally i'd spend as low as 15k which allows a little budget for mods / tuning (this price range puts me in for a very stock 123d that's done maybe 60,000km based on what i seen on TM), or I could end up blowing the budget and going for a 2011 335d which has 100ks on the clock at around 25k (ideally wouldn't want to spend this high as no budget for any tune / mods / funds for emergency maintenance etc.)

 

Some criteria :

• Budget is approx 20k at upper limits but could splurge for something special
• Ideally well below 100,000 km
• Preferably white or black in exterior colour with black or red leather interior
• My driving style is described i guess as a little sporty. i don't care too much for straight line acceleration but i do love to throw my cars or bikes around corners so you could say i'm more interested in soemthing that can handle well (or be modified within reason to handle really well).
• I have driven manuals for the past 13 years but wouldn't mind moving on to an auto box if it's not completely terrible.. i take it given the ratios on diesel vehicles that you would be mad to get a manual anyway.
• Looks good (i'm really liking the looks of the 1 series coupes but 3 series its pretty cool too)
• Decent performance, I know for my budget i won't get the kind of power i'm used to but that's fine, i'm accepting a loss in power as my goal is now shifted to fuel economy given i need to commute on the cheap and can't rely on bus services.
• Prefer things like early torque rather than all out top end performance. This is an area where both of these cars i'm currently considering will absolutely beat my old petrol car.

 

Looking forward to my next ride whatever it may be.

 

Cheers guys!