It’s nearly time, M4 or M4CP, personal loan or PCP

[SL550M]

Wow! Even by PH standards that's rude.

Edited by chris.mod on Tuesday 2nd February 09:26

[Mark83]

Standard PH thread.

OP; £5k deposit and £25k loan... I don't see an issue. You'll pay c.£1000 in interest for the privilege and if you can afford it, crack on. After three payments, you're effectively clearing the debt.

I'd try to get in a Comp if you can. Seems they're a little less spikey in their power delivery, a little stiffer, a little more power, a little more... M. They tend to be in demand a little more over the standard car so come resale, you'll see some of the premium back, or help it sell.

I've had my M4 just over a year and it's been reliable and cheap to run*. RIS was £300. 1st service is due later in the year and that's also c.£300. The 2nd service is quite spendy though, c.£1000. Tyres are wearing well as are the brakes after almost 7000 miles. I swapped to RS29 pads for track and they're still in good condition and saved the OEM pads for melting onto the discs. OEM pads looks like new.

I'd budget £80ish a month for the proper BMW warranty if not buying an AUC and keep it running. Beware, if the car has been previously mapped, it's easily flagged when plugged in at BMW so you'd need to be confident it hasn't been mapped otherwise that warranty will likely be money wasted.

• two nails in two tyres within a week - £500. Zero camber adjustment on the front so killed the front tyres after three track days, another £500.

Insurance was a bit of a shock, double the cost of my previous C63.

A photo of me enjoying mine...

Edited by Mark83 on Monday 1st February 20:50

Edited by Mark83 on Monday 1st February 20:55

[anonymous-user]

Yes, on track the Fx can give the front tyres a bit of a test. The standard pads left all sorts of deposits on the disk that took a few hundred miles to burn off, too.

I got about 18k from the MPSS tyres and replaced (all 4) with the 4S.

[GregK2]

Mark83 said:

Standard PH thread.

OP; £5k deposit and £25k loan... I don't see an issue. You'll pay c.£1000 in interest for the privilege and if you can afford it, crack on. After three payments, you're effectively clearing the debt.

Except with the 10.9% Op has been quoted it would be c.£7,000 in interest alone.
With a new address the best interest rates probably won't be easy to get, it seems like quite a bad time to choose to purchase in honesty Op, I would advise wait it out a year or so.

[Mark83]

GregK2 said:

Mark83 said:

Standard PH thread.

OP; £5k deposit and £25k loan... I don't see an issue. You'll pay c.£1000 in interest for the privilege and if you can afford it, crack on. After three payments, you're effectively clearing the debt.

Except with the 10.9% Op has been quoted it would be c.£7,000 in interest alone.
With a new address the best interest rates probably won't be easy to get, it seems like quite a bad time to choose to purchase in honesty Op, I would advise wait it out a year or so.

I was referring to to the 2.8% that's available with the likes of Sainsburys on top of the 2.9% Tesco rate mentioned in the thread. I agree, 10.9% is ludicrous. If you want to see crazy financial decisions, join the M3/4 Facebook group.

[GregK2]

Yeah loan providers probably won't give that rate to a new home owner.

[Wills2]

Chestrockwell said:

What do we think of Cat N’s? There are a few but I’ve excluded them from my search and I must have reset my search earlier and this came up.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101278...

Says it’s Stolen/Recovered, still has a warranty until May 2022, why would a recovered/stolen car be cheaper or be flagged up if it wasn’t written off

I mean, what’s the big deal

No, get a nice clean car you're just going to have issues when selling it creating a smaller market, the 30k you've mentioned should be more than enough to buy a nice clean M4.

[sbk1972]

We are all car guys here and sometimes the heart rules the head which everyone has been guilty of at sometime.

You clearly love / want an M4 and having been looking at them for a while, I get it..they are great cars. However looking at this from a purely non personal, non emotional position, and being an older head (I assume), I would say move in to your property first, give it 6 months then decide. The joys of moving houses....believe me surveys are rubbish and you would be amazed at how a new home suddenly needs a new roof, plumbing, kitchen, electrics, extension, etc etc. If your moving in with a g/f or wife, then expect kitchens and bathrooms !!! :-) With this in mind redirecting that £30K investment into your house now could earn you x3 when you come to sell, which would result in you buying a new /m3 / M5 / M6 without any debt. Short time vs long term ?

i had similar advice given to me 20+ years ago when I brought a new E36 M3 Evo convertible. Was a great car but fast forward to today, wish I had invested as the money I sank into that could of earnt me Porsches / SVR Range Rovers now !

Another advantage waiting 6 months is that the new M4 will be out and older models will drop in value, plus lockdown is with us for at least another month meaning you cant really enjoy it and it will save you a months repayment. Second hand car values are ridiculous as the moment as not many people are buying new cars due to COVID and possible job issues post furlough.

Lastly, remember this is pistonheads and its a public forum so people will comment where you like it not. Ive posted previous questions and had comments I didnt like so Ive learnt that you need to restructure your opening question making it more focused or the 10K people that read it will comment.

Whatever you do..... well done on the new house move, or new car purchase. Nice to read that people are doing well as currently everything is doom and gloom.

Edited by sbk1972 on Tuesday 2nd February 00:24

[PorkInsider]

OP, head over to M3Cutters forum where you won't get pompous, condescending posts telling you how to run your finances and whether you should be buying a car or not.

