My car died today!!!

[BAC]

I will defiantly consider the VWs now since they have gotten such rave reviews. I just heard their parts were hard to get and expensive. My dad has a 1998 Jetta, I'll talk to him about his experience so far with his.

BMWs are high on the list in this household because the boyfriend has one and we absolutely love it. The quality of the entire car is so good, it makes such a difference. The parts are a little pricey, but we have a pretty good connection for BMWs.

And thanks but no thanks for the Grand Am, Kristie. I used to have a 1996 Grand Am GT and learned my lesson.

[Kristie]

I did too....I took my sister's when she was done with it before I initially got my Corolla...learned quickly from it that she didn't baby it and it was too late for me to salvage for long, it started breaking down at 50K. sick!!

We went out and drove the 1 series today. Nice little car...even though they say it's 1.7" smaller than the 3 series, it seemed A LOT smaller than that once you sat inside. It has the same engine as the 335...BUT... the car is so much lighter than the 335 that it jumps around and we didn't even feel that it would take turns all that well being light on car, heavy on engine. it is a really "cute" car though and much more affordable yet it just didn't speak "BMW" to us as he drove it. that was kindof depressing to be honest. We expected so much more from hearing what the vehicle was supposed to be like.

So doug's still wanting the 335. We found another one that has everything he wants and he's trying to finagle a deal but we'll see....some of the dealers around here do not want to work lower than MSRP and there's NO WAY we'd buy any car based on MSRP.

[BAC]

Kristie,

Well that's disappointing about the 1 series! Though, some people complain BMWs are 'too heavy' like in Sarah's post.

The difference between the 5 series and 3 series is pretty obvious even if it is only a matter of an inch or two... I think it's because everything (steering wheel, center console, radio panel) are all a lot smaller giving the car the smaller feel. Probably the same between the 3 series and the 1.

But yeah, they do have a 'feel' to driving them and once you catch that bug, it's hard to shake!!

[ASA_wife]

Thats crazy!!! The last couple of months I have had problems with our volvo. 3 weeks ago I was driving to stop and shop and my car died at an intersection like yours, but after playing with it it finally started. Come to find out I was only running on 4 out of the 5 cylinders. So I had to get a tune up and the wires replaced, ugh!!. Then 7 weeks before that we had to change the brakes and a couple things in the engine, I am not car savy, as you can tell. His uncle did it for us so instead of coast altogether about 4500 he only charged us 1500. The car has almost 160,000 and still is running, but everything had to go at once, which is my luck.

[CapeCodder]

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!

[Mrs.Alchemist]

Originally Posted by BAC

I will defiantly consider the VWs now since they have gotten such rave reviews. I just heard their parts were hard to get and expensive. My dad has a 1998 Jetta, I'll talk to him about his experience so far with his.

The parts can be expensive. It's true... but mine has been a GREAT car, and I haven't really had to purchase a lot of parts... Like I said, I have around 93,000 miles on it, and mine's a 2003. I heard from some people that some earlier models had electrical problems, but they seem to have worked that out...