[tjswarbrick]

Hi guys.
Long-time lurker, finally ready to take the plunge.
Father of 2; 3-mile commute increasing to about 25 miles each way toward the end of summer.
I've been driving a W203 C230 SS (2.5 V6 7-speed slushbox) (my first automatic; hopefully my last) currently at 95k mi that I bought for my wife in 2008. I said then, and have been saying since then, if I bought it for me it would be a 3-series with a stick.
I'm ready to turn it in to one!

The M-B is just a little soft, a little loose. And has MB-Tex (naugahide?) seats. But, honestly, if it had just a bit more torque and a decent 3-pedal transmission I could live with it for a VERY long time.
So, I'm looking for a Bimmer with those qualities.
E90 328i (or 330i.) I like the linearity, smoothness, and (probable!) low maintenance of a solid N/A 6.
I've gotta have the 6-speed, sport package (those seats!), and non-black leather interior.
Love the darker blues and Alpine White, but honesly, all the BMW colors are pretty in their own way and exterior color is low on my list of priorities. Folding back seat (cold weather package???) would be nice. If it's an older one ('06-09) I'd prefer without i-Drive, but that's not a dealbreaker.

I actually recently found 2 - both 2007 328i's, both clean, both optioned how I'd like - but they're both out of state. I havent been able to verify the CarFax / clean title on either yet - but will before taking a cross-country trip to pick up the car. (That IS a dealbreaker.) I've driven several others locally that weren't quite suitable - black interior, high miles, non-sport, automatic transmission, etc - and know the 328i is the car for me. So here's my dilemma:

Car #1) Great color combo, optioned perfectly, clean but worn, independent dealer, 77k mi, $10,500;

Car#2) Decent color combo, completely loaded - including 1st-gen i-Drive, 37k mi!, absolutely pristine, private seller, $17,500.

$7k could go a long way toward maintenance on the higher-mileage car. I have not had a mechanic look at either one, so I don't know what troubles I might run in to. It will be a DD, and if all goes as planned I should keep it for a good 10 years (unless one of my daughters takes it off to college in 7 or 8.)

Would you go for the super-low-mileage/pristine one? Or save the $$$ for mods and maintenance and go for the merely quite low mileage one?

What kinds of things should I look to need to replace shortly after picking up a low mileage 8 year old E90, and how expensive are they to fix?

Thanks for the help!

[tjswarbrick]

Bummer. Looks like the $10k one has an accident reported.

$17,500 for 37,000 mile loaded 6MT 328i too much to pay?
KBB puts it at $15.7k in excellent condition - but it's not like they're easy to find.