I will concur with Kristie's post about the 1 series, I went and drove one the other day. However, the 3 series is an unbelievable car. I had a 1998 323is for 8 years and never had any major problems with it...I just sold it with 140,000 miles on it and it was still driving like a dream..just time for an upgrade for me
and of course I had to go with another 3 series... Highly recommend them!