BMW M3 Coupe e92 Ex-Demo - To buy or Not to Buy?!?

[jsg612]

The only way to get around this is to order a brand new one from the factory.

What's to say the previous owner didn't rag the hell out of it? It's the risk with buying ANY used cars unfortunately ex-demo or not.

Buy it and enjoy it!

(Excellent choice by the way, what colour?)

[MattOz]

I've bought both ex-management and ex-demo BMWs in in the past and have had no issues with any of them. If the car is correct, and it certainly appears to have been maintained, and the price is agreeable, then go for it.

You may find it was a microfilter and not microfibre that was changed at the last service unless the guys had a cleaning cloth fetish

[tomw25]

Jerez Black, Red Leather, its lovely ! - I'm very exited!

Indeed it may well have been a filter, I'm obsessed with these highly engineered cloths at the moment, excuse my faux pas

[SteveS Cup]

tomw25 said:

Jerez Black, Red Leather, its lovely ! - I'm very exited!

Indeed it may well have been a filter, I'm obsessed with these highly engineered cloths at the moment, excuse my faux pas

Then go for it and be happy with it.

As everyone has said (I think I did in my first reply) that you run the risk of the car being treated poorly with ANY 2nd hand car.

[VeeFour]

volvoforlife said:

If its an ex-demo car, then I wouldn't go anywhere near it. Imagine how many redlines its done from a cold start. Dealers just start the car up and rag it to show-off to customers. I would just back out right now and get your deposit back. And to confirm, an ex-demo car with 4 owners just rings alarm bells to me.

If its an ex-HQ car which was run by the management of BMW and not lent out to anyone, then go for it.

Hasn't had 4 owners, and many private owners will have done the same (ragging from cold) anyway.

There is a school of thought that the best (fastest) cars and bikes are those which get a real thrashing from new, rather than being 'carefully' run in.

[R11ysf]

Ignore this:

volvoforlife said:

If its an ex-demo car, then I wouldn't go anywhere near it. Imagine how many redlines its done from a cold start. Dealers just start the car up and rag it to show-off to customers. I would just back out right now and get your deposit back. And to confirm, an ex-demo car with 4 owners just rings alarm bells to me.

If its an ex-HQ car which was run by the management of BMW and not lent out to anyone, then go for it.

Edited by volvoforlife on Wednesday 23 February 16:38

Listen to this:

kmc1 said:

Any second hand car regardless of where it is bought will have an unknown factor to it.

How do you know that the second owner wasn't a complete bell-end and red lined it from cold every morning or used on a track every weekend.

If you are that concerned then maybe buying new would be better (but I'm guessing it wouldn't be an M3 then?).

Point I'm trying to make is you must buy with your eyes open. Check the car over throughily(sp?), pay for an inspection if needed.

With any used purchased there is always a risk.

Unless you buy new you will NEVER know how a car was treated. All M3's will have been ragged. ALL OF THEM. Some by people with mechanical sympathy and some with none. Ideally you would like a 4yr old, 1 owner car with 30k and an owner who has just replaced it with a new M3 as he loves them like his children blah, blah ,blah
Don't worry about what happened 3 or 4 years ago, it has a warranty and just enjoy your new car as a few grand under value

[RobM77]

jsg612 said:

The only way to get around this is to order a brand new one from the factory.

What's to say the previous owner didn't rag the hell out of it? It's the risk with buying ANY used cars unfortunately ex-demo or not.

Buy it and enjoy it!

(Excellent choice by the way, what colour?)

It's a risk, yes, but not all risk is the same, and I would say that the probability of a demo/pool/dealer car being ragged is quite a lot higher than an owner car.

This is of course for the obvious reason that most of the drivers are trying the car out and don't own it, but also for less obvious reasons such as this type of car being rarely taken on long steady motorway journeys such as a typical owner might do.

Besides, it's not just a car being ragged than should worry the buyer of a demo car; a demo car is more likely to have had a harsh and abrasive pressure wash every couple of days than an owner car, and also more likely to be generally treated badly inside and out.

[billzeebub]

the car is in the dealer network still, I would not be worried about purchasing as long as the spec/colour/price is right..which you are obviously happy with as you placed a deposit. You should ensure that you keep up the BMW warranty every year (after the 3 year standard warranty comes to an end) to give you peace of mind though.

[markmullen]

SteveS Cup said:

I push a car on a test drive further than I'd push my own car.

So you rag a car that you don't know with someone who has no idea about your driving talent (or lack of) sitting next to you? You'd be walking home from a demo if you put me in danger.

