Z4 Coupe with "strange" SH - Advice please!

[andrewthehat]

Hi- I'm test driving a Z4C at my local BMW main dealer (Arden, Maidstone) on Saturday. However - I'm easily spooked by non-perfect service history and this one scares me. After the PDI, the service book shows nothing for 3 years, then its first service at just under 20k miles.

I'm sorely tempted to walk away. Should I be reassured by the BMW Approved label, and go ahead with the test drive?

[andrewthehat]

Thanks - I did ask, but they have no records other than the service book. Scary, huh?

[andrewthehat]

You guys are clearly having some effect. The AUC badge appears to have parted company with the car on the dealer's website, which presumably means HQ won't mind as much. Needless to say, my enthusiasm for the car - especially at its unchanged price tag - has waned somewhat.

[andrewthehat]

Personally, I think they probably do. There is a ghastly little sub-industry growing quickly in the wake of the social media bubble - it's called "reputation management". The theory behind its sales pitch is that "one bad online review can destroy your business" - so you'd better know what people are saying. Complete horse-manure on fundamental terms, but since a whole generation of cowardly marketing directors have swallowed Andy Grove's mantra of "only the paranoid survive", reputation-management (meaning scouring the widely-read forums, blogs, twits and other e-channels for anything remotely negative) grows like Japanese knotweed.

It is for this reason - and no other - that I think the world of braver marketeers like Michael O'Leary, who refuse to waste time listening to the blogosphere, in favour of knowing what his customers actually want to buy from him.

Sorry. Rant over. It's just something I kinda feel passionate about.

[andrewthehat]

Guys, thank you very much for all your help with this. My search for a good Z4C continues!