[ctdriver320i]

Hey guys and gals, Are the welds from the factory on the sides of the engine bay? Thanks. I have a deposit on this car to trade my 17 320i and its a transport purchase. Thanks for any advice.

[tturedraider]

Your picture really isn’t clear enough to tell much, but from what can be seen they look okay. Wanna post the link and we can check the whole car for you?

[Billfitz]

I assume he means the spot welds on the fenders, which are normal. But as for advice I'd never buy a used car sight unseen nor take delivery by any method other than driving it home myself.

[ctdriver320i]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

I assume he means the spot welds on the fenders, which are normal. But as for advice I'd never buy a used car sight unseen nor take delivery by any method other than driving it home myself.

Thanks, appreciated.

[tturedraider]

[QUOTE=Billfitz;30842666]I assume he means the spot welds on the fenders, which are normal. But as for advice I'd never buy a used car sight unseen nor take delivery by any method other than driving it home myself.[/q]QUOTE]

+1!!! I have purchased all but one of my BMWs long distance and I have traveled to pick each one up and drive it home. There is no way I would buy a car and have it delivered sight unseen.

Bill, your eyes are better than mine!! It looks like he took photos from a computer screen with his phone. OP, if you could save the images directly to your phone and then post them they would be much clearer.

I always find it interesting when folks are reluctant to post links as if someone on the forum will run out and buy the car out from under them.

btw, ctdriver320i, have you ever seen my posts about me being a big fan of the 320i?

[tturedraider]

[QUOTE=ctdriver320i;30847206]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

Yes and I thought about how dumb it would be to do this deal and not see the car. I also tried to add a 125k max mile warranty with a $100 deductible which added 4k. I had sold my m sport and got the 320 because I found myself driving like an idiot in the m sport so I took a self imposed timeout with 180 hp punishment. As slow as the 320 is, the owner that ordered the car put all the right options and gas mileage is awesome too. Plus I own it and paid it off with no car payment now. Yes the 320 sucks in many ways lol but it’s a great commuter car. This forum can really help u see the light sometimes. Thanks!
My 17 has flat welds on the circle spots and this seemed odd. Wondering if this is a body shop weld in the circles.
Link back up for sale

https://www.carmax.com/car/24524980

Those welds look normal to me. I would say the odds are 99.999998% they are factory. Especially considering the AutoCheck is clean.

What did you decide? Have you decided against it? It looks like a good car to me!! It’s a great and iconic M Sport color! It looks really clean and in good condition. I would have never guessed it had four owners. If either of those touched up places need any more work you could use www.drcolorchip.com. Their system works very well.

Four new tires is a nice bonus. I think you would enjoy the B46 motor a lot. Especially if you’re a little disappointed with the power of the 320i. The two things it lacks that would be an issue for me are the HK stereo and leather. I just saw that you had black leatherette previously and now have beige leather. Of course, there’s no shortage of folks around here who would rather upgrade the base stereo rather than have the HK. I’m big on good window tinting and this car looks like it has good tint. Maybe that would mitigate the black leatherette.

Looks like it’s only $250 to have it transported to Connecticut. That’s not much money to risk on what looks like a very solid car. Has CarMax given you a trade in offer for your 320i?

CarMax can be a little pricey, but this one looks like it’s priced fairly well. I have actually bought one car by long distance and had it shipped. And that was from CarMax. I had a 1996 Infiniti G20 that got totaled when a guy in a pickup drove into it while it was parked in front of my house. I lived in Fort Worth at the time and I found an identical one in Houston with half the miles and had CarMax bring it up to Fort Worth.

Another bonus is it’s rwd, which I know is just about impossible to find in Connecticut. If you don’t mind going back to leatherette I say go for it, if you haven’t changed your mind. Even with a 2017 320i, and even though I’m a fan of the 320i, the N20/26 timing chain issue still makes me uneasy and given the choice I would choose the B46.

What are you thinking?

edit: hmmm…a little something odd. Both bimmer.work and mdecoder show it to be rwd and have the 704 M Sport suspension, but CarMax lists it as xDrive and it has the xDrive badge. And I just noticed the AutoCheck also shows it’s not an xDrive and so does the MyBMW app. It makes me wonder if CarMax has the wrong VIN, but everything else about the car matches up, but not the drive system.

edit 2: not that it can’t be xDrive in the south, but it makes more sense that a southern car would be rwd.


btw, what was your user name on E46Fanatics? I was active there for several years when I had my 2000 328i and my 2004 ZHP.

[ctdriver320i]

I appreciate your response man, I was so stuck on those options from mdecoder. i thought it was so special to have a m sport suspension with xdrive and sport auto gearbox.

