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So last year i hit one of my goals by purchasing my current S2000. Love the car, however after daily driving it for about 8 months i realize that i want to keep this car more for track and autocross use. So the past week i started looking for a new daily driver. I was looking for something not too pricey but also new with as many bells and whistles and creature comforts that i could afford while still being sporty and fun to drive. I decided to look for a lease as i wasnt sure if this was a car i wanted to keep and a lease would allow my price range to expand a bit more. The current gen WRX was a pretty big contender for a good minute. AWD, 265 HP, lots of legacy behind it, Apple Carplay/Android Auto, choice of manual, decent amount of creature comforts. Also the price was hard to beat.
I also considered the Veloster N, around the same price, sporty like the Golf GTI (my best friend and girlfriend both own a GTI), new car so it would be a rarer sight on the road and it felt comfortable. Decent enough space as well for a mini hot hatch.
And then i decided to go out on a limb and start looking at brands i never would have considered. I saw that BMW had a lease special for a 2019 230i that was in my price range. I thought well, i've always wanted to own a BMW, this is in my price. Whats the harm in checking? Emailed a rep who got back to me really quickly. The rep told me that they were out of 2019 models but could put me in a 2020 model. After quoting me a number i sort of felt like this was a lost cause as it was considerably out of my budget. The 2020 was more expensive and this specific one had more options than standard. I mentioned my regret, but then he told me to wait. I waited and he came back with some numbers that were still high, but were approaching what i could afford. We talked out some more numbers and i managed to negotiate down the numbers even further than i thought possible. It was at a point where the numbers were very close to what i was getting quoted for a WRX. I decided to go check the car out as i always knew i could back out if i wanted. Went to the dealership after work and checked out a brand new 2020 230i. The car came with the comfort package and the sport package (no Msport package unfortunately). This meant heated seats, lumbar support, heated steering wheel, moonroof. a ton of creature comforts that the WRX wasnt even offering. The cost difference at this point was only 50$ a month different from the WRX. I decided to take the dive and jump into a brand that i've always wanted. I always imagined my first BMW being an old 3 series sedan (cuz you know...cheap) but i never imaged that it would be a brand new 2020 sports coupe with a bunch of bells and whistles. This is another dream come true for me as i've always wanted a BMW. Now i have a BMW daily and my S2000 track car. Life is good.
Nice! That's a pretty smooth turbo motor and with a lease, you really don't have to worry about maintenance or problems.
Yeah a big thing holding me back from BMW was always that dark cloud of maintenance problems we all hear about. The lease is a good test to see if i'm going to be one of the unlucky few who gets plagued with problems without having to spend an arm and a leg on replacement parts or labor costs.
The way this thing drives is insane. Its so different from my S2000 which i love to death. but its really nice going from a pure racecar into something so luxurious.
Nice. Did you find one of the rare manuals too? FUn car to drive and you will be amazed at the gas mileage for the power it delivers. You should get about 40mpg on long highway trips.
Nice. Did you find one of the rare manuals too? FUn car to drive and you will be amazed at the gas mileage for the power it delivers. You should get about 40mpg on long highway trips.
no but as this is a DD and i live in the SF Bay Area i decided i wanted an auto to deal with traffic. While i've lived with traffic and manuals for the past 16 years of driving, i do also have issues with my feet and the auto will allow me to get to work if one of my feet start acting up lol.
But yeah this also gets a lot better mileage than my current DD which is a nice 21 mpg
And you didn't buy a g damn CUV. The forum owes you some beers!
lol you'll never see me buy/lease a CUV/SUV voluntarily. I need sports cars in my life, even if they are for DD. Originally considered another 86 as my DD but this actually ended up being cheaper to lease and a better deal.
Congrats on your new BMW; it looks hot. White is great on BMW's. Any side pics? How long of a lease did you do? Do you need a front plate in your state?
Way cooler than a WRX and will look way better side by side when they both are 3 years old.
Congrats on your new BMW; it looks hot. White is great on BMW's. Any side pics? How long of a lease did you do? Do you need a front plate in your state?
Way cooler than a WRX and will look way better side by side when they both are 3 years old.
I really really wanted Black but this was all they had. I'm still really happy with the color though. I can upload some side pics tonight. Unforuntetly i do need a front plate in my state and the dealership had already screwed one in before i had even seen the car so that was a let down. However for what i got im not complaining.
Don’t be surprised if they make you a hell of a deal at lease end. My close to $40k daily driver was offered to me at a very cheap price at lease end. So cheap I would have been a fool to turn the keys in. You can make out buying a lease, big time. Let the manu take the depreciation hit instead of you. Doesn’t always work out that way but many times does. Enjoy it. I love having a dedicated DD. It’s the donkey in the fleet.
12-04-2019, 08:08 AM
My new daily driver and another goal hit
