Maxmann

...I'm seriously looking at trading for a 3-Series BMW. Going back tomorrow to see what they will offer on trade. If the price is right, I'm in. I am so disheartened by the little problems with this car, paint is just on of them.

Who out there has ownership experience, or knows someone that does, with a 3 series? Anyone know anything about THEIR paint quality? Just looking at the car, it looks much thicker than ours.

thoughts?

srm

LoveSick

Dude, what are you thinking? You made a good decision! I always prefer BMW over Nissan, but because my parents don't want to pay BMW, they bought me something that is big and smooth for much lower price, Maxima.


Anyways, BMW's paint is about as good as those on Hondas and Lexus. But I think I saw 3 Series paint is about the same as the maxima. Still suffer minor chip. To be honest, I really like the BMW cars and engines, their paint is better than maxima.

I have no opinion about weather or not you should get the bimmer, but would you mind tell us what is the problem you are facing?


If you want to eternally fix the paint problem on Maxima, its very simple. Goto a auto bodyshop, the ones where they do custom sprays, you know, the ones that Rice boy goes to!

Go ask them to spray on highest quality paint. And pre spray for the toughest clear coat.

On my Legend, it comes with very crappy paing, but I went to the body shop and resprayed it with the Mercedes paint and a very tough clear coat. Now, I couldn't find a single scrath on the Legend. Might worth it.

Peter in Atlanta

Go to bimmer.org and log into one of the 3-series forums. Search their archives for paint chips and you'll see they have problems as well.

UMD_MaxSE

iTrader: (1)

One of the main reasons every manufacturer has problems with paint is because of the newer water-based paint process they are using. Before paint used to be much more durable since it was not water-based. But, it required a lot of chemicals that were harmful to the environment. So, car manufacturers were forced to use thinner, weaker, water-based paint for cars. As a result, much of the paint on cars today is thin and chips easily. This seems to be a problem across the board for many car makers. More expensive cars seem to have better paint though.

Maxmann

----Original Message-----
From: Betty De Pasquale [mailto:bettyd@bmwofnashville.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 5:40 PM
To: Scott.Mann@amhealthways.com
Subject: Re: BMW


Scott,

I emailed earlier, but must have been to your home email. The trade in value is somewhere between $19,000 and $21,000. The invoice is $26,053 and there is $2,500 factory money back to the dealer which makes the dealer cost on a new car $23,553.00 and then there is depreciation due to being now considered a pre owned vehicle.

You may want to go by CarMax and see what they might give you since they will purchase cars, but then you would not get a trade in tax credit.

Sincerely,
Betty D.
BMW of Nashville

So, suffice it to say, I'm keeping my Max. And just because of this, I'll probably never buy a BMW, at least from Nashville! What a joke.

srm

djmaxski

Sorry to hear of your disappointment... However, dealers are only out to take care of their best interest. When I was shopping last year for my Max, one of the dealers I went to just got in a Black 5spd AE and absolutely loved it. I knew it was more than a regular SE, but I didn't care. I knew that 5spds are sometimes hard to come by, esp. in black AND in AE so I was thrilled! However, it was a demo car and had 6000 miles on it I asked how that was a new car, and was told "It lasts forever, so 6000 miles is almost nothing to a Maxima engine." It was fully loaded too (leather, Bose, Meridian, etc) and I loved it. However, they were only willing to sell it at invoice, and claiming it to a steal for their flagship, in AE, and fully loaded. Well, I didn't get it because I did not consider 6k a new car... And at invoice? I got my SE at invoice with less than 10 miles on it.

Isn't it funny how they will sell you a "new" car that has 6k on it, but it you are trying to trade in the same thing, it is pre-owned and no longer worhty of the cost (just wait and see what they would sell it for! Its disgusting!!) The way I see it, a demo car has probably had the sh** beaten out of it, while a car you own you have taken care of.

zbest85

My neighbor has a dark blue 00/3 series. It has just as many chips on the front end as my 00/SE. Save your money,
you won't get a good return if you trade in so soon.

zbest85

My neighbor has a dark blue 00/3 series. It has just as many chips on the front end as my 00/SE. Save your money,
you won't get a good return if you trade in so soon.