To keep or to sell...

Have a look on autotrader at other 125i's and see what they are advertised at. You'll always get more money selling privately but it's not as convenient. I'd say as a general rule you'll get £2000 under the forecourt selling price if you part-ex and up to a £1000 more than that if sell privately, although the 125i is a rare car so not that many buyers out there. (so if the car would retail at £10k, you'd get about £8k part ex offers and £9k as a private sale).

The last time I sold a car I found webuyany price was exactly the same as the part ex price I got offered at every dealer I went to. BMW may not be interested in your car as it's getting a little old but it's worth a go. Birds and other independent BMW specialists will also buy your car off you happily without you buying anything off them, but they may not offer more than a part ex price. It's only a phone call to find out though so worth a try.

You may get a better price at BMW because they can keep your car and sell it themselves if they want. A VW dealer will probably have to send it to auction, so will offer you less. (I was trading in an immaculate low mileage Mazda MX-5 with VW main dealers and none of them could sell it as they could only sell used VW's, so they offered us poor part ex prices - sold privately in the end for £1200 more).

You will get more mpg from a diesel obviously but you'll only really save money if you are buying one at the same money (or less) than you'll get for your 125i. If you spend any more on the diesel car then you'll need to do a lot of miles just to break even.

I imagine that a 140bhp Scirocco would be cheaper to insure than the 125i and tax will be cheaper but don't diesels cost slightly more to service in general (never owned one so I could be wrong), but it will be a fair bit slower and not as nice to drive. (ie noise, front wheel drive, etc).

You could always ditch the run flat tyres, normal rubber is a lot cheaper and better, but it does leave you more vulnerable to punctures.

What mileage are you doing? A smaller engined petrol can sometimes work out cheaper than a diesel if your mileage is low. Especially as they are cheaper to buy in the first place.

As for servicing, check exactly what is needed as it could just be the inspection service (ie nothing) or brake fluid change. Although my 130i needed new plugs every 60k and that's not that cheap.

alex135i said:

Hi all

I currently drive a 2010 125i m sport coupe in alpine white with 52,500 miles on the clock, with HK speakers, rear parking sensors, but no other toys, I average 26mpg and tyres are costing me nearly £170 a corner. MOT is due in June, tax also due in June and service light shows next due in 3,600 miles time. after over three years of proud and happy ownership, I am now thinking I should start looking to the future (not yet a home owner and just turned 2 Fuel, tyres and tax are now bugging me because I do quite a lot of driving and don't have a second car... So cannot garage the Beamer and use it as a weekend treat. The ride quality, which I used to find fun, is now also agitating me, it's on 18' 235/45 profile tyres and I feel every bump in the road!

I am considering chopping it in for something more frugal like a VW Scirocco 2.0 Tdi or similar. Would want a brand with cheaper servicing costs and parts? Would VW be just as expensive as BMW? Would the VW scandal mean the Scirocco might be a good time to buy? If you were me, would you get rid of the car before MOT and service required? Last year I spent nearly £1k on new brakes and £650 on a Lambda sensor as the car didn't pass the MOT emmissions... So don't want that expense again. I paid £15k for the car in June 2012 from Dick Lovett in Swindon and no idea what the car is actually now worth, I did try we buy any car but their valuation was £7,500... It seems very little for a low-ish mileage smart coupe.

If I sell, do you think I would be better off selling privately or part ex'ing at another garage (doubt I would get the same from a VW garage for a BMW as I would from BMW themselves? Does anyone know if BMW will buy your old car without actually buying another from them, or is it not worth there while? Any other cars you would consider? I do prefer coupes but want to start saving more for a house, so need more than 26mpg and don't like the worry of taking a nail and handing over another £170 for the privilege.

If I get the service done before selling, should I stick to BMW or could I go indie and if so, do you think it would affect the resale value more than the difference in cost of servicing? The car will be due a service at 56,000 not sure if this is a major one? The car also has some marking to the alloys, which would need a refurb X 4...if it were you, would you be getting these done before selling? Or just take the hit on the loss in resale value and sell as is?

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Don't get too hung up on the diesel route, the majority of people presume that they need to go to a diesel to save money, when in actual fact the majority of newish petrol hot hatches runnings costs would save you a good chunk, 26mpg is pretty poor but expected for the engine, likewise I don't personally know the tax costs of a 125i but I bet it's around £250-£300. I'm sure others will correct me if wrong but the new M135i probably isn't far away from those figures with a lot more performance to boot.

With the DPF's and other sensor issues in this day and age unless you're doing more than 12k I wouldn't personally look at diesels, there are common problems with the TSI engines (I had one before my BMW) but running costs wise on the motorway at 70 it would return 46mpg and even battering it around my local area i'd really see less than 34mpg, it was £140 a year to tax and servicing was cheap as chips, you'll get similar figures from cars such as the 208 GTI and the KIA offerings. If you are happy to spend a bit more the Seat Leon Cupra 280 is an incredible car returns 35 pottering and over 40 on the motorway 0-60 in 5.5 and in Cupra mode handles great, likewise with the Golf R & S3 but they obviously command higher price tags.

In terms of shifting from BMW however that's a choice only you can make, drive some other cars and see if you can clearly identify a difference, you'll miss the noise of the 6cyl no doubt !, I've gone from VAG to BMW and the little things are definitely better in the BMW which add up and make for a more solid drive, however I had the TSI engine previously and no end of problems, but the interior was just as good/better than my current 123d.

