Roger, thanks for the thoughtful comments. I've driven plenty of new cars and never been able to justify paying monthly payments on the $18k+ more than my CSVT is worth. I love my CVT but I've got an emotional thing with BMWs. While I'd love to be looking at a '99 or so E46 4-door 323, they're still in the $20k range used, even with 50k or more miles on them. For what I think I can get this particular example for, I can't walk away from it.
On the chip thing, it's pretty well accepted that they're dyno proven to give 22 hp (211 total) and 20 lb-ft. (210 total). Prety stout gains for the buck.
As for going from an 8-year-old CSVT to an 11-year-old 112k mile BMW 325is, there's a big difference. The E36 BWM was what SVT was trying to catch when they did the CSVT. While they did a great job, it's still not the same. As for age, it seems that BMWs age exceptionally well
I'm not concerned. Heck, 2 of my last 3 cars were bought with over 100k miles on them, each lasted 2 years and won't have hardly cost me anything to run. On one I sold it for more than I bought it for; on the other I'll have paid around 1500 for 18 months of driving, plus misc. maintenance. Not too bad IMHO. That's the thing with high mileage cars, they really just about stop depreciating after a certain point, yet they retain a whole lotta usefulness.
Scott
