Category Archives: BMW

The Incredible Depreciating Luxury Car Market

Hey Cool Car Fans,

I really enjoy driving European and other luxury brand vehicles, such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz and other high-end cars. Who doesn’t? They often have great technology, handle extremely well on the road and have fantastic performance. However, everyone knows that there is a cost involved in driving these vehicles and so once they are out of warranty they tend to depreciate like a rock.

THE TOYOTA RAV4 VS THE BMW X5

The other day I had a client call me about consigning his 2011 Toyota RAV4 LE, so a base model vehicle with a sunroof, and it had out 60,000 miles on it. I looked up what the trade value would be on his vehicle if we didn’t consign it and I just sent it to the dealer auction. It was $10,000 based on what they have been selling for at auction.

As the conversation progressed, he said that he was thinking that he might want to also get out of his 2010 BMW X5 with the 4.8l motor that was pretty hard loaded. It had more miles than the Toyota RAV4 with around 94,000 miles on the odometer. I looked that one up for him as well and to his shock and amazement it was selling at auction for the same price as the 2011 Toyota RAV4, which was about $10,000 for a trade-in value.

That’s pretty unreal considering the 350hp 2010 BMW X5 4.8l had an MSRP of $56,300 before adding in all the options for the vehicle. It’s more like $60,000 to $65,000 by the time you start adding options on a vehicle like that one. And that’s compared to a 179hp 4 cylinder 2011 Toyota RAV4 LE with an MSRP of about $25,575. So, you have a high-performance german luxury brand that is over twice the amount of money new selling 7 to 8 years later for the same amount of money at auction and at retail as a basic Japanese SUV. Which means that if you’re into European vehicles be prepared to lose money or you can buy them at a substantial discount.

WHY DO MORE EXPENSIVE CARS LOSE THEIR VALUE SO MUCH

It seems pretty amazing that a more expensive vehicle would depreciate more than a less expensive vehicle, but part of the problem is the cost of parts and overall repair costs. Many times people who own a less expensive vehicle will work on vehicles themselves rather than taking it to the dealership for repairs. These people don’t count the time that they are spending fixing brakes or doing oil changes or other repairs into their overall cost of ownership. Most people who own more expensive vehicles don’t tend to work on their own vehicles, so they take it to the dealer at $150 to $200 an hour. They don’t always think about the fact that they could be going to a less expensive repair shop, with a lower hourly rate, for some of their more basic repairs.

For example, I had to replace a radiator overflow in a 2011 BMW 3 Series and the local BMW dealer wanted $500 to do it. I found the part on Amazon for $80 and had a local repair shop install it for me for a half hour of bill time for $50 and a $500 repair turned into a $130 repair. You can’t find after-market parts for most high-line vehicles for the first few years of production, so you have to wait a few years before you can find other options for parts than the dealership. The parts can be very expensive, which is one of the reasons why these vehicles do not hold their value the way the Toyota or Honda vehicles do. It’s a supply and demand issue because people want to have lower repair costs.

Basically, you can thank the dealers and the mechanics for depreciating your Euro luxury vehicles. If you know what you’re doing you can get a great deal on a luxury performance vehicle a few years old. Which is the case for The Cool Car Guy because I like driving vehicles that sold for $65,000 new for $10,000 to $20,000.

Of course, I shouldn’t be telling people this because the more people who figure this out the more expensive these vehicles are going to be and they won’t depreciate as much based on supply and demand. The reality though is as long as the majority of people keep wanting to drive a 7 or 8 year old Japanese vehicle for 50% off, I’ll keep telling my clients that they can be driving the equivalent year high-performance vehicle for 70% to 85% off and laugh all the way to the bank.
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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy
John is an auto consultant who owns CoolCarGuy.com that is a licensed car dealership in Lone Tree, CO. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

Why Do Luxury Cars Cost More Money

Hey Cool Car Fans,

As The Cool Car Guy, I assist people in buying, selling, trading and leasing vehicles on a regular basis.  I work with people from all walks of life, but as you might expect a good portion of my clients drive luxury and high-end vehicles.  I also have clients who drive the no frills “bean can” as well or people who are on a limited budget.  I often am asked by people why they should spend the additional money for an Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, etc. than on some of the less expensive vehicles on the market.  Many people think that these vehicles are all created equal, but nothing could be further from the truth.

