The Cockroach - the accidental BMW E88 120d purchase
Discussion
I will start buy saying I love cars - always have, always will - this is my 64th car in 30 years of driving - a lot for some, hardly making a dent compared to others on here.
I like expensive cars, I am old enough to afford and insure them, I just don’t like paying for them.
Last year after a period of no car due to covid - I decided to dabble in the bottom of the market and see if I could pick up anything interesting and preferably a convertible, for little outlay.
It started with a 1992 Mazda MX5 SE - quite rare and as we had one 25years ago the rose tinted glasses bypassed the rusty sills, crazed paint and various little electrical gremlins. I fixed the majority of issues as they are so easy to work on, it was fun to drive but the paint annoyed me and there wasn’t enough value in it to warrant a respray. After a few months, it failed its MOT on rusty sills and brake pipes - It had the welding it needed for an MOT and got sold during a sunny bank holiday weekend for a small profit
Went back into the depths of FB marketplace , gumtree and eBay to find my next purchase. Took a while as we are doing some house renovations, but eventually found a reasonable looking 2000 Alfa Romeo Spyder 2.0 TS Lusso for sale on eBay - I submitted a low offer, had a little haggle with the seller and picked it up within a week
For a change, it was better than described. Bought from a mechanic who had done a bunch of work to it already, it needed a few minor jobs - it ran cold and a new thermostat sorted that, it was underpowered but a can of electrical contact cleaner across the MAF sorted that. New gear knob was fitted as the leather was worn through and a new door speaker to stop the rattling. It drove well but the manual hood was a faff, the rear window was cloudy and couldn’t be bought back and eventually someone offered me more than I paid for it, so that went too.
The next purchase was a bit quicker - within a couple of days I had seen a 2005 Mini One convertible for sale locally for £1250 - it was being sold by a home dealer as a PX and came with a decent service history, long MOT and the roof worked. It was grubby though - inside and out.
The hood was green and took a couple of scrubs to get back to black. The faded red paint responded well to a cut and polish but uncovered a couple of areas of lacquer peel - common on these apparently. A cheap set of stripes from eBay covered those areas and stopped it peeling further. Being a mini though, it rattled a lot so after 8 weeks and another sunny weekend, it got sold for a small profit
My ‘cash pot’ had grown quite nicely with the sale of the mini, but my daughter then managed to write off her car so I dipped into the pot to help her buy something a bit more robust - her safety is more important than my car buying, so the next hunt had a smaller fund than originally planned.
There wasn’t much about at this time, as many have found, cheap cars aren’t as cheap as they used to be, and a lot of the stuff on FB marketplace is pretty ropey, prices of convertibles were going up due to the nice weather. Spent a week looking in all the usual spots but couldn’t find anything interesting within a 60 mile radius.
I put a low bid on eBay for a BMW E88 120d Msport on a Sunday evening and pretty much forgot about it - 2 days later I got a notification from eBay that I had won an auction - oops!
A week later, I’m in Slough to see what I’d bought without asking any questions or viewing in advance - I broke all the rules of a car purchase and I really do know better.
The car was being sold by a driveway dealer. He buys and sells part exchange cars from somewhere, he wasn’t overly happy that the auction had ended about £7-800 less than he was expecting.
The car looked better in the photos than it did standing next to it. It was FILTHY inside and out - the interior was complete with rubbish and empty KFC cups, it had 7 miles range, and the rear bumper had been used as a parking sensor (even though it had parking sensors front and rear) BUT it was cheap.
A quick test drive showed nothing overtly obvious wrong - the roof worked well, the AC blew cold, it drove ok, had decent tread on all the tyres and had service history showing the timing chain had been replaced a few thousand miles ago.
Then I found out why it was cheap, it was a Cat N car. To be fair to the seller, he had put that at the end of the listing, but I missed it when I bid, so all my fault.
I exchanged a couple of thousand pound notes, put my shades on and drove home with the roof down.
Found the nearest petrol station to put some of the black stuff where I found the fuel cap wouldn’t open. I looked around for a opening switch or lever - nothing! I opened the boot to use the emergency wire but that didn’t do anything - eventually, after looking like a lemon for a few minutes, I found a short, sharp tap on the bottom corner made it open. So that’s the spring loaded catch not working!
All went well, nothing exploded, no lights came on and I saw a reported 62mpg
So what do you get for a £2,000, CAT N BMW E88?
This…
I like expensive cars, I am old enough to afford and insure them, I just don’t like paying for them.
Last year after a period of no car due to covid - I decided to dabble in the bottom of the market and see if I could pick up anything interesting and preferably a convertible, for little outlay.
It started with a 1992 Mazda MX5 SE - quite rare and as we had one 25years ago the rose tinted glasses bypassed the rusty sills, crazed paint and various little electrical gremlins. I fixed the majority of issues as they are so easy to work on, it was fun to drive but the paint annoyed me and there wasn’t enough value in it to warrant a respray. After a few months, it failed its MOT on rusty sills and brake pipes - It had the welding it needed for an MOT and got sold during a sunny bank holiday weekend for a small profit
Went back into the depths of FB marketplace , gumtree and eBay to find my next purchase. Took a while as we are doing some house renovations, but eventually found a reasonable looking 2000 Alfa Romeo Spyder 2.0 TS Lusso for sale on eBay - I submitted a low offer, had a little haggle with the seller and picked it up within a week
For a change, it was better than described. Bought from a mechanic who had done a bunch of work to it already, it needed a few minor jobs - it ran cold and a new thermostat sorted that, it was underpowered but a can of electrical contact cleaner across the MAF sorted that. New gear knob was fitted as the leather was worn through and a new door speaker to stop the rattling. It drove well but the manual hood was a faff, the rear window was cloudy and couldn’t be bought back and eventually someone offered me more than I paid for it, so that went too.
The next purchase was a bit quicker - within a couple of days I had seen a 2005 Mini One convertible for sale locally for £1250 - it was being sold by a home dealer as a PX and came with a decent service history, long MOT and the roof worked. It was grubby though - inside and out.
The hood was green and took a couple of scrubs to get back to black. The faded red paint responded well to a cut and polish but uncovered a couple of areas of lacquer peel - common on these apparently. A cheap set of stripes from eBay covered those areas and stopped it peeling further. Being a mