phatjoe

Hello:

Silly me posting this in a Lexus forum

Anyway, I'm having a difficult time deciding between these two cars. I actually narrowed it down to 2 specific cars. Anyone else debate these two cars? I'm having helluva of time deciding. Any input to push me to one side?

BMW - 328xi, Manual, 36k miles, black on black, CPO
Lexus - IS 250 awd, Automatic, 30k miles, black on black, CPO

What makes it even more difficult...same price
I probably can't go wrong with either one...

Let me know your thoughts....

Thanks,
P

allst4r

iTrader: (7)

i realy want an m3 but.. since its german. i wuold lease. not buy...so if you buy use my best advice is go with lexus.... will save u money in long run.

kannon

iTrader: (1)

First off you really can't go wrong. Do you plan on keeping it past the end of warranty? If so id lean toward lexus. If not I might lean towards bmw since I liked their six cylinder better than the is250 engine.

chi123

iTrader: (12)

You should also ask on e90post! I was deciding between an '07 BMW 328i and a '07 IS350 for $2k more. It was a no-brainer and went with the IS350 almost a year ago. However, if I was choosing between an IS250 vs. 328xi, I'd instantly choose the 328xi. More options to mod it you're interested in doing so, more HP. Only downside is reliability of the BMW which isn't all that bad, just expensive labor and parts when little things go bad.

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

IS250 vs 328 has been discussed to death:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...bmw-328-a.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-is-250-a.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...mmer-328i.html

Here's a checklist of things to look out for on a used IS:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...e-threads.html

What are the prices on the two and what are the terms of the BMW CPO warranty - is it 3 years/100k miles like Lexus?

phatjoe

Thanks for sending the links.

I just checked out the CPO differences...

Lexus is 3yrs/100k at the time of purchase
BMW is 2yrs/50k after the original warranty ends.

For me, the biggest issue is selling it. I typically hold onto a car for only 12-18 months. The CPO warranty IS transferrable with BMW, but NOT transferrable with Lexus.

Being able to mention the CPO warranty is somewhat significant...

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

If you were keeping the car longer I'd say go with Lexus, because out of the CPO period the BMW will be very expensive to repair and maintain. However, if you're going to sell it in 12-18 months, go with BMW, because you can use the CPO aspect as a selling point.

However, that being said, it doesn't make financial sense at all to be buying a used car right now that you're going to turn around and sell in 12-18 months. That's because used car prices are astonishingly high right now, and will likely decrease over the next few months, and will certainly have decreased by thousands of dollars by 12-18 months. It's the equivalent of buying high and selling low.

lookEVO

iTrader: (1)

I used to work on nearly nothing but BMW's and they suck.