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We've owned two BMW's, and many other vehicles of German heritage. With the two vehicles we had one tremendously good experience and one tremendously bad.

The good experience was with the 3-Series, a 2006 328i, purchased new. This model is the sport model with lower horsepower than it's sibling the 335. It was my car, and I absolutely loved it. It has every convenience feature and the driving experience was phenomenal, except for a want in horsepower. My vehicle a 6 speed manual gearbox, and if I were to do it again I would choose the automatic. When we sold the car the manual transmission was a detriment. Also, the lack of horsepower would not be so noticeable in an automatic. And BMWs have a very good reputation on the reliability of their transmissions.

Now for the bad experience-we purchased a used 2004 645i. To cut to the chase, it's fatal flaw was that it also had a manual gearbox. When we test drove it with 7000 miles, the clutch was shot, which soon became evident in the following weeks after purchase. Other than the gearbox, the car was tremendous. It had incredible power, beautiful styling, and an ingenious I-Drive system featuring a logical navigation system. We would recommend the older version, the 645i, or the new 650, but make sure you get an automatic!

If you decide to shop for a BMW, first check the reputation of the dealership. A drive-by of the dealership is also revealing; if there are a lot of cars on the lot, it is a good dealership. BMW allots the best dealerships judged by customer satisfaction with the most cars.

Learn more about this author, Carrie Delta.
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