I decided I should take the time to write an article on why luxury vehicles are more expensive than other brands on the market. Many people assume that it’s all about just selling a vehicle for what the market will bear.  Which is a nice way of saying that they think that all vehicles are the same and therefore they are ripping people off with a brand name.  It’s true that the manufacturer needs to turn a profit, but when you buy a more expensive vehicle you are also getting a product that costs much more to produce.  The components are more expensive to build the vehicle.

I actually run into this even with other people in the car business who don’t like Porsche, Audi or BMW or Mercedes Benz because they are expensive to repair.  It cracks me up because some of these people are Used Car Managers and people who actually sell cars for a living.  It’s as if they have no clue about what it under the hood and like a typical teenager think that just because both cars have a USB port they are the same technology.  They don’t seem to understand that there is a difference in the quality of components being used in the vehicles.  Let me illustrate this fact with just a few components to show the difference in pricing.

LETS LOOK AT THE BRAKES TO START

Brembo brakes are usually found on a vehicle like a Porsche 911 Turbo or a high-end Audi.  You can grab a set of these over at Tire Rack at a discounted price of $1,916 for a kit at the time that I posted this and this particular one fits on a1983 Porsche 911SC Targa.  Those do not include installation time at $150 to $200 an hour at a dealership or even at some of the specialty shops.

Contrast that with a set of rotors for a 2015 Hyundai Elantra GT that you can grab for $122.83 and these are much better than what the manufacturer would put on.  These brakes are not even close to the same in performance or quality which is why they are more 15 to 16 times less money!

ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS

Here’s the engine for a 2011 BMW 335xi, which I happen to own and drive as my daily driver here in Colorado.  It’s a 6 cylinder twin turbo engine that produces 300hp.   If you needed to replace this engine it would cost over at CarMonkeys.com close to $11,000 for a used one and that’s a deal.

Contrast that with a 2011 Toyota Camry 3.5l V6 that was their top of the line motor for that year that produced 268hp and it would be about $4,500 for that used engine at CarMonkeys.com.  That’s less than half the price even though they both have six cylinder engines.  Why?  They’re not even close when it comes to performance, components and technology that has gone into the two engines.  It’s not as drastic in price difference compared to the brakes, but it’s 2.5 times the price on the used market for the same six cylinder engine.  Obviously, they are not the same.

As you start to go throughout the vehicles and add up the cost of components like brakes, tires (run flats on the BMW or Mercedes Benz for example), the transmissions, shocks, struts, all-wheel drive systems, sound dampening, the quality of interior, you discover that everything costs more on the luxury vehicle.  You can keep going with this sort of exercise in other aspects of the cars.

If it were truly a case of the manufacturers gaining huge profit off these cars and they were not that expensive to produce than companies like Hyundai would be much more competitive with their new Genesis vehicle.  Instead they have only been able to beat the price of a Lexus by a very small margin in their pricing.  They are focusing on offering a longer warranty as a key buying point.  After all, the cost to surround a person with airbags and have the same quality components to compete with their target market of a Lexus and Acura isn’t any less.

The bottom line is that you get what you pay for when it comes to buying a vehicle.

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy
John is an auto consultant who owns CoolCarGuy.com that is a licensed car dealership in Lone Tree, CO.  He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

Who’s Building Your Car These Days?

Hey Cool Car Fans,

It is amazing how global the automotive industry has become over the years as we have watched prices of vehicles skyrocket.  Isn’t the idea that if you manufacturer something in another country you should be paying less?  We’ve seen that with calculators, computers and digital watches, but apparently not with cell phones and automobiles.

