Used BMW cars

BMW is one of the best-represented premium makes second-hand, with an offer concentrated on saloons and estates, and a fleet whose profile differs markedly from the mainstream makes.

Two facts sum up that fleet: diesel is in the majority, and so is the automatic gearbox. That is the opposite of what you see at the French makes, and it comes down to use. Many of these cars were company cars covering high motorway mileages.

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Used BMW cars: premium, diesel and automatic

The used-car range

The 1 Series and the 3 Series dominate the offer, the first in the compact segment and the second among family saloons, as a saloon and as a Touring estate.

The 2 Series covers the coupe, convertible and compact MPV formats, and the 5 Series the executive segment.

The X range, X1, X3 and X5, occupies the SUV ground, with running costs appreciably higher than the equivalent saloons.

Engines and drivetrain

Diesel dominates, with four- and six-cylinder units valued for their torque and their economy on long journeys. It is the coherent choice if your annual mileage is high.

Petrol is well represented on the 1 and 2 Series, and across all the sporting versions.

An automatic gearbox is fitted to most of the fleet, including the compacts. It is a proven design, but its servicing, a gearbox oil change at intervals, should be in the book.

xDrive four-wheel drive is common on SUVs and powerful versions; it adds components that need servicing.

What to check

Running costs are the real subject on a used BMW. Large tyres, often run-flats on the generations concerned, cost markedly more than a mainstream equivalent and cannot always be repaired.

On diesels, check the servicing of the emissions system and the oil-change history, which governs the life of the timing chain on several units.

On versions with adaptive suspension, rebuilding one component costs nothing like a conventional damper: test it during the drive.

A complete main-dealer service history is worth more here than a few thousand kilometres less on the clock.

Who a used BMW car suits

A used BMW car suits drivers who cover significant distances and put road behaviour and equipment first, provided they build in a servicing budget above a mainstream car's.

The links below narrow by model, engine or budget.