[tturedraider]

I’m tturedraider on Fanatics, too. I thought I recognized your name and I searched it and found at least one thread where I commented on something you posted. It looks like I haven’t actually posted over there since about 2008.

How many miles does your car have? Have you ever used this to value your car? https://www.edmunds.com/appraisal/. In my experience Edmund’s gives the most realistic values.

I just did a value for your car and got $12,300 for trade in the $15,500 for private party. I used Clean and the default mileage of 84,000 that came up. I also included a couple of things I wasn’t sure about, PDC and rear camera, because I saw where you mentioned the original owner optioned it well.

You should check for yourself. Right after you put everything in you will probably get a page that says CarMax has an offer to buy your car. I’m gonna bet it will be more than $6,000. Then, keep going, you have to read the small print, to get to the valuation that Edmund’s gives. If you can figure out the finances your car looks really good and I think your car would sell really well in a private party sale! Especially since it’s paid off and you have the title.

You should also check to see what Carvana www.carvana.com and Vroom www.vroom.com would offer you.

You should get CarMax to confirm whether it’s an xDrive or not. I wonder if for some reason someone put an xDrive badge on the car and CarMax just assumed it was. That would be really weird, but it’s the only explanation I can think of right now. Unless they somehow have the wrong VIN. btw, if it’s rwd in my book that’s great!! All you need is a set of winter wheels and tires. That’s what I do in Chicago.

[tturedraider]

I know this is a little over the top. I actually found a set of winter wheels and tires very close to you. https://www.facebook.com/share/qikfT...ibextid=79PoIi

If CarMax has really bad finance rates PenFed is just under 7%. Anyone can join. https://www.penfed.org/auto

[ctdriver320i]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

I know this is a little over the top. I actually found a set of winter wheels and tires very close to you. https://www.facebook.com/share/qikfT...ibextid=79PoIi

If CarMax has really bad finance rates PenFed is just under 7%. Anyone can join. https://www.penfed.org/auto

I did the bizzak rft rwd 330i and when it snowed I was the a hole holding up traffic on interstate 84 lol.

This blue beauty 330i xdrive that I thought has a m sport suspension and sport automatic gearbox was a unicorn to me. I was willing to sign my life away for 60 months. What sucks is I emailed and asked for the real Vin so I could reconsider since it’s still available but they didn’t respond. I believe it’s an honest mistake but imagine some guy driving around a 17 330 with the wrong Vin on his id card and registration, imagine if it was stolen. I asked for the real vin. I believe it’s a330i xdrive but I was going off a completely wrong CARFAX that I paid $40 and mdecoder. If you didn’t know your shit like you did I almost went bs I tonthem and emailed last night I may go forward before I read your thread. You saved me bro e46fabatics lives on in f30 bummer forum d

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by ctdriver320i

I did the bizzak rft rwd 330i and when it snowed I was the a hole holding up traffic on interstate 84 lol.

This blue beauty 330i xdrive that I thought has a m sport suspension and sport automatic gearbox was a unicorn to me. I was willing to sign my life away for 60 months. What sucks is I emailed and asked for the real Vin so I could reconsider since it’s still available but they didn’t respond. I believe it’s an honest mistake but imagine some guy driving around a 17 330 with the wrong Vin on his id card and registration, imagine if it was stolen. I asked for the real vin. I believe it’s a330i xdrive but I was going off a completely wrong CARFAX that I paid $40 and mdecoder. If you didn’t know your shit like you did I almost went bs I tonthem and emailed last night I may go forward before I read your thread. You saved me bro e46fabatics lives on in f30 bummer forum d

I’m not sure what’s going on, but physically the car in the photos matches the VIN in the listing. Maybe call them and ask them to get someone to look under the car to see if there’s a transfer case and the other xDrive hardware. The photos show a car matching the VIN so well I honestly think it’s possible the xDrive badge was added for some reason. Everything except the xDrive badge matches up with all the information on BMW’s own website. I wonder if the badge could have been applied by mistake at the factory?

I’m going to post some screenshots.

With my winter tires I’m usually going faster than all the awd cars on their all season tires are.

[ctdriver320i]

Yeah I used photo editor with video to enlarge the door sticker vin and the last few digits appear to be correct, but yeah it’s not an xdrive car and who would ever add xdrive to a rwd sport lmao.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by ctdriver320i

Yeah I used photo editor with video to enlarge the door sticker vin and the last few digits appear to be correct, but yeah it’s not an xdrive car and who would ever add xdrive to a rwd sport lmao.

