Well it is official, I listed the Audi to continue my search for my E53.

[SlickGT1]

I'm the same. I had my dealer call the people that I found selling, while he also searched the auctions. What I found out through him is that most of those places don't remove old adds. They are kept there to attract customers. He confirmed it multiple times by running vins and seeing the cars sold and bought, even registered already. In the end he got me a good price from another dealer in Florida. His entire service cost me $500, but he cut down all the BS, arranged everything, registered it, ran the PPI, put it through manheim, UV light, post sale inspection, transport, everything.

Why don't you try going through auction? At least you get sale protection, have a chance at returning it, or even get the seller to pay for undisclosed repairs. Auction didn't work out for me because there were only 6 2006 4.8is in a year, on the whole north east. Only one was black. 4.4i were all over the auctions. Yea you won't get a PPI, but you will have post sale protection for like 14 days.

[TwinTurboGTR]

UHGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!! Why do PITA used car lots sometimes get away with having nice E53's on their lot. They have no business selling these.

So found a 2005 4.4i today. Titanium Silver on Black. Sport Pkg, Cold Weather, Rear Climate.. Loaded. Asking $18K with 77K miles.

So go and try to take a look. Can't find it. Get some PITA sales guy. Start looking all over, can't find it. So then I thought, the damn thing doesn't exist. I turn around and WAYYYYYY in the back, under a tree in the corner is this E53. Bird crap, tree sap, leaves a pollen littered this thing. Now I really didn't care. I thought, "Good, gives me more room to move on it. Buy it as is."

SO I asked for a test drive. X started real nice. Interior arm rests were worn to the point the stitching came off. No big deal. Brake pedal was a little spongy. Tranny shifted smooth, almost too smooth. Otherwise it drove nice. Only things I found wrong was 2 different sets of tires. 19" Diamaris or however you spell that up front with -3/32nds on em. No joke, cord was starting to show. And 19" Toyo's in the back with 5/32nds on them. Nav screen was shot. Just didn't work and was black with streaks of pixels lit up. Needed inspection 2 service and the red service light was lit. And the body had some severe deep scratches on the paint.

So what I am looking to do is to trade my Audi straight up or have the dealer owe me some money. The latter part would be a stretch, but straight up should not be so hard.

SO I was straight up with the sales guy telling him I need to do it straight up and the X needs to come down. Here is when things go downhill.

The price of the X was $18K. Add $1200 "Dealer prep fee", $975 "Dealer Fee", and $450 "Doc Fee" SO I question him on the "Dealer fee and Prep fee" He explained if anything needs to be done to the car, it will be done and will pass inspection. SO I starts banging them out, "So you will be replacing the Nav screen, Interior bits, new rubber on 4 corners, and service?" Here is the best part; "Well, no. We are only ensuring it will pass NJ state inspection. Otherwise the car is sold AS-IS." Wait wahhhh???? SO I asked, "Then why am I being charged $2100? And again he says so it will pass inspection. So I told him, to just sell the X as is so I won't have to pay the fees. He tell me he can't, fees have to be tacked on. So now the purchase price is $20K.

So now my trade for my Audi. I asked for him to appraise it. I said, I'd be happy with $17K. Book is $21K, trade is $18.5K He comes back with $7500 for my Audi??? I laughed, got up said thank you and walked out.

Ok rant over, and the search continues.

[Phr3d]

SlickGt's BMW Dealer method sounds a treat compared to your (very common) experience on most lots, worth considering IMHO.

Might wanna' convey to the BMW salesperson that you want a one-stop shop to do all your maintenance, leaving off the part about only needing OE parts, of course.

else, plan on posting more rants -- unless you're lucky enough to find one for sale here & sell the Audi outright..

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by TwinTurboGTR

UHGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!! Why do PITA used car lots sometimes get away with having nice E53's on their lot. They have no business selling these.

So found a 2005 4.4i today. Titanium Silver on Black. Sport Pkg, Cold Weather, Rear Climate.. Loaded. Asking $18K with 77K miles.

