the 3-year lease on my 330Ci is about to end, and after much enjoyment
of my first bmw i'm strongly leaning toward buying it.  my residual is
around $22k, which seems to be a lot lower than the going rate for a
similar used car in my area (los angeles), so in that sense it is a
"good deal".  a call to bmw financial revealed that i can finance the
residual at 5.5%.  i went to a local dealer (century west bmw), and
they can give me 2.9% if i get it certified as a certified pre-owned
bmw.  this would cost a few thousand dollars including
inspection/detailing/smog/safety/etc, and actually result in a very
slightly higher (around $10) monthly payment.  so the question is: is
this certification worth it?  even more importantly, how negotiable
should this price be?  even with the extra $2k the price of the car is
lower than the going rate, so i may not have a leg to stand on in that
regard.

of course they sent me out to test drive a new one - black/black with
an SMG.  but i can't quite justify the extra $80 per month to lease a
car that is barely different than my old one.  and not all the
differences are good - i don't really like the look of the wood trim
that it has (mine has the brushed aluminum trim).