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Thanks, but NO THANKS!!
Your comment about knowing the marque is an interesting one. Most old-school BMW fans would argue that no one knows what the hell the BMW marque stands for these days. As always, the engines are jems, but the cars are heavy and full of quirky electronics. as for the styling, no one would say it's beautiful. And what's with the cast-iron calipers on the new M5/M6? (you can't buy a BMW with monoblock-style calipers.) how about some eye-candy that means something, rather than confusion that is flame surfacing? but sales are brisk (up 10% every year, Volvo looks to be about 10% down this year :( so can you blame them?
I have never thought I would buy a new car. I'd prefer to let someone else take the depreciation, while getting a car I could never otherwise afford. I don't care about car status, just performance and good looks and a sweet interior. I'll take the gravitas of my very bad-ass 91 black/black M5 (with only 101k miles) that most people probably think has a fake M5 badge because it doesn't have the 4 exhaust pipes of current M cars. but wait until the first opening in traffic and you'll know it's for real. I flog that car every chance I get, and it loves me for it. But driving a car that fast everyday would be tempting fate for me.
But the deal on this new V70 is really good. $31.5k for charcoal metallic, graphite leather, premium package, convienence package, climate package, sat radio....MSRP is $39.5k.
The used BMW wagons you found were all nice cars, but the average price was about $30k with about 35k miles. And there are several reasons that I would actually prefer the V70:
- way better storage. I'm looking to replace a 4Runner. The E39 5 series is about the size of an V50 back there. We camp a lot with our dog and 9 month old baby, so we need to carry a ton of stuff.
- rear seat legroom. Another problem in the E39. We need to fit an infant seat back there, and the V70 has enough room to allow real humans to still ride in front in comfort.
- mileage. 29 mpg hwy for the V70 2.5T. my freakin Accord rarely gets more than 30 mpg. The 5 series are probably all between 20-25 mpg. I will drive this car for up to 20k miles per year.
- performance (in a straight line). The 2.5T has 208 hp and 236 ft-lb. The 528i has about 190 hp and 175 ft-lb.
- weight. I was blown away to learn that the V70 2.5T was only 3400 lb. That's really light for such a spacious car with modern crash standards. The E39s probably all weight more than 3800 lb. The E60s must be over 4200 lb. credit some to the FWD, but also maybe Volvo realizes more than BMW that keeping weight in check helps all aspects of performance (acceleration, braking, handling). (BTW, Subaru has also figured this out. The legacy turbo gets to 60 mph in 5.9 sec. my M5 does the same thing, but needs 70 more hp to do so thanks to its 3800 lb weight.)
- interior. I was blown away by how nice the 2.5T looked in graphite leather. I'm not a huge fan of wood, but at least it's real. Very, very nice seats. lots of cool design features like 12V in the rear seat and cargo area. E39s are nice too, but I give a slight edge to the V70.
OK, I know what you're thinking...there are several reasons that the BMW is better. I would much rather have AWD or RWD. I never thought I'd buy another car with FWD and an automatic. (More than 90% of 3 series have autoboxes -- so much for being the ultimate driving machine.)
It all comes down to money and what I can get for that money. I pay my BMW indy mechanic enough as it is, and I only put about 5k miles per year on my M5.
From the sound of it, you should reconsider your E34 plans and look for an E34 M5. There are lots of nice examples with <130k miles for the low teens. Most have been loved their entire lives, and it's a rare car (only ~1800 sold in the US compared to 10k E39 M5s), but watch out for engine problems -- rebuilds are at least $10k.
....great talking with you....
Eric
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