So go and try to take a look. Can't find it. Get some PITA sales guy. Start looking all over, can't find it. So then I thought, the damn thing doesn't exist. I turn around and WAYYYYYY in the back, under a tree in the corner is this E53. Bird crap, tree sap, leaves a pollen littered this thing. Now I really didn't care. I thought, "Good, gives me more room to move on it. Buy it as is."

SO I asked for a test drive. X started real nice. Interior arm rests were worn to the point the stitching came off. No big deal. Brake pedal was a little spongy. Tranny shifted smooth, almost too smooth. Otherwise it drove nice. Only things I found wrong was 2 different sets of tires. 19" Diamaris or however you spell that up front with -3/32nds on em. No joke, cord was starting to show. And 19" Toyo's in the back with 5/32nds on them. Nav screen was shot. Just didn't work and was black with streaks of pixels lit up. Needed inspection 2 service and the red service light was lit. And the body had some severe deep scratches on the paint.

So what I am looking to do is to trade my Audi straight up or have the dealer owe me some money. The latter part would be a stretch, but straight up should not be so hard.

SO I was straight up with the sales guy telling him I need to do it straight up and the X needs to come down. Here is when things go downhill.

The price of the X was $18K. Add $1200 "Dealer prep fee", $975 "Dealer Fee", and $450 "Doc Fee" SO I question him on the "Dealer fee and Prep fee" He explained if anything needs to be done to the car, it will be done and will pass inspection. SO I starts banging them out, "So you will be replacing the Nav screen, Interior bits, new rubber on 4 corners, and service?" Here is the best part; "Well, no. We are only ensuring it will pass NJ state inspection. Otherwise the car is sold AS-IS." Wait wahhhh???? SO I asked, "Then why am I being charged $2100? And again he says so it will pass inspection. So I told him, to just sell the X as is so I won't have to pay the fees. He tell me he can't, fees have to be tacked on. So now the purchase price is $20K.

So now my trade for my Audi. I asked for him to appraise it. I said, I'd be happy with $17K. Book is $21K, trade is $18.5K He comes back with $7500 for my Audi??? I laughed, got up said thank you and walked out.

Ok rant over, and the search continues.

what joke of a dealership did you go to for that debacle? lol i'd never even entertain asking them for business.

[SlickGT1]

TwinTurbo, I've been there bro. I flew down to Florida to look at a car at a reputable benz dealership. Car was a 2005, and I kept seeing him sell it for way too high on ebay. The guy was feeding me shit left and right. Fees for this, fees for that, they have to do the registration they have to lick the poop off the tires, and all of that I have to pay for. My dealer got in touch with him, and the song changed. Price went down, lots of fees went away. Problem is, the Benz dealer wouldn't offer any protection, wouldn't release the car to Auction for inspection and protection, tires were shot, alignment was off, lots of little issues. Now on top of all that, he wouldn't release the car for 5 days after even paying for it. Back and forth with my dealer, he told me to stay away from that shit, especially since I might as well hold out for a 2006, and avoid scam artist dealers.

In the end, I was so happy to pay $500 to my dealer that you can't believe. The song changed every time he would call. And don't forget, since I went through him, he was able to pull up all the service records for every car. I have a PDF of mine. I bet very few people have that with their cars.

[TwinTurboGTR]

For the dealership, it was just a local dealership that was 20 mins from my house. They had a lot of cars on the lot. I don't want to go bashing dealerships because its just not nice. I mean the crazy thing is when they offered the $7500 for the Audi. They said, "It's tough you know? It's Red. Red is hard to sell. Hard to insure and a trap for cops." Whaaaa??? I had a 2008 Acura TL and when I insured the Audi, my premium went down by $900/yr. And that was standard $250/$500 in coverage. They were just feeding a bunch of crap.

Slick,

So what did you do? Walk into you Bimmer dealership and asked them to find you a X5 4.8is? And that's when you found one in Fl and had the Dealership act as your liaison?

[dannypiv]

I am a dealer. I've got a 2003 Imola Red over M-Sport Alcantara 4.6is for sale, don't know if you're interested in one. This ones really nice, i've had a lot of experience with these cars (owned 2 4.6is's and now a 4.8is). Just a thought!

[dannypiv]

Don't know if you got my PM, let me know if you didn't!

