The car is absolutely amazing. 32-33mpg highway (at 90mph). Silky smooth ~225bhp and ~215lb/ft of torque, 0-60 in around 6.5 seconds. Roomy and comfy on the inside, but rear legroom is a bit of a squeeze sometimes. Yes you’ll get ‘only’ 30mpg/highway if you keep the power on, but if you keep the car at 3500rpm, where the torque peaks, you’ll get crazyawesome mileage. I commute ~35 miles each way, Monday through Friday, so I put quite a few miles on it. Keep the oil changes regular and the car will last well over 150,000 miles. My rear tires (245/40ZR17s, ~$320 total) had to be replaced after a year, front tires are still good.

Previously I had a 1988 BMW 325iX with 158,000 miles on it. Was still running strong when someone decided to pull a U-turn in front of me, totalling the car.

ps the new 335i twin-turbo inline-6 gets 28mpg highway by EPA estimates. 300bhp and 300lb/ft of torque.

My bro-in-law got a bimmer 325 I believe. But he says now he regrets buying it. Before he had an Accord, and he says now the bimmer costs so much just for maintenance. He has a cousin who works on bimmers and even with a discount, it costs a lot. He’s afraid of how much the major service will cost. So he drives an Acura TL instead.

My other friend has a new 3 series too. He was driving it a lot at first. Recently he told me he takes the caltrain instead to work. He’s only 15 to 20 minutes away from work.

I know most readers here might keep the car longer, but it’s interesting to run the numbers.

If you bought a 3 yr old Honda EX every five years vs. the BMW, and increased your retirement contribution by $12,929 each five year period ($215.48 per month) at a conservative 8% you’d have an additonal

$321,142.65 in 30 years.

And you’d save the planet about 91,304 lbs on CO2. And it’s built somewhat locally - Ohio.

You’re killing me, James, you’re killing me. (Must ignore reader’s comments…)

I strongly advise you to avoid newer German cars. I was looking at A4s, 323is, etc, for all the obvious reasons. Found a real nice 323i, so I thought. Took it to my mechanic (who is awesome), and after looking it over, he asks, “Did you buy this car yet?” I reply in the negative, and he says “Good, don’t.” Then proceeds to draw up a laundry list of problems with the car, totalling $6000-$7000 in parts and labor, some of which can only be done by a BMW dealer.

He went on to say that the newer German cars are not built as well as they used to be. It seems that their reputation has kept their values high, but they are NOT worth it. Your classy BMW or Audi WILL be a money pit.

He said “Get something Japanese” and I immediately felt stupid for wanting a German car. I realized I was looking for a status symbol more than a good vehicle. I *still* wanted something classy, and I got a 2001 Maxima, immaculate w/80k miles, for $9900. Upscale V6 sedan, decent performance, still a pretty cool status symbol, too. And it’s a Nissan, which means it’ll run forever.

One last point. In “The Millionaire Next Door,” one of the best performing groups in terms of net worth was what they called something like “used car prone”. This class of person buys a car that is 3 to 5 years old, and drives it for many years. They spend a lot of time discussing this class because it is the statistically most likely to have a very high net worth compared to annual income.

I LOVE your blog and I’m learning tons on it. I can’t believe my first post here is to give you advice, but I feel strongly about it. Cars are one of the biggest wastes of money. Don’t get an ugly or boring car, sure, but DON’T get a money pit, and DON’T buy new.

There are some great posts about buying a car over at http://iwillteachyoutoberich.com, though I’m sure you’ve seen them. Also be sure to read this very long but very good article at Edmond’s, Confessions of a Car Salesman: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html

Keep up the good work. I’m really enjoying your site.