This car definitely blends in with most every other car in the Costco parking lot. It is our daily driver. So, instead of elaborating on the car itself- I'll share my thoughts on buying a regular use car.
Cars are almost always a terrible investment. Yes, I said that.
A good way to mitigate loss is to buy a 2-3 year old car coming off of a lease, and buying that car from the manufacturers dealer as Certified Pre Owned (CPO) vehicle. You save up to 50% off of MSRP, you get a warranty, and some assurance you are not buying someone else's problem. Another tip- often the store will buy several to dozens of a popular model car from the manufacturer lease auctions. Even though the MSRP and options packages may vary wildly- they usually end up on the lot priced very closely. Take some time to do research on their website- look for the highest MSRP cars and their options, and look for the lowest milage cars. Often a car with, for example, 31k miles may only be priced a few hundred more than one with 46k miles. That is a year's worth of wear and tear on every part of the vehicle. It's not worth saving $500 over. This X3 had almost $10,000 in additional options, including the bigger engine and all the advanced safety systems, plus 10,000 fewer miles- and I paid about $1,000 more for all of that over the 30 to 40 other CPO X3's for sale at the time. There are exceptions- Jeep Wranglers, Toyota trucks, and a few others depreciate very slowly- and if you are within 15% to 25% of MSRP for a 2-3 years old car, and you plan to hold on to it- then probably better to buy new with a new car interest rate and the full term of the warranty. My advice on the subject, however I have not always taken my own advice either... hence this website.
- 300 HP
- 3.0L Inline 6 Turbo
- Curb Weight 4,230 lbs
- 0-60 5.3 Seconds
- Top Speed of 130 MPH