How much you need to earn to afford a new BMW 2 Series

To “afford” to buy a new BMW 2 Series using a finance plan will require you to earn at least R72,500 per month.

This is according to a calculation by TopAuto, based on advice from financial experts.

The new 2 Series was listed on BMW South Africa’s website this week, with the coupe starting at R765,000 for the 220i model.

A 220d is also available, for R815,000 – while the current range-topping M240i xDrive sells for R1,050,000.

As standard, buyers will receive three-zone climate control, front sport seats, automatic LED headlights, cruise control, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a 10.25-inch infotainment display, and M Sport finishes on the exterior.

M240i buyers will also receive rear sports seats, electric front seats, a Harman/Kardon sound system, adaptive bi-LED lights, a sunroof, a rear-view camera, all-round parking sensors, a heads-up display, and more.

The engines in the models are then as follows:

• 220i – 2.0-litre turbo-petrol with 135kW/300Nm
• 220d – 2.0-litre turbo-diesel with 140kW/400Nm
• M240i – 3.0-litre turbo-petrol with 285kW/500Nm

Earning the big bucks

To work out how much you need to earn to “afford” a new BMW 2 Series, we must first calculate the monthly repayments when purchasing the vehicle using a finance plan.

We can do this by placing the BMW 220i’s price into the formula below.

• Car Price – R765,000
• Payment Term – 60 terms (5 years)
• Interest – 9.5%
• Deposit – 10%
• Balloon – No balloon payment
• Extras – No optional extras

The result is a finance payment of R14,500 per month. Total interest paid over the agreement will be R179,400.

Financial experts then recommend that you do not spend more than 20% of your gross monthly salary on vehicle payments.

By applying this rule to BMW 220i’s finance payments above, we get a required monthly salary of R72,500.

We can use the same formula and recommendations to work out the salary requirement for the top-end M240i, too.

Monthly repayments on the BMW M240i will be R19,900 – making the “required” salary to buy the fast car R99,500 per month.