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by TwinTurboGTR

For the dealership, it was just a local dealership that was 20 mins from my house. They had a lot of cars on the lot. I don't want to go bashing dealerships because its just not nice. I mean the crazy thing is when they offered the $7500 for the Audi. They said, "It's tough you know? It's Red. Red is hard to sell. Hard to insure and a trap for cops." Whaaaa??? I had a 2008 Acura TL and when I insured the Audi, my premium went down by $900/yr. And that was standard $250/$500 in coverage. They were just feeding a bunch of crap.

Slick,

So what did you do? Walk into you Bimmer dealership and asked them to find you a X5 4.8is? And that's when you found one in Fl and had the Dealership act as your liaison?

Basically told them I want this. They gave me a run around. Then one of the SAs gave me a dealers number that buys BMW from this dealer, and BMWs from all over for his import export. So I called him up. Turns out he is local in Brooklyn, and a bunch of people actually know him from the e30 forums. After a bit of asking around, he is friends with my neighbor. Small ass world. This guy buys a new BMW every week. Its an Uncle Nephew deal, only two people. Real business, not some random dude going to auctions. And the rest is above. He took care of it all.

He is just one of those tight connections with BMW, so they do shit for him, and he does shit for them. I can give you his number if you want.

[TwinTurboGTR]

So after looking, I don't think a 4.8is is possible. A lot of them I have seen that are within my price range have 90K plus miles, which is something I expected and do not have a problem with. What I do have a problem with is when I meet a dealer or personal seller and they are complete ^&*^%$'s about the 4.8is. None so far want to budge $500 on their 4.8's. One in particular is at a local BMW dealership. 2005 4.8is, Pretty much every option and is in Black Sapphire on Black. Took a spin and it looks great and rides great. Then it came down to price. It has 97K on the clock and is listed at $21K. It is not absurd, but should definitely have room for movement. So my way of negotiating is getting 3 comps and averaging it out. Now from what I have found, the avg price in that mileage range is $18K. So once I show them this, they roll their eyes and say, "Well that is never going to happen." Whoa, wait, I didn't even get a word out yet and you're killing the deal? Then I start getting the run around. With this one in particular I got, "Well Black Sapphire is very very rare and this is fully loaded and this vehicle was purchased from us and serviced by us since delivery. So the price is firm. I may be able to get a few hundred off." Umm no??? Then I start talking. "Well the tires are shot, front brake rotors have grooves in them, CV boot is torn, and the nav screen is dead. And from what I found, this vehicle was first in NY and then the second owner bought this from you after you bought it from Auction. With that known, I'm prepared to take it as-is if you are willing to work on the price. "Ummm, no." Ok, see you later. And that has been the same story for all of them so far. Well only 4, but they were all over the place.

So then I did a search; 4.6is vs. 4.8is and I learned a lot. After reading all the posts and such, JCL came up with some really good points.
1. Regular sunroof (No worries about the problems associated with the Panoramic roof.

2. No worries about intermediate levers on the N62

3. No worries about Air bag suspension on all 4 corners (Yes the ride is much smoother, but a lot of people have expressed that they feel detached from the driving experience)

4. Less electronic things to go wrong.

So with all that, it was interesting to listen to both sides. People who own a 4.8 love it and people who own a 4.6 love it. Very few have owned both, but those that do liked the 4.6 more then their 4.8's. They expressed they felt detached from the X, meaning they don't get any feel from the X.

Then you have Slick's explanation, "I got all 4 wheels spinning coming out of an off-ramp. I love my 4.8is!" lol


From what I gather, if you want raw intense power that came be tame and refined when need be, but can be unleashed into raging havoc, 4.6is is the way to go.

If you want a beast that can be calm and collective, then the 4.8is is your cup of joe.

While the other pros and cons were go for as new as possible, I do like the wheels on the 4.6 over the 4.8.

So I did find a very good one, its in PA, 2003 49K miles Black Sapphire and black and looks great. $20K. And again, I called, will not budge on price and says it is rare. So I admit I got aggressive, I told them the X has been in their inventory for 3 months. Being it is a 2003, its going to be difficult to find someone to A. Want this and B. have it financed. I said I would be coming in with cash. He still said no.

How awesome!