Purely a guess, but I bet it was done by mistake at the factory. If no one has ever had any trouble with the car involving the drive system I’m guessing the previous owners all believed they had an xDrive. Having lived its whole life in the south it’s conceivable it was never in a situation where the lack of xDrive was apparent. Since it was equipped from the factory with a square wheel and all season tire setup no one would ever guess anything other than xDrive given the emblem.

[tturedraider]

I still think you should buy it!!

[ctdriver320i]

That’s for your research. If I ended up with it I’m sure I would love it except I need xdrive in the hills high elevation in northeast Connecticut. I just never see. Bmw mislabel a car like that abd then carmax also selling as xdrive. The carfax is immaculate. I wish Carnac would just respond avd confirm it’s not an xdrive or is the vin different. Your tight it seems to match up everything except xdrive.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by ctdriver320i

Yeah I used photo editor with video to enlarge the door sticker vin and the last few digits appear to be correct, but yeah it’s not an xdrive car and who would ever add xdrive to a rwd sport lmao.

I agree. That’s what I see, too. I can pretty clearly see the …G57HNU51781

[ctdriver320i]

Thanks yeah I see that exactly too. Yeah I’m sure there’s a diclosure for errors in advertising too. Will they still sell as xdrrive?

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by ctdriver320i

Thanks yeah I see that exactly too. Yeah I’m sure there’s a diclosure for errors in advertising too. Will they still sell as exdrrive?

You definitely have a sweet 320i!!! Those 658s just make the look!! And, as you mentioned, sport pkg and leather make it even better!! What else does it have? Do you have the premium pkg? Does it happen to have HK? Folding rear seats? How many miles do you have?

I think you could easily sell for $14,000 - $15,000.

[ctdriver320i]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

You definitely have a sweet 320i!!! Those 658s just make the look!! And, as you mentioned, sport pkg and leather make it even better!! What else does it have? Do you have the premium pkg? Does it happen to have HK? Folding rear seats? How many miles do you have?

I think you could easily sell for $14,000 - $15,000.

Thanks I agree more than 6k for sure. But because that car was a m sport x drive m adaptive suspension and auto sport gearbox I was willing to give my car away for half its value.

[ctdriver320i]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

You definitely have a sweet 320i!!! Those 658s just make the look!! And, as you mentioned, sport pkg and leather make it even better!! What else does it have? Do you have the premium pkg? Does it happen to have HK? Folding rear seats? How many miles do you have?

I think you could easily sell for $14,000 - $15,000.

It’s by far the most comfortable f30 I’ve had. Dakota leather sport seats. South Africa assembled with option m sport steering heated (the blue did not have), retractable armrest, parking sensors, I drive in sport all the time for the tighter steering. It came with style 415 turbine wheels and I love the style 658. No HK but listed as HI FI stereo. I’m not sure if that’s upgrade. Heated front and rear seats. No folding rear seat which I hate for Home Depot trips so I have a jeep for that. It has extra light package which is nice at night. Extra outlets and usb ports.

What does your white m sport have? I had this 328i xdrive m sport. I added the decal.

Have you ever seen a dark red 340 this color and options? I wanted this one but too expensive for me.
https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/WBA8B7C52JA576646

[tturedraider]

Oh, now, don’t show me that car and get me all worked up!! That is Sunset Orange and I absolutely LOVE it!!! That’s part of how I ended up moving out of my 2006 E90 330i and into a 2018 LCI F30 340i M Sport. I just barely missed a Sunset Orange in California. They sold it so fast!! I had just found it and before I could even tell the salesman I wanted it another salesman had already sold it. I was so sad!!

My car is pretty loaded. It has the Executive pkg, which includes the top view cameras, the fully adaptive LED headlights, including automatic high beams, parking assistance (automatic parallel parking, I’ve never used) and it has blind spot detection. It has the premium pkg, which includes HUD and navigation. It doesn’t have the heated steering wheel or rear seats and it doesn’t have the adaptive suspension.

Having that retractable armrest is pretty unique. Very few F30s in the states have it. I’d say the previous owner probably added it, because, even though it was available in Europe, I don’t think you could actually order it here as a factory installed option.

I drive in sport all the time, too, for the steering, but I deselected the drivetrain, because it makes the transmission hold the gears too long and it makes it lug at low speeds in parking lots.

[ctdriver320i]

Wow you have an amazing car. I would love a 340. That sunset orange is the most beautiful f30 I’ve ever seen. It has the digital screen option too. Man you almost got one is wild. The sunset orange one went under deposit in one day then came back on the market two weeks later. It’s just an awesome F30 340 xdrive , even with the miles I would buy it if I could.