It’s time to trade in my mid-life crisis convertible and get something that can actually carry stuff. I’m trying to decide between a new Prius IV and a used BMW station wagon. Basically it comes down to greenness and moving toward future technologies versus driving fun, although with lower gas mileage. Any suggestions?
If you buy a Prius IV with the navigation package (typical option) it will cost you about $28,000. You could get a typically optioned 2007 BMW 530xi for about the same price fro a private party with about 35,000 miles on it. It would cost about $31,000 from a dealer. Have you driven the Prius, and could you stand to drive it for the next 10 years? If you can, then consider that repairs and maintenance would be significantly cheaper on the Prius than the Bimmer. You won’t pay a thing (except oil and filters) for the first 36,000 miles on the Prius, but any M&R will cost you a lot for the BMW. The BMW will probably have higher insurance cost, too. Call your insurer to confirm that.
The BMW will fit the “driving for fun” catagory just fine.
BMW
Greenness: Prius
Driving Fun: BMW
Mazda5 with a manual transmission. It will carry stuff and still be fun to drive.
And it will cost much less to maintain than a BMW.
The maintenance part isn’t true. The BMW, even if bought from a private owner, will have no maint/warr costs until 50k miles. If bought Certified Used from a BMW dealer, the car will have a full warrenty until 100k miles or 6 years. If you pay the extra 1.5 grand or so when buying certified used, you have both the 100k mile warrenty, and 100k mile free maint. These maint packages include even oil and filters. I bought my 2006 530xi(touring) from a BMW dealer, used and CPO’d for $31k + $1.5k to get the 100k warrenty in 2008. I have spent a grand total of 25 dollars on maintenance and repair since then, including brake pads and rotors on all 4’s, 10 oil changes, filters, air suspension repair, spark plugs, etc. I spent the 25 dollars on lightbulbs. The only actual repair I’ve required was at 76k miles on the air suspension, but again, it was covered under the extended warrenty.
Insurance will probably be higher, jt has that right, but you may be suprised how reasonable the Maint costs can be on the BMW.
P.S. I love my BMW 530 wagon… thats my vote
Are these the only options? There are a lot of new designs on the market that’ll cost less than the Prius, get astounding gas mileage, and give you driving fun and utility too.
Pick up a Consumer Reports New Car Preview at the local bookstore. You might be surprised.