Ravang, what area do you live in? That will help a little bit with finding a car. Your best freinds are the newspaper, classified ads which are available for free at most supermarkets, and the internet, I think I used cars.com a lot. Also, check out kbb.com (kelly blue book) to see if the deal is a good one before buying.

As for the car, tbh, you don't really need one all that powerful. My first car, a 2000 grand am that I've had for a little over a year and now has 116k miles on it, still runs great and has plenty of power. If you take car of your car, and it is late -90s or newer, it WILL do 200k miles, especially if its a honda. My sister had an 89 Prelude, thing just didnt want to die. The engine was still purring like a kitten while the rest of the car fell apart around it .

My Grand Am has a 2.5L I4 in it, with 135 HP. Even though its only a four, it still gets going quickly if you need it to. With the 4-speed auto I've stood on the pedal to get into extremely congested highway traffic, and have been able to get from 0 to 55 in maybe a 6-7 second gap in traffic. Granted, I wouldn't want to take this car into some areas around my college in the winter, but thats mainly because I wouldnt take ANY car there. 30-45* inclines and snow DO NOT mix, regardless of 4wd, AWD, traction control, or whatever.

I've got a 730i & I love it, I don't think there's much that can touch it for long distance loafing, but if your going to be doing a lot of town driving you'll soon realise it's a big car - & a thirsty one.

Cold engine / short trip = 8 mpg
Town driving / warm engine = 15-20 mpg
Motorway = 30 mpg

But don't let those costs put you off, I regularly do a 550 mile trip & it costs me £80 in the 7 (3ltr V8) - I did the same trip a few weeks ago in a 1.6ltr 4-pot mitsubishi, guess how much petrol money I saved.

A whopping £5!!

These cars are great, but it's not the cost of buying one that can be the problem, it's the upkeep (as Craig has mentioned), of the top of my head, my local dealer charges:

Inspection 1: £300
Inspection 2: £350
Inspection 3: £450

But please don't quote me on those prices, I think they're right, but I'm trying to remember them from last year. labour is £90 per hour plus VAT. If you know a good independant specialist your onto a winner.

Tyres start at roughly £100 a corner.

I'm just about to have a new instrument cluster put in mine & that will be £500 for the cluster & £150 to fit & code.

You also need to remember that there are a lot of electrical things that can go wrong.

A lot of negative points yes, but all they require is a liberal application of hard cash. However, bad points aside, everytime you drive the 7 it feels absolutely bl**dy awsome & the V8 is soooo smooth, I don't think I used the stereo for months because the engine really does sound amazing. The car is also amazingly quiet whilst cruising on the motorway, no need to turn the stereo up loud to hear it, no need to spend the entire journey talking in loud voices. Last year I took my 7 & three friends down through France & I spent most of the journey listening to my mate repeatedly apologising for saying "I'm sorry, but I've never been in a car as quiet as this at 85mph". (Cue smugness).

Drive one, you'll love it - just remember, it will cost more than most to run & maintain, but you may think it's worth it.

I love my 7 dearly, but would I want one as a first car at 16-17? No friggin' way. It's a massive car & the power from such a big engine can easily get you into trouble, not only with control, but you can easily put your foot down & be doing a ton without even realising. Still, if you've got a sensible head, there's no reason why you shouldn't get one.

Have a look here: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71177

Any questions just ask.

Cheers,

TSC.

Just to clear up Ravang, 'Inspection 1' etc, are the terms BMW use for their car services, 1 is like the oil change, The other 'Inspections, 2 & 3' involve more work, you know, brake pads & stuff. They're not a legal requirement, but they will help to keep the car running well.

If your maintaining the car properly then these inspections/services should be carried out in the correct order, IE, my last service was the '1', so my next service will be '2', then '3', then back to '1' again.



TSC.