u/Alarming-Audience839

Recently I got quite a big upgrade in my yearly income, and am looking to move from a one car setup, to a two car setup, with the new BMW I purchase as the "primary" get around car.

I currently own a very high mile FRS, which I don't plan to sell due to cosmetic damage +mechanical quirks flattening its resale value, making it more valuable to me than it would be to the market. I plan to keep that car as a primary weekend and canyon project car.

I'm looking at buying only after the initial depreciation tank, that being 2-3 years old 30k miles. Ideally lease returns/businessman cars, with consistent dealer maintenance history and no aftermarket hoonery.

Between the three above listed cars, I'm surprisingly finding that the 540i is cheapest for me in terms of initial purchase and quoted insurance value, even filtering to only those with the M sport package. After that, the insurance of the m340i and m440i come out about the same, with list prices slightly favoring the m340i, but it seems mostly due to there being greater supply of them.

In terms of personal preference, I like the styling and liftback of the m440i the best, but the low supply feels like I'm squeezing into a narrow enthusiast market, as opposed to the m340i which just kinda exists everywhere, so my final price might end up higher. Comparatively the 540i looks and feels too "old man" for the sport-luxury sedan I'm looking for, but the pricing point is extremely lucrative, and more electronic and luxury features seems like more expenses later. Is the 540i msport trim bring it in line with sport expectations, or is it still an executive cruiser first?

TLDR: m440igc liftback and styling win, but expensive and niche market. M340i nice styling, still expensive but bigger market, sadly no liftback. 540i m-sport, stupid cheap for some reason, but seems too luxury sided instead of sport sedan. Which buy for daily?

I'm currently used market hunting a rwd 440i gran coupe, in any non black/white/base gray color. (Brooklyn and Dravit grays are sorta ok). I'm looking at 45k and down OOTD, with 40k miles or less. It seems like rwd GCs are already rare on the used market, and many of those are ex-fleet white. I can wait and search for a while (and my price range loosens as I save), but am I searching for an actual myth?

Also, what are y'alls monthly maintenance costs looking like? I'm coming from an frs where I diy anything that isn't engine/trans out, (or tire mounting/alignment), and am planning to do my own oil and general upkeep, but I'm still prepared to be sticker shocked. What does it look like for models in mid milage.

Currently cross shopping between an m440i gc, m340i, and m540i. I'm only looking used at around 30k miles, and at that price point, I'm seeing that the 540i is cheapest, then 440i, then 340i (for some unknown reason).

I'm a huge lift/hatchback lover and am leaning 440i for that reason, but some of these price to milage deals on the 540i seem more than ideal. Plus it keeps from going too far into an ultra executive luxury only sedan. I've also heard the 540i has more expensive maintenance, which I am wary of.

I'm currently just waiting and hunting for my unicorn trim (cape York green, red interior, xdrive 440i gc, 30k miles, mid 40s price), but with how good a lot of these 540i deals are looking, I may jump that way. Does anyone have experience between the two? Is the 540i that much more soft and luxurious and padded away than the 440i?

Looking into buying a used m340i or m440i gc.

It looks like the depreciation wall for both of these cars are around 50k miles, and 4-5 years old. Dropping down to the low 40k to even high 30k price points for "undesirable" trims in that range. (I plan to wrap, so color is whatever)

I'm looking to keep the monthly payment low, loan duration at 36 months, and pay around 50% down, so extending the loan term is not feasible, but I can save that 10k ish difference between 20-30k miles 2023/2024, and a 40-50k mile 2021/2022 in pure cash down in about 5 months, if I continue saving very aggressively for the down payment (after maxing 401k and Roth ofc, not crippling to long term saving, but hits the non-necessities budget hard)

Is it worth the wait and longer term market sniping to have more of that cash down and get a newer car? I commute by train, and while my current car has many cosmetic issues (and some 6MT linkage issues), it drives "fine" if you know how to avoid them. On one hand I don't want to be "on the hook" for that depreciation cliff on my money, but I also plan to make this car very very long term, and "drive til it dies" and not play the constant upgrades game, so I would feel more secure if I had my maintenance schedule applied from earlier on (oil at half the interval, check coolant regularly, ATF, diff, transfer case at 50k).

Looking into getting into a lightly used of either of these cars. While out the door the CLA45 pricing is a bit absurd, after 3-4 years and 20k ish miles, it gets steep depreciation, compared to the rs3 which really doesn't. At the milage and age point I'm looking, the rs3 easily puts 15k on top of a used cla price. Due to this I'm leaning the CLA.

That being said, outside of the iconic factor of the i5, is the rs3 really 15-20k better than a cla45 at the lightly used price point?

Looking at the rs3 as my next car upgrade, but a 2022+ 8Y is currently a bit of a stretch on out the door price. I'm seeing 2017-19 8Vs in my mileage range (under 40k miles), and below my budget ceiling at 50k.

Would it be worthwhile to wait a bit more building cash down, and for 2022s to come down a bit to hopefully that range while market hunting? Or is the impending discontinuation going to eat any potential price drops I get, and I'm better off pulling the trigger on a 2018-19?

Finished a pretty brutal job search (RO rescinded due to internal freeze so late recruiting, 60 apps, 3 offers), and am trying to lock back in on classwork and finishing publication but it's just so hard. Now that I have a known solid offer(150+signing+rsu), (and neither of my classes this qtr affect grad), I can't bring myself to care that much. I have a 4.0 in my MS program so I want to keep it, but I'm so close to Pass/no passing all my classes and calling it.

Anyone else in similar? How do I get re motivated.