Z4 Advice please

[James P]

REALIST123 said:

Clearly sounds like you have not had a good car, and from what I read you aren't alone. My experience with our earlier model 08 plate has been exactly the opposite. 6 years old and has had nothing but oil and brake fluid changes. Not a light bulb, not anything.

Having said that, our car has only done 23K in that 6 years, I guess your car works considerably harder and longer than ours!

Luck of the draw I guess. The warranty has covered everything so it is just time/ aggravation rather than a money pit. I have done approx 25k miles in 2 years so not that high but probably higher than some.

[GaryThomlinson]

As many are aware... my e89 has not been the most reliable car I've ever owned (vast understatement). Yes some have had no issues, but as a former user of the UK z4 forum, I'd read that plenty have been hit by poorly built cars or commonly faulty components, wheels, pumps, injectors and just shoddy build. As someone else said, luck of the draw really. Chances are had my car been faultless I'd have sold it by now. The issues have seen me form a bond with it, oddly. Stockholm Syndrome for cars perhaps?

[James P]

Much as I dislike de-railing the thread, the OP needs to know that some Z4's are not the most reliable machines and that they sometimes take time to fix.

I have just been told by my dealer that the replacement for the leaking damper that will prevent it being MOT'd was not delivered this morning and is "on back order." I guess I'll be driving a diesel 1 series for a while then!

[Shenanigans]

I would personally just buy the E86 Z4M with the N/A 3.2 engine. They're holding their money really well. They sound and look a hell of alot better than the e89 3.5 equivalent.

[GaryThomlinson]

I couldn't live with the suspension on the Z4M on a daily basis, far too stiff and bouncy. Fine as a track car and weekend fun car but not for me daily. Hence I went e89 which is still v quick (5.1 secs) and a better daily drive. Perhaps not so accomplished on the track as the M of course, but then I've never wanted to use it for the track. I hire other peoples cars for those days

[mmm-five]

GaryThomlinson said:

I couldn't live with the suspension on the Z4M on a daily basis, far too stiff and bouncy. Fine as a track car and weekend fun car but not for me daily. Hence I went e89 which is still v quick (5.1 secs) and a better daily drive. Perhaps not so accomplished on the track as the M of course, but then I've never wanted to use it for the track. I hire other peoples cars for those days

I don't find it a problem, and haven't in the 100,000 miles I've driven it on motorway, Welsh hoons, 'Ring trips. Not even had the rear spring failure that seems so common.

Although I'll be replacing the suspension later this year as I'm sure it's well past its best at this mileage.

Just about to leave for the evening to prepare for my early start tomorrow for my Ring trip.

[madasafrog666]

Thanks for all the replies and advice ( may have gone off the original thread a bit!! )
Looked at the car again today and I have to say its sounds and looks great.One owner and in pristine condition. 60 plate and fully loaded with almost every extra including M sport everything and white leather and walnut trim.Hard top folding and all that, retractable wing mirrors,parking sensors etc etc 55K new Im told.
Test drive on Friday and if her indoors likes it its a done deal.
If I buy tomorrow I will post some pics.

Thanks.

[GaryThomlinson]

If you're happy with it, that's all that counts. But 55K? For a 23i .. my 35i, almost fully loaded, was 46K before discount.

[James P]

Agreed £55k seems very high but doubtful that was ever paid. If the price is right now, that is what matters.

I think the list on my 35iS was just over £50k - it is quite a way from fully loaded though.

[Jon1967x]

We've a 2010 35i msport, dct, nav, hearted steering, upgraded hifi, comfort bits, upgraded alloys, etc etc and that was 51k list, and I struggle to see what else it could have had

A 28i new now is less than 38k list. The sales guy is blowing smoke...

That said, benchmark the car against others online

[burriana]

£55k?

I know I work on the used side, but even so, when we have a 20i, registered 1st March with less than 50 miles on for about £27k, £55k sounds like a hell of a lot of money waiting to depreciate!

[BE57 TOY]

Morry10 said:

I have driven both the one you are looking at and have owned the N20 engined M-Sport 20i 4 pot turbo model for two years now:



Liked them both so cannot see a real downside with either as such - people will tell you that the 6 cylinder is the one to have, the noise blah blah but tbh the way they have done the new 4 cylinder and tuned the exhaust note it actually sounds really pretty good (especially with the roof down).

