Buy whenever you like and play serious hardball. Don't give them a price to get down to, just tell them whatever they come up with it's too much. Phone/go to every dealership you think you can be bothered going to collect the car from if it comes to it. In the UK, I don't understand why this wouldn't be every dealership in the country. On my three year PCP on a specced up Cooper based on 12,000 miles per annum there was £4,200 between the deal I went for and the worst one I was offered and the one I went for was well over £1,000 better than the next - just over the three year period. So there's your margins right there.
Car dealers are ALWAYS more desperate to sell a car that you are to buy one - look in their eyes, see that sweet desperation. And if they're not, go to the next dealer. Put the leg work in - depends just how much you want a good deal. I'm extremely tight to the point of squeaking when I walk, so I consider it a very good investment of my time scraping out a good deal. Plus I really enjoy the battle.
You'll eventually come to a dealership who's ripped a couple of people off this month so he's got a lot of room to knock more off for you.
I know for a fact that in the UK, the big BMW dealers will sell practically at cost in order to get the sale as hitting BMW's volume targets is what matters to them more than out and out mark-up. That's what keeps the logo above the door.
Hit them hard. Work on the basis they are scum; the enemy - and that everything they tell you is a lie. Ask them questions you already know the answer to - see if they lie. Then hold it against them the next time you visit. You don't need a relationship with this person - they'll have moved on the next time you buy a car.
If going for a PCP and they try messing about with "I can get your monthlies down if you pay a deposit", tell them it's a complete irrelevance as the only figure you're interested in is your 35 monthly payments and the deposit so no amount of juggling makes any difference. You could afford to buy cash if you like, this is just more convenient.
As for the bits disappearing off the cars, what has actually disappeared other than the secret (or as I liked to call it, "useless") compartment. I've got all the rest on mine. Must admit, I don't like the idea of the driving modes migrating to the toggle bank where the HUD control currently is, as the gear base seems an inspired decision and the best place I've ever used them on a car, but still.
And as for R53s. You know I walked past an R53 in Hyper Blue today, just like my old one was, and it was in pretty good condition and I thought how beautifully proportioned it was compared to the F56. I mean, OK, they can't get away with that design any more because of safety requirements and the game moving on, but Christ that's a handsome little git. And it's all very easy to look back on things with John Inverdale's rose tinted glasses (look it up if unfamiliar) as those run flats were back breakers, and that supercharger wasn't a good friend on a long motorway journey, and those indicator stalks felt like cheap Bic pens... But wouldn't iut be good to have that as your daily driver all over again.
Think I might track a good GP Works down
I've got 18 months to hammer out a deal on an LCI Cooper S with the bad boy mortar attack exhaust or I'm going to a 2018 Fiesta ST (assuming it's any good). My first non BMW car since 2006. Hope my deal-making shoes are still good for kicking some heads in.
On another matter, since the LCI Cooper S is going up to around 210PS and there is no planned power hike for the JCW, is it a fair assumption to say that makes the 210 very much redundant as it's unlikely to become a 220 as there's not really enough room to crow-bar it in, surely?
Anyway, that's my rambling load of rubbish. It's past 3am. I'm just hitting the keyboard like Animal.