Hope that helps to a degree and you're still awake after reading it !

tyres are costing me nearly £170 a corner

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What on earth are you putting on it

Just my 2p but I woudl do this:
-Ditch the runflats next time around
-Service it at an indie rather than the dealer
-VW is not likely to be significantly cheaper on parts and servicing
-You could easily spend 1650 on maintenance on a Scirocco in a year. The TDI is probably less reliable than your car is. I spend two and a half grand on my GTI in about 14 months with less than 50k on the clock. My mum had a Golf TDI where the DSG failed after 25000 miles (this is just anecdotal I know)
-2.0TDI wont be much fun after the 3.0 six
-A BMW dealer won't buy your car just for the sake of it, even if you traded it in I suspect they might not even put it on their forecourt.
-Unless you're doing a load of miles I don't think diesel will save you as much as you might hope, certainly not enough to get you a house anyway

At the end of the day, sadly it is nearly always going to cost you money to get into a new car and the cost effective thing is often just to keep it

Were you looking for arguments to justify keeping your rather nice BMW? After all, posing these questions on a BMW enthusiasts' forum is unlikely to get you many recommendations for a VW!

I drove a 13 plate Scirroco diesel recently. It was better than I expected, I quite liked it, but it had a really hard and jiggly ride. I got rid of the runflats on my 135i two days after I bought it. I don't think of it as being an uncomfortable car, or even a car with particularly sports-oriented suspension. I could not do the switch you are contemplating. I could and would consider a diesel BMW if running costs became a concern, but it would be a six cylinder touring.

Now that I am thinking about it, I actually prefer driving my my Winter car - a 2002 325TI: it's more comfortable, it makes a lovely howl, it's rear drive and it's not depreciating at all, even when I scratch it. Your BMW will depreciate less than a newer diesel from the VAG stable.

If you can acclimatise to the thought of keeping your car, get rid of the runflats and fit some good grippy tyres on it (put a space saver in the boot). Forget the main dealer for service and and use a good independent - you'll get better service with none of the main dealer BS at a fraction of the price.

Good luck with your thought and decision making process.

Thank you to all of those who have taken the time to reply to my original post! Some very valuable points shared by all...

To summarise:

Although I mentioned that I'm doing lots of miles, in reality it is probably 800/1000 miles per month or roughly 10-12k miles a year... About average I think. The reason I thought a diesel, like many, is probably because when I look down at the mpg clock and see mid twenties for the combined mpg cycle and then look at others who have a more healthy 50/55mpg, it gets me thinking that if I was filling up half as often (and achieving mpg in the 50s) I would be saving a good £1,500 a year) and on top of this, I thought a smaller engine might mitigate outgoings on servicing, tyres and other car consumables. I suppose I chose a 3 litre 6 and without the turbo (which I wanted to avoid having had issues previously with a 135i) the engine itself is never going to be cheap to run.

All the comments have been very thought provoking and have helped me hugely; I agree that I'm not going to save money getting anything more expensive (as the cost of putting fuel in it and other considerations would take a few years to offset the cost of a newer economical engine) by which time the newer car will have then depreciated too! It seems to be a catch 22 - change car to save money, but changing car means spending more to get something newer/lower mileage, but then the act of getting into a different car means losing another few grand!

Perhaps the best solution, as some have suggested is either to keep the car for another few years and drive it into the ground, or even to get something like a fiesta (newer, lower mileage, cheaper to run and maintain)

I don't think I'm looking for reasons to get into a VW, but moreso to get people's opinions on changing the car or just to keep it. I haven't had much trouble with the car itself since owning (touches wood)... If I know it will pass the MOT this year I'd almost definitely keep it and try to drive with a very gentle right foot, but I suppose that's all hindsight!

Also agree that the scirocco might not be the best choice for what I'm looking for. The other idea I had was something like a Volvo C30... They seem good value but I have no idea if they are good cars or if they would fit the bill (the inside looks quite bland on them and although they look smart from the front, the rear I'm not convinced with!)

On the issue of servicing, I do think now is the time to go indie... The car is over 5 years old! Does anyone know as a percentage how much more expensive BMW dealerships charge as a premium?

Will definitely give the run flats a miss when sticking new rubber on the car, legally, will I need a spare wheel in the boot in case of puncture/blow out?

Thanks again all

£170 a tyre good lord what are you putting on it?

Get the sizes sorted out, 245 or 255/35 rear 225 front and ditch the run flats and you can have 2 rears for £170.

Honestly BMWs are no more expensive to own than any other car. Whatever car you have you'll have to pay to get it serviced and if its a 1.2 fiesta or a 3l bmw it all costs around £130 for an oil service.

Tyres are only a little more expensive, Goodyear eagle asym 2's can be bought and fitted for around £80 a corner.

Getting lulled into the 'I need a diesel to save money' is a silly move. I haven't read the whole post but just keep the bmw and be more smart about running costs. You've got a fantastic car there. It's not really going to depreciate much more than it already has and you need to factor this into your running costs. Trading it for a newer car might save you money in every day expenses but factor in the deprecation and I can guarantee you that the running expenses will be in the BMW's favour.

Instead of going to the dealer to buy a set of brake pads, go to euro car parts and buy buy the oem textar pads for 1/3 of the price etc etc.

Honestpy parts for BMW's are no more than for any other car.