Lower road tax on the 4 pot as it is a lower Co2 and better overall MPG (if these are considerations?)

The runflats are a tad annoying at times (road noise / general crashiness over potholes and the like) but the car has huge amounts of grip.

M-Sport one is the better looker imho (differently styled front and rear etc) and you want 18 inch wheels - the 19 inch 326M's have a nasty tendency to crack and BMW appear to be getting rather fed up replacing them under warranty

Performance between the two is pretty much identical apart from the 4 pot having a better spread of torque and imho is better for day to day driving because of it - plus unlike the naturally aspirated 23i you have the option of remapping it and the engine has the potential for pretty big power if this is something you are interested in (costs can be quite high for this aspect however).

Happy to answer any other questions you may have (if I can!)

Good luck with your search

Cheers

Sign up to the Z4 Owners forum - plenty of enthusiastic and knowledgeable people on there and a friendly bunch too!

Lovely looking car. What sort of economy do you get? BMW state 41.5 mpg which seems high?

[Morry10]

BE57 TOY said:

Lovely looking car. What sort of economy do you get? BMW state 41.5 mpg which seems high?

Just came back to this thread today, so sorry about the lack of response!

I am just back from a 600 mile highland hoon over the holiday weekend with mine and brim to brim calculations showed 41mpg (which I have managed before on a 600 mile round trip to Donnington in a day last year).

Urban is approx 30-32mpg.

Cheers

Morry

[Leon19841]

Mine is for sale in the classifieds.. (will be getting traded in in two weeks time could do you a cheap deal on it?)

Pretty much the last 3.0 NA model with over a years warranty left and decent spec

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

[ruggedscotty]

I bought an E89 23i sdrive manual back in November as a wee toy, something different. Its a second car and so far its been a great buy. I did have issues with the roof not folding bu that was sorted due to a sensor. And I have an intermittant fault with the bonnet closed sensor. Really nothing bad and will get that sorted in due course. Id driven the 23 and the 30 and really its down to price, Id wanted all the toys and finding a manual car with them took time - wanting one in scotland and not have to travel too far to get one.

Found one with a low milage and with quite a few options specified and bought it from a jaguar dealer. I almost considered the 4 cylinder model but it just didnt have the same sound and experiance behind the wheel. The manual 23 is 0-60 in 6.6 seconds with a 151 top speed - plenty fast enough !

[BE57 TOY]

Morry10 said:

Just came back to this thread today, so sorry about the lack of response!

I am just back from a 600 mile highland hoon over the holiday weekend with mine and brim to brim calculations showed 41mpg (which I have managed before on a 600 mile round trip to Donnington in a day last year).

Urban is approx 30-32mpg.

Cheers

Morry

41 mpg for a hoon is really high - assuming by hoon you gave it the beans.

I followed a 2.0 on the motorway today and couldn't keep up which I was really shocked by as I assumed they would be slower than my car!

It has certainly made me a bit more interested in the z4!

[richatnort]

Hi all!

Thinking of buying a 3.0si roadster. Just trying to do the man math a little and was wondering if anyone could help me with some running costs.

How much would a regular yearly mot and service cost (I know you can't be exact but near as you think)

Also is it worth taking any warranty out and if so how much would that be annually.

Thanks in advance.

[B17NNS]

Really pretty cars these IMHO. A creamy six auto in comfy SE guise appeals for some reason.

[richatnort]

Hi all!

Thinking of buying a 3.0si roadster. Just trying to do the man math a little and was wondering if anyone could help me with some running costs.

How much would a regular yearly mot and service cost (I know you can't be exact but near as you think)

Also is it worth taking any warranty out and if so how much would that be annually.

Thanks in advance.

[Fox-]

richatnort said:

Hi all!

Thinking of buying a 3.0si roadster. Just trying to do the man math a little and was wondering if anyone could help me with some running costs.

How much would a regular yearly mot and service cost (I know you can't be exact but near as you think)

Also is it worth taking any warranty out and if so how much would that be annually.

Thanks in advance.

An MOT would cost up to £54 a year, the same as on any car? There isn't a more expensive test fee for BMW's. The MOT is a trivial and irrelevant expense. The warranty is about £500 a year but as the 3.0Si is a previous shape model which you'd probably be better off sticking £500 a year in a bank account instead of a warranty, its not quite the complex beast the newer stuff is.