Just came back from the dealer and this is the car i was looking at:
330ci
Metallic Paint
ZHP Performance Package
Power Glass Moonroof
Xenon Adaptive Headlights
6sp manual
msrp : $43720
out the door price: 46016

My negotiated price was 42350...and Dealer told me that they were not offering the ZHP for much discount. Can I do better than that? I live in So Cal if that helps. Saw someone here getting a zhp for 40k something that had a mspr of 44k but he lives in san fran area. Is it my area or should I just go to a different dealer.

and here is the lease deal:
residual: .55
interest rate : 1.5 (not sure if this is equivalent to the money factor, which is 2.65 according to another thread)
total upfront payment : 1048
term: 36 months
miles: 15000
monthly 660 (base) or $712 after tax.

does this lease look right? i went to bmw webpage and configured a 330ci to come out to 43520 msrp(so that the price is about the same as my negotiated price) and inputed the same lease paramters. Result was 590 monthly payment and I'm assuming thats before tax.

Anyways, so my 2 questions are if i can negotiate a better price and if so what's a good price in Orance County area for a ZHP with the above options?
Can I get a better lease deal?

doesn't sound like a good deal to me. I talked mine down to 43k but mine also included leather and cold weather package and retailed at 45,920 i believe.

sounds pretty good to me. i have a sedan and mine came out to be 45K otd which is around 42K, but mine has leather as well and it's a sedan. i also live in cali. dunno about he lease info tho. :confused:

according to edmunds.com the sedans are getting discounted right now. most ppl are paying below invoice on them. Not sure if this applies to the ZHP version though.

I'm in the middle of negotiating a deal now and was wondering how much over invoice are people paying these days on the 2004 330ci ZHP, especially around SoCal area? one would think that with the new 2005 around the corner and body style update in about a year, you should get good deals on them...

Best I was offered for a 330ci was $1500 over invoice. I'm sticking with the sedan, which I could get for invoice. There's apparently a dealer rebate offered for the sedan, but not for the coupe.

yeah 1500 over invoice seems to be the magic number in SoCal area too, especially for the ZHP. I could not get my dealer to lower than that.

a easy way to lower the price is to come in with a load of money in a briefcase .. they will gladly lower the price if you can pay them more money up front.

Appears to be a pretty good deal. The money factor is a bit high, but the residual is strong this late in the year. You can use http://www.leasecompare.com to compare the lease rate against 3rd party banks. Sometimes LC is better, sometimes manufacturer sponsored or other is better. Tell the dealer to throw in floor mats, a BMW hat and key chains - the drive happy!

Last month ALL 3-series 330s (coupes and sedans) had 2400 dollar dealer incentives. This month it is only available on the sedans. However, the money factor for the lease is on the coupe this month is about as low as you'll ever find on a BMW.

this is the final deal i worked out:

36 months
15k miles
0 down
600 a month which is around 550 base + 45(tax)

for the 330ci I mentioned above.
i checked out leasecompare and they were all in the 700+ month without any tax included so probably around 760+ tax. So it looks like i got a decent deal. Unless I hear about any better deal (maybe a rebate coming next month) , I will sign next week =)

Perhaps it's a regional issue, but suffice it to say, you're paying a hell of a lot more than I am for a lease....

Perhaps it's a regional issue, but suffice it to say, you're paying a hell of a lot more than I am for a lease....

can you elaborate on the deal you got? what is your monthly payment with and without tax. what was your msrp and then negotiated price.

If you have red(non-metallic) sedan zhp with the same option as my coupe, it is possible to get that for less than 38k here and that would explain the lease payment difference. on the coupe, best i could do was 1500 over msrp, while the sedan is sold below invoice right now due to 2400 factory rebate.

Same options, Imola paint, MSRP was a little over $42K, I got the car under invoice (it was on the lot, and I know the leasing mgr), and I pay under $490/mos for 36 mos on a lease...

Perhaps its not a regional issue then. Perhaps you know the leasing manager and got a deal that's not repeatable. Thanks for the buzz kill.

I think the $600 deal looks pretty good for $0dn 15k/mi 36/mo on a near $44k sedan. But that's just MHO.

Well, could have been that, plus a regional issue in that I got it in the dead of Winter in the Northeast, etc....

Same options, Imola paint, MSRP was a little over $42K, I got the car under invoice (it was on the lot, and I know the leasing mgr), and I pay under $490/mos for 36 mos on a lease...

yep, it's because you bought a sedan with non metallic paint which basicly takes 4000 dollars off the price. There is a current 2400 rebate only on the sedan and the sedan is around 1000 dollars cheaper. non metallic takes off another 500. When i was playing around with the numbers and a lease calculater i calculated that each 1000 dollars off my negotiated price would take off aournd 25-30 off my monthly payment.

Ok, but there was no rebate when I got my car (last Feb) and coupes were not offered with the ZHP package back then, either.

And don't forget about Dealer Hold-Back, which on a BMW is 2-3%. So if the car has been on the lot long enough (90 days, I believe) the dealer is about to lose that as well, and on a $40-45K car that can be $1K or more.

So getting under invoice or close to it should not be an issue if you play your cards right. Honestly, unless it's an exclusive car (like an M car) I see no reason to ever pay more than $300-$500 over invoice price on a car.

Unless it's a regional issue...

I don't think there are any holdbacks on bmws. I can't seem to find the website anymore, but I saw a list of the holdback percentages for each manufacturer, and I looked up BMW-- it said none.

I think it's pretty rare for BMWs to go for as little as $500 over invoice (unless dealer cost is lowered with incentives). They seem to want to make at least $1000 per car. At least that's what I've been telling myself so I can sleep at night :).

I got mine well under invoice... and my friend may be my friend, but he can't go too ridiculous on deals, either. Matter of fact, he was completely honest with me in that he couldn't knock anymore than $1000 off the MSRP of any new M car, for instance...

I got mine well under invoice... and my friend may be my friend, but he can't go too ridiculous on deals, either. Matter of fact, he was completely honest with me in that he couldn't knock anymore than $1000 off the MSRP of any new M car, for instance...

on the sedan, dealers are much more willing to deal. I think even without the rebate the sedan goes for a little or sometimes a little under invoice. At least that what edmund tmv tells me.
On the 330ci, best deal i saw so far was 1000 over invoice. I'm getting mine 1500 over and after my dealer told me he could not go lower and realizing it only makes about 10 dollar difference in payment per months i didn't bother to further negotiate.

but then again, I hear you can place 2005 orders now and current 2004 models should be heavily discounted???

4 doors might also lease better, they might have a higher resale value, which effects the residual...