In some ways, the consumer has been hoodwinked into paying way more for less value than what people would expect to be paying for vehicles today that are being outsourced to other countries.  Many of the vehicles today are more expensive than what people used to pay for a house or what they can still pay for a house in some parts of the country.

Car loans have gone from three and four years to five and six year loans as common and even seven and eight year loans!  I have helped people do a five year lease on a used vehicle to get a lower payment, so that they can roll out early based on depreciation, which is still better than an eight year loan.

Let’s look at the new 2017 Chevy Bolt for example and who has been involved in creating this new vehicle.  According to Wikipedia the Chevy Bolt was created in conjunction with LG.

“The Chevrolet Bolt or Chevrolet Bolt EV is an all-electric subcompact car developed by Chevrolet in partnership with LG Corporation.[3] Production for the for model year 2017 began in November 2016.[4][5]

Isn’t LG known for making televisions, washers and dryers?  The Chevy Bolt though is an EV (electric vehicle), which other than the batteries may have a motor that could last 20 years like your electric dryer.  If you have read CoolCarGuy.com for any length of time you know that I believe the electric vehicle is the ultimate in planned obsolescence.

I love the awards many of these new technology electric vehicles get too.  I’m not sure that many of us have ever even heard of some of these awards, but they sound really good.

“The Chevrolet Bolt won several awards including the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year award, the 2017 AutoGuide.com Reader’s Choice Green Car of the Year, Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2017, Green Car Journal‘s 2017 Green Car of the Year, and was listed in Time Magazine Best 25 Inventions of the Year of 2016.[10]

Call me a skeptic, but when I sold windsurfers back in the mid 1980’s and computers back in the early 1990’s I remember the magazines giving awards to the companies that I was selling for numerous times because they were huge advertisers with the magazines.  Of course, I’m not saying this has happened here, but I take awards in the automotive industry with a grain of salt.

Getting back to who is building your car today though, if we read a little further about the Chevy Bolt we discover that not only is LG in South Korea involved in manufacturing the motor, battery and drive unit, but the former car company Daewoo was involved in the design of the vehicle.  The only thing that is Chevrolet about the Bolt is the brand name and that it is being assembled in Detroit, Michigan.

“The Bolt was designed by GM’s Korea studio (formerly Daewoo Korea), as B-segment size[28] on its own platform, and does not share elements with the GM Gamma platform cars Chevrolet Sonic/Spark/Opel Corsa.” – Wikipedia

I don’t know if this is a great vehicle or not since I haven’t driven one yet, but I find it fascinating that this vehicle has an MSRP of $37,495 for an all electric vehicle.  If you subtract a federal tax credit to encourage people to buy electric vehicles than the price drops to $29,995 for the MSRP.  The reasoning behind this vehicle is to avoid paying for gas and that most people are only driving about 40 miles a day, but you have to spend a ton in fuel to justify the cost.  It is still going to be a pretty good seller for Chevrolet I’m sure with the increased interest in electric vehicles and all of those award that it’s received – lol.

You could get a 2000 BMW Z3 similar to this one (I’m not selling this one, just showing an example) that I spotted through the Manheim dealer auction that gets great gas mileage and has about 77,000 miles for less than half the price of a 2017 Chevy Bolt.  I would take an older BMW hands down personally, but I recognize they are not in the same category.  My point is that there are some great used vehicles out there that you don’t have to spend $30,000 on with a tax credit to get a cool car.

I’m not trying to pick on the 2017 Chevy Bolt in this article, although it probably seems that way, but I am really just trying to make the point about who’s really making your vehicle.  The fact is that so many vehicles are being outsourced today by all of the manufacturers that you really have to do some research to find out who’s designing, manufacturing, assembling and building your vehicle before you plunk down your cash.

Maybe you don’t really care either?  After all, Chrysler Jeep is owned by Fiat, Mercedes Benz for a while owned Chrysler, so if you own an older Chrysler it could very well have some Mercedes Benz technology in it.  Ford owns Mazda and used to own Land Rover and Jaguar that are now owned by Tata Motors out of India.  Some of the Land Rovers were a disaster for repairs, while Ford owned them.  Nissan is owned by Renault and we’ve seen a number of changes in those vehicles over the years compared to when they were strictly Japanese and the old Datsun brand.