[tjlazer]

In my view if you are happy with the car go for it, nothing inherently different about a BMW owned car to any other, there is no way of knowing how someone else has treated the car but you have that covered by a full bmw warranty and 30 day no fuss return. Don't fret just go pick it up and enjoy it!

[Mr Whippy]

hora said:

If its a dealer ex-demo and has done <5k miles whilst a demo then it wouldn't phase me.

It would have had alot of short journeys but on a testdrive you hardly hang the back out and rip through the revs do you?

When I bought my Z4, there was a new M3 V8 there.

Looked nice, looked around it, stone cold one Saturday morning nice and early in January.

Manager turned up in another car, got in the M3, and ragged the tits off it down the road to go get some milk iirc.

Nice.

Dave

[MarJay]

The M3 has a mechanism to stop you from thrashing the car from cold. Its not like you're buying an Alfa Romeo or something highly strung, you're buying a nearly new E92 M3. It'll be tough and if there are problems which are indirectly caused by how it is treated from new, you'll never know as they'll only show up once its done over 100k I reckon. Plus you've got warranty etc etc. I'd go for it if I were you.

The other point is I guess, that you know it hasn't been clocked or spannered by some monkey. Its been looked after by a BMW dealership. That can't be a bad thing.

[Vron]

RobM77 said:

Not a very honest sales tactic that. I had a similar thing happen...

I'm down south too, and bought a 330ci from a BMW dealer years ago (and I'm now wondering if it's the same dealer!). It got to the point where we'd arranged the price and everything, and just as I was about to sign for it the salesman stopped me and told me it was a personal import and not a UK car. I'd arranged insurance, moved the money around, and most importantly had my heart set on the car. I decided to go ahead as he'd literally put me on the spot and I'd sold my previous car the day before and got the train up there to collect the car! I had trouble insuring the car, and even more trouble trying to trade it in. What's more, when the Lotus dealer I was buying my next car from rung around to get a trade in price, the dealership that originally sold me the car gave a shockingly low price "because it's an import and we don't normally like dealing with them"....

I had similar on my Mini Cooper S works that the salesman told me was bomproof in depreciation. He wouldn't even bid on it when I tried to sell it as he said there was no market for them as everyone who wants one (young guys) can't get the insurance.

[tomw25]

MarJay said:

The M3 has a mechanism to stop you from thrashing the car from cold. Its not like you're buying an Alfa Romeo or something highly strung, you're buying a nearly new E92 M3. It'll be tough and if there are problems which are indirectly caused by how it is treated from new, you'll never know as they'll only show up once its done over 100k I reckon. Plus you've got warranty etc etc. I'd go for it if I were you.

The other point is I guess, that you know it hasn't been clocked or spannered by some monkey. Its been looked after by a BMW dealership. That can't be a bad thing.

Just out of interest what is this mechanism?

[Soovy]

tomw25 said:

Just out of interest what is this mechanism?

The limiter starts lower and rises as engine temperature increases. It's sown on the rev gauge.

[tomw25]

Soovy said:

The limiter starts lower and rises as engine temperature increases. It's sown on the rev gauge.

Thanks Soovy,

Surely, this would mean then that the M3 E92 cannot be "ragged" from cold?!?...

A good feature, I recall the R34 GTR Skyline had something similar...

[Soovy]

tomw25 said:

Thanks Soovy,

Surely, this would mean then that the M3 E92 cannot be "ragged" from cold?!?...

A good feature, I recall the R34 GTR Skyline had something similar...

Well, I think the limiter cuts in about 6k when cold. So you can, just not to utter death!

[tomw25]

Soovy said:

Well, I think the limiter cuts in about 6k when cold. So you can, just not to utter death!

Even still, a great feature.

On Reflection everyone will "Rag" an M3 it just depends how much, and they are built for being driven very fast, so as long as there is a rock solid warranty... I'm not overly concerned..

Maybe upon resale..?

Thanks to everyone for all your help and comments, its greatly greatly appreciated!

[sealtt]

Well firstly the redline is dynamic so you can't even take it that high until the engine is warmed up anyway. My E92 M3 was ex-demo and it was perfect, not a single issue just a lovely car which was priced a bit lower due to the 1 extra owner and also with almost every optional extra fitted too!

[volvoforlife]

If a car has had 1 previous private owner from new, I can almost guarantee that the person looked after the car and didn't rag it from cold. They had so much money invested in it, it would be against all common sense to treat it like crap.

Salesman DO NOT EVER follow the run-in procedure. They will receive a new car and rag it while its only done a few miles and cold.

If you buy an ex-demo car then you've got more balls than me. Frankly I don't care what everyone does. You buy what you want. But don't ask for an opinion and then flame me for having one.