You'll also get all the info you want, and more, regarding specs, LCI dates, availability of particular cars, etc, etc.

Regarding the original LCI, it was April '17 build dates onwards (sticker on the driver's B-pillar gives you the date if you're looking at cars physically).

FYI some changes came outside of the LCI date, so you could get a non-LCI car that still has the later spec' i-Drive, etc, etc.

[Magnum 475]

Wills2 said:

Chestrockwell said:

What do we think of Cat N’s? There are a few but I’ve excluded them from my search and I must have reset my search earlier and this came up.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101278...

Says it’s Stolen/Recovered, still has a warranty until May 2022, why would a recovered/stolen car be cheaper or be flagged up if it wasn’t written off

I mean, what’s the big deal

No, get a nice clean car you're just going to have issues when selling it creating a smaller market, the 30k you've mentioned should be more than enough to buy a nice clean M4.

I'd agree 100% with this. Cat N 'Stolen / Recovered', any amount of damage could have been done - you have no way of getting to exactly what happened. I'd struggle to buy any Cat N, even with a full photographic record of everything that had happened and full repair details. Stolen / recovered makes me more nervous than a simple accident Cat N, as you just don't know what was done to the car (or worse, with the car) during the period before it was recovered.

For the saving involved I'd stay well clear of a Cat N car, it's not worth it.

Put it this way, purely as an example: if money was tight I'd buy a non-Cat N M240i instead of a Cat N M2.

[mackay45]

Mark83 said:

Standard PH thread.

OP; £5k deposit and £25k loan... I don't see an issue. You'll pay c.£1000 in interest for the privilege and if you can afford it, crack on. After three payments, you're effectively clearing the debt.

Great post and your M4 looks lovely. I think for the finances this point is key, as long as the repayments to clear the debt are at least keeping up with the depreciation, hopefully a bit ahead of it, then in my view all is well.

[joema]

Just see how property ownership goes. Get used to living on a fraction of what you do now. Mortgage, tax, bills, food, repairs, furnishing (i presume you have little) takes a lot out of your pay.
I went from having loads of disposable, where £500 on a loan could be ok (add insurance and warranty and tax) to basically not a lot extra a month. I wouldn't have liked an overhead like that when also getting used to paying bills.
It's your money but be prepared to see how it goes and make no decision for a while.

[liner33]

I'm seriously thinking about an M4 comp myself , having sold my daily I'm left with my m235i which i have traditionally used as a weekend car, thinking about just buying an M4 and using it daily and for more special events.

Anyone daily theirs ?

[MrC986]

liner33 said:

I'm seriously thinking about an M4 comp myself , having sold my daily I'm left with my m235i which i have traditionally used as a weekend car, thinking about just buying an M4 and using it daily and for more special events.

Anyone daily theirs ?

My BIL has an M4CP which is his daily having come from a 2014 M4 which had done 70k miles - his M4CP was bought new (December 19) with big manufacturer support although C19 has limited its use as he’d normally do 15-18k miles a year although hasn’t done 6k miles yet in nearly 14 months. His only comment was that the neighbours said on his CP “is that your new car we can hear?” as it is noticeably louder on cold start up when he normally goes to work at 06.45 His car is San Marino Blue with Silverstone leather (his kids are almost 20 ) & was a showroom/stock car.

[russy01]

liner33 said:

I'm seriously thinking about an M4 comp myself , having sold my daily I'm left with my m235i which i have traditionally used as a weekend car, thinking about just buying an M4 and using it daily and for more special events.

Anyone daily theirs ?

Used mine as a daily and enjoyed it. But didn’t find it special enough - hence selling it for a 991 911.

Depends what you like and are used to. Very fast and nice place to sit - just didn’t excite me as much as it should have.

[leonardfell]

With Lloyds if you select "car loan" (where the cash goes direct to the car dealer) instead of personal loan where the cash goes into your account, it is 5.9%
No good if it's a private sale though.

[Wills2]

liner33 said:

I'm seriously thinking about an M4 comp myself , having sold my daily I'm left with my m235i which i have traditionally used as a weekend car, thinking about just buying an M4 and using it daily and for more special events.

Anyone daily theirs ?

I've daily'd my last 6 M cars, what else are they if not a daily driver? An e-type jag is a weekend car.

[Berry10000]

Same here for my 2 only M cars, not sure they could be anything but a daily. Great car but never a garage queen.

[Wills2]

russy01 said:

Used mine as a daily and enjoyed it. But didn’t find it special enough - hence selling it for a 991 911.

Depends what you like and are used to. Very fast and nice place to sit - just didn’t excite me as much as it should have.

I used my 911 as a daily well what else would you do? I really find it odd that people would buy a modern performance car and use it for weekends, none of them are special enough in terms of driving to be weekend car.

A weekend car is a classic/oddball character car not a modern performance car.

[liner33]

russy01 said:

liner33 said:

I'm seriously thinking about an M4 comp myself , having sold my daily I'm left with my m235i which i have traditionally used as a weekend car, thinking about just buying an M4 and using it daily and for more special events.

Anyone daily theirs ?

Used mine as a daily and enjoyed it. But didn’t find it special enough - hence selling it for a 991 911.

Depends what you like and are used to. Very fast and nice place to sit - just didn’t excite me as much as it should have.

I think the using a car for weekends only can make it feel a lot more special than if you use it daily which is why I have held off using the 235 every day