Maybe look at buying the bmw used as a sort of long term payment plan. IE. I bought my 2004 loaded X5 (its a manual) a couple months ago with 75k miles on it for 11k. I don't know exactly what this car was new but I would think with the packages it had it would have been close to 60k out the door. So that is a hell of a depreciation over 9 years compared to other cars. The reason they depreciate like they do is that a 9 year old bmw no longer has the image those with money to buy new want yet it will cost more to maintain as it ages than it did first leaving the dealer. They key is that if I do all or most the work myself I have a high end vehicle for a pretty reasonable price it is just that I am going to be making payments in the form of parts and maintenance for the duration of my ownership. BMW is great in this regard because they are some of the easiest vehicles to work on IMO so as long as you go into it with the right mindset your getting a hell of a deal.

Go drive and MDX and tell me if you disagree. The MDX will hold its value better and will cost less to maintain (it is probably also pretty easy to diy) but it is going to drive like a shit compared to your X. Unfortunately you just can't have your cake and eat it to and if you could that cake would be lot pricier.

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2004 e53 m54 with 6spd manual