We’ve all seen the issue of recalls with airbags over the past year with a number of manufacturers.  Vehicles are costing more money, but are people really getting more bang for their buck?  I think it depends on the vehicle, even the vehicle within the same manufacturer. Which is why it’s important to do some homework before you purchase an expensive vehicle and know what you’re really getting.

It’s one of the reasons why many people contact me about getting older cool cars, like that BMW and customizing them with navigation, upgrading the interiors and modernizing them with newer technology.  They can often do this for far less than what they are going to pay for a new vehicle that at times feels more like they should have a “made in China” sticker on them.

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John Boyd

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy
John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

2008 BMW M5 Sedan – Consignment SOLD!

Hey Cool Car Fans,

Recently, I listed a really cool 2008 BMW M5 sedan on consignment for a client and I decided to feature it here at CoolCarGuy.com and put some photos of it online.  I had to feature this vehicle because most car enthusiasts are familiar with this vehicle and it’s 500hp V10 power plant under the hood. This is a really cool vehicle and it’s pretty much stock from BMW other than the exhaust that he did an upgrade on.

The Exhaust

The exhaust was done at BDM Performance Exhaust and my client had them put Magna flows on and change out the tips to single oval shapes to match the contour the rear bumper, which gives is a slick look from the backend. 

Year:2008
Make:BMW
Model:M5
Trim:Sedan
Mileage:50,041
Stock #:JB8762Xc
VIN #:WBSNB93578CX08762
Trans:Automatic
Color:White
Interior:Leather
Vehicle Type:Sedan
State:CO
Drive Train:RWD
Engine:5.0L V10 DOHC 40V

The 2008 BMW M5 had an original base MSRP of $86,675 according to Edmunds.com and a 1/4 mile track time of 12.8 seconds at 115.1 mph and it took 4.5 seconds to get from 0 to 60 mph.  As I mentioned it has 500hop and 383 ft lb of torque.  This bad boy will get up and go, but the M5 doesn’t really feel like a fast car, which is the beauty of it.  It’s more of a sleeper where people believe it’s just another 5 series sedan, but it’s actually a monster on the highway.

The E60 M5 was the world’s first production sedan to feature a V10 gasoline engine.  At the time the M5 was released to the public it was the fastest 4-door production sedan in the world, which you would probably suspect it to be.  It had a five year run from 2005 to 2010.

If you’re looking for a fun pre-owned vehicle in this $30,000 price range this is a fantastic car to consider and I don’t expect it to last long.

2008 BMW M5 Sedan Vehicle Options
  • Air Conditioning
  • Electronic Parking Aid
  • Power Seats
  • Alarm System
  • Extra Keys
  • Power Trunk Lid
  • Alloy Wheels
  • Fog Lights
  • Power Windows
  • AM/FM
  • Front Air Dam
  • Rain Sensing Wipers
  • Anti-Lock Brakes
  • Front Power Lumbar Support
  • Rear Airbags
  • Automatic Climate Control
  • Front Power Memory Seat
  • Rear Defroster
  • Automatic Headlights
  • Front Side Airbag
  • Separate Driver/Front Passenger Climate Controls
  • Aux Audio Jack
  • Heated Exterior Mirror
  • Side Airbags
  • Back Up Sonar
  • Heated Seats
  • Side Head Curtain Airbag
  • Bluetooth
  • High Intensity Discharge Headlights
  • Steering Wheel Mounted Controls
  • Bucket Seats
  • Interval Wipers
  • Subwoofer
  • Cargo Area Tiedowns
  • Keyless Entry
  • Sun Roof
  • CD
  • Leather Seats
  • Tachometer
  • CD Changer
  • Leather Steering Wheel
  • Telematics System
  • Chrome Wheels
  • Limited Slip Differential
  • Telescopic Steering Column
  • Cruise Control
  • Locking Differential
  • Tilt Wheel
  • Daytime Running Lights
  • Navigation
  • Tinted Windows
  • Driver Airbag
  • Owners Manual
  • Tire Pressure Monitor
  • Driver Multi-Adjustable Power Seat
  • Passenger Airbag
  • Traction Control
  • Electrochromic Exterior Rearview Mirror
  • Passenger Multi-Adjustable Power Seat
  • Trip Computer
  • Electrochromic Interior Rearview Mirror
  • Power Locks
  • Trunk Anti-Trap Device
  • Electronic Brake Assistance
  • Power Mirrors
  • Vehicle Stability Control System

