I ran across this thread just after purchasing a 2007 328xi E90 to replace my wife's recently totaled E82 128i. I agree with just about everything said here.
I really didn't want an E90. I started selling BMWs in 1996 so I've seen a bit of everything. When my wife said she'd had enough 5-series cars and wanted something small, I found her a perfect Sport package 128i automatic (arthritic left knee) which she loved. After its loss, it became nearly impossible to find a nice E82 without paying double what we paid for the first one. We tried. We traveled, We scoured the Internet. And then an X3 M40i I had ordered for an old customer came in and when he arrived to pick it up I remembered his trade-in and for a brief minute wondered why I shouldn't just buy it for my wife and move on.
So, she is now driving a one-owner, clean Carfax 2007 328xi 4dr with Sport, Convenience, Premium, Xenons, Cold Weather, Navigation, and Logic7 that has been garaged all of its life and maintained better than the book. It has 84k on it and is beautiful Monaco Blue with wonderful Gray leather sport seats. It has nearly everything her E82 had with the exception of PDK, and some things hers did not have (Comfort Access). We weren't really looking for xDrive but it can't hurt with our 1/4-mile long drive and nothing other than RWD to get us out in bad weather. This probably makes BMW Number Twenty in our current collection, including the salvage of her E82 and my daily-driver 128i M-sport 6MT.
So, here it is, and thanks for producing this helpful thread:
