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You have to Test drive the car and see if you can live with the relatively poor rear visibility and lack of rear wiper. IMHO, a rear camera is a must with this car. The dealer lot selections tend to be very poor for the 328xiGT (unlike the sedans, which tend to populate the dealer lots), and tend to be fully loaded with all the junk options but not the two most valuable options: rear camera and Dynamic Handling Package. BMW's DHP package is quite phenomenal (I tried it out on a 428xi Convertible).
If you have the time to custom order, the lease deals on the 328xiGT's are very good. They can be had for about $450-500/mo, with no money own.
Another similar car I looked at when shopping half a year ago was the X1, which drives very similar to the 328xiGT, as the two vehicle are about the same height off the ground, with the same engine and transmission. The problem for me with X1 is that the driver's foot well is too narrow for comfort.
I ended up buying the Acura MDX, with all the options (Advance Package, plus 5000lb towing package). The main deciding factors were:
1. the MDX actually whipped around the corners faster and more level than the 328xiGT and the X1, due to its torque-vectoring AWD;
2. the self-driving features (lane keeping, radar cruise and automatic emergency braking) in the MDX were more advanced than anything BMW offered at the time (in June); those are important features on a long distance road trip car, making long distance driving much more relaxed.
3. I could not wait for custom ordering 328xiGT, and all the specimen on the dealer lots had terrible packages compared to what I want.
4. 7 seat and 5000lb towing could come handy some day.
I end up paying close to $1000/mo for a 5yr loan on the MDX, about double the monthly payment for a 3yr lease on 328xiGT. The BMW would actually be a less expensive option: I will have to keep the MDX about 10 years to be financially even with leasing 3 new BMW 328xiGT in a row over 9-10 years. If not for the immediate need to take delivery of a vehicle to replace my stolen convertible at the time, I probably would have picked the 328xiGT to save some money.
The subsidized leases make BMW's quite compelling choices; ironically that was why I leased the 9-5 14 years ago instead of a Lexus. LOL
posted by 24.177.52...
, Thu, 8 Jan 2015 14:50:31
, Fri, 9 Jan 2015 07:41:02, Sun, 11 Jan 2015 05:11:27, Wed, 7 Jan 2015 12:28:43, Thu, 8 Jan 2015 07:02:27, Fri, 9 Jan 2015 18:17:36, Thu, 8 Jan 2015 06:53:10, Thu, 8 Jan 2015 10:52:43
, Wed, 7 Jan 2015 12:56:20
, Wed, 7 Jan 2015 18:22:28, Wed, 7 Jan 2015 08:51:56, Wed, 7 Jan 2015 09:01:46, Wed, 7 Jan 2015 10:18:43
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