If you are looking for a fast BMW with plenty of room for five people, amazing horsepower and speed look no further than this nice BMW M5 sedan.

Price: $31,000

Cool Car Guy RatingExtremely Cool

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John Boyd

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

Cool Car Shot – Photos Of Rob’s Very Cool BMW 335i With Xdrive

BMW01 Last year I sold a 2005 Pontiac GTO for a client, Rob, that he had placed on consignment with me. He was in Russia at the time, doing some work and needed to sell it, so I helped him sell his vehicle as I’ve helped hundreds of people do over the years. I got an email from him back in September that after several years in Russia, the company he was working for was transferring him to North Dakota.

Russia and North Dakota have the same type of climate, so someone at his company must have a sense of humor.  He said he was going to a place in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota – it’s a big State.  He wanted something fun to drive on those long road trips and that was also reliable.  He decided on a BMW – “The Ultimate Driving Machine”.

BMW02 He asked me to help him get his new vehicle and he was kicking around between the BMW 135i or the 335i with Xdrive, formerly known as the 335xi.  We landed on the latter and I tracked him down the exact vehicle that he wanted with all the features he was going to need for living in North Dakota.  He only had about a week to get his vehicle before he was off to North Dakota and he wanted the window tinting done and a clear bra, but I got it all wrapped up for him within his deadline.

I met him at Murray Motors in Denver with my friend Bob Oetjen to deliver the vehicle and after the delivery I asked him to send me some photos of his very cool new car.  This morning he wrote me the following and sent along the photos you see in this post…

BMW03 The Sweetest Thing the movie “Hey John,

Here are some pics of the BMW with the tint. Let me know if you want bigger versions of the pics for your website. The car is awesome and a blast to drive. Very happy with it. No snow yet here in North Dakota, but it is cold. So the heated seats and steering wheel get used all the time.

Thanks again for doing a great job helping me find the BMW.

-Rob”

Nice job Rob!  Glad you love it and it’s keeping you warm.

BMW04His BMW 335i is probably my favorite production vehicle with the twin-turbos and you can’t argue with the great looking lines of this car that so many car companies want and try to duplicate.  It’s definitely a blast to drive!  I can’t say that about every BMW, but the 328i with the straight six cylinder and the 335i with twin turbos rock!  The Xdrive is an added bonus giving them all-wheel-drive handling and great performance in all driving conditions.

335i Sedan

Peerless performance.

Starting at $40,300 MSRP
3.0-liter, turbocharged inline 6-cylinder engine
300 horsepower
Rear-wheel drive
26 mpg hwy*

More detailed specifications

3.0-liter, 300-horsepower, dual overhead cam (DOHC), inline 24-valve 6-cylinder engine with aluminum engine block, Advanced Turbo technology, piezo direct injection, and Double-VANOS steplessly variable valve timing

Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), including Brake Fade Compensation, Start-off Assistant, Brake Drying, and Brake Stand-by features, with Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), xDrive all-wheel-drive system, 4-wheel ventilated anti-lock disc brakes with Dynamic Brake Control (DBC), Twin-tube gas-pressure shock absorbers, Engine-speed-sensitive, variable-assist power steering, Double-pivot type front suspension with dual forged-aluminum lower arms (328i xDrive and 335i xDrive have steel lower arms and a steel subframe, plus an aluminum thrust plate), Hill Descent Control, Chrome-plated exhaust tips

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John Boyd

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy