So I couldn't resist. As I drove past Budds' BMW in Oakville yesterday, the siren song was too strong and I had to stop in. A pair of 1-series cabrios were doing seemingly constant test-drive duty... a red 135i with M-sport pkg sat right out front of the main doors. "Funny..." I thought, "those rear tires look to show a bit of wear on them... especially considering it's only been out for a week or two." A black 128i sat just inside the doors. I crawled into the backseat of the 128. Yikes... it's a bit of a contortionist's act getting in and out of that thing.
I took a few minutes of the salesperson's time and we ran some lease numbers. 39mo. lease. 24k/yr kms. $0 downpayment. 135i with no options -- not even metallic paint. Its list price is $41k and change. By comparison, we also ran the numbers on a 328i sedan w/ sport pkg and USB integration (nearly $44k msrp). Same lease details. The difference was a 6.9% lease rate on the 1 series versus a 3.9% on the 3-series. The 1 series came out MUCH costlier despite a pretty close residual (57% for 3 series, 56% for 1 series).
Test drives were offered, but I declined... no time yesterday (and the dealership was busy with people much more likely to buy sooner than me). A 1-series is not in my future any time soon. If the rates come down on the '09s, maybe I'll give it a further consideration.
Oh, and about that red 135i out front? I was told it had already received some Dinan upgrades. I believe the figures he gave me were 368 hp. 415 ft/lb torque. No wonder the tires were showing wear already! Yeeehaw!
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Just up the street is the local Infiniti dealership. Despite two strikes against these guys in the past for ignoring me when I've gone in to look at various products, I thought I'd stop in again. I really want to like the G35. Strike 3 yesterday. A number of sales staff present, chatting amongst one another; reception desk staffed by two young ladies; other misc employees about.... NOBODY paid any attention to me as I played in the cars in the showroom, stood around looking forelorn, etc. Thanks, but no thanks Infiniti. Once you get your dealerships up to par, maybe I'll consider a G again. (incidentally, as soon as I entered the BMW dealership, a stunning blonde woman greeted me, asked what I was in for and promptly got me a professional, courteous and knowledgable salesperson).
