Got my new snow tires

[lupinsea]

Very nice.

[TD]

Originally Posted by JST

It's an '08. It's specced almost precisely the way I would have ordered one: Jet black, black interior, black carbon fiber leather trim, CWP, PP, moon roof and (amazingly) rear sun shades. The one option it has that I wouldn't have gotten is nav, so I am suffering with iDrive--it's bad, but not as bad as Audi's system.

This was a car that the dealer had to pull from another store, so I got a decent but unspectacular deal on the cap cost. It's a lease, which means I got BMW's 0.00025 MF--that's 0.6 percent interest, which is pretty hard to beat. Two year residuals were terrible, but three year numbers weren't so bad. If I like this car, I may end up just buying it out--the total amount of interest/rental I'm paying over the life of the lease is less than $1000.

Compared to the 335? Puttering around town, there's not THAT much difference. This car actually has a higher-strung engine, so at part throttle in a highish gear it's not quite as punchy as the twin turbo. Just taking it easy, there's a bit more gear whine, the clutch is a bit sharper on engagement, and the shifter is a tad heavier. The engine is kind of touchy until it has some heat in it; in the cold, it's a bit stumbly. Oh, and the gas mileage is laughably bad. So, you kind of think, what's the big deal?

But.

Then you get on it, and holy christ it's fast. Like I said after my initial drive, the engine is really the defining characteristic of this car, and it's a honey of an engine--it revs amazingly quickly, has power all over the place, and makes a sound that is...well, it's like that scene in Bullitt that you watch over and over again, where the Mustang is charging up and down the hills just outside of San Francisco, and the V8 makes this great low, staccato roar, which is awesome, and then during the shift there's a brief beat, a moment of quiet, and then BOOM the roar is back, except instead of a movie it's enveloping you, and then you look down and you're going 70 over the limit. Whoops.

I mean, this car is hilarious. It's a BMW sedan, except that some guys in Germany were thinking to themselves "what would a BMW sedan be like if it were also an American muscle car built in the 60s?" This is that car.

Are you a decimal place off on that MF or is it really .00025?

If that's correct, you really could have a very reasonable payment on an absurdly expensive car.

[zach]

Originally Posted by TD

Are you a decimal place off on that MF or is it really .00025?

If that's correct, you really could have a very reasonable payment on an absurdly expensive car.

How reasonable?

[JST]

Originally Posted by TD

Are you a decimal place off on that MF or is it really .00025?

If that's correct, you really could have a very reasonable payment on an absurdly expensive car.

No, that's right. 0.0025 is 6 percent, which would be about what you'd expect for a "normal" BMW lease. This MF is 0.00025, which is 6 tenths of 1 percent. That's the BMW loyalty rate--the rate for non-BMW FS customers is something like 0.0004, so still pretty good.

The payment on just the car (with taxes and fees out of pocket) is in the mid 7s. Given the free money interest rate, I rolled everything into the lease, so it ended up being a bit more than that.

[zach]

Originally Posted by JST

No, that's right. 0.0025 is 6 percent, which would be about what you'd expect for a "normal" BMW lease. This MF is 0.00025, which is 6 tenths of 1 percent. That's the BMW loyalty rate--the rate for non-BMW FS customers is something like 0.0004, so still pretty good.

The payment on just the car (with taxes and fees out of pocket) is in the mid 7s. Given the free money interest rate, I rolled everything into the lease, so it ended up being a bit more than that.

That's a pretty bitchin' deal. There are people out there paying that much per month on regular 3 series.

[TD]

Originally Posted by JST

No, that's right. 0.0025 is 6 percent, which would be about what you'd expect for a "normal" BMW lease. This MF is 0.00025, which is 6 tenths of 1 percent. That's the BMW loyalty rate--the rate for non-BMW FS customers is something like 0.0004, so still pretty good.

The payment on just the car (with taxes and fees out of pocket) is in the mid 7s. Given the free money interest rate, I rolled everything into the lease, so it ended up being a bit more than that.

I just modeled it at around $800/mo., not having some details like the exact residual and giving it a guess based on MY09 residuals.

Which truly is an awesome deal.

Amazingly, while I make more now than I ever have, I feel like I can't even afford to lease another new non-M 3er. Maybe it's just perceptions, but...

So is your former 335i at Passport? At the right price...

[zach]

Originally Posted by TD

I just modeled it at around $800/mo., not having some details like the exact residual and giving it a guess based on MY09 residuals.

Which truly is an awesome deal.

Amazingly, while I make more now than I ever have, I feel like I can't even afford to lease another new non-M 3er. Maybe it's just perceptions, but...

So is your former 335i at Passport? At the right price...

I had the same thought. I've actually begun looking at CPO 335is. Some are very reasonably priced. Sorry for the hijack, JST.

[JST]

Originally Posted by TD

I just modeled it at around $800/mo., not having some details like the exact residual and giving it a guess based on MY09 residuals.

Which truly is an awesome deal.

Amazingly, while I make more now than I ever have, I feel like I can't even afford to lease another new non-M 3er. Maybe it's just perceptions, but...

So is your former 335i at Passport? At the right price...

Yes, it's there, but they are going to wholesale it, so if you want it, act fast. Ask for Dave Comfort (great name, right?). It's only got 21K miles on it.

You're right about non-M 3ers. I priced out a lease on an '09 335, equipped just like my car, just for comparison, and it was in the low to mid 6s on a 3 year lease. Of course, you and I got insanely good deals on our current cars (you slightly better than I)--that was during the height of stratospheric residuals and lowish MFs. My residual on a 2 year lease I think was 72 percent.

FWIW, the guy at the dealer told me that he was going to wholesale my car because they just can't move used 335s; partly, it's because many buyers see the price and think "I'll just get a new 328" and partly it's because BMWFS has special financing rates on 06s but NOT 07s yet.

[TD]

Originally Posted by JST

Yes, it's there, but they are going to wholesale it, so if you want it, act fast. Ask for Dave Comfort (great name, right?). It's only got 21K miles on it.

You're right about non-M 3ers. I priced out a lease on an '09 335, equipped just like my car, just for comparison, and it was in the low to mid 6s on a 3 year lease. Of course, you and I got insanely good deals on our current cars (you slightly better than I)--that was during the height of stratospheric residuals and lowish MFs. My residual on a 2 year lease I think was 72 percent.

FWIW, the guy at the dealer told me that he was going to wholesale my car because they just can't move used 335s; partly, it's because many buyers see the price and think "I'll just get a new 328" and partly it's because BMWFS has special financing rates on 06s but NOT 07s yet.

At 72% residual (assuming ~$45K original MSRP), your buyout would be ~$32,500. That might work if I could get the 0.9%.

However, if they are going to wholesale, I'd guess they'd be getting a lot less than $32,500.

Maybe it's worth asking the question.

[JST]

Originally Posted by TD

At 72% residual (assuming ~$45K original MSRP), your buyout would be ~$32,500. That might work if I could get the 0.9%.

However, if they are going to wholesale, I'd guess they'd be getting a lot less than $32,500.

Maybe it's worth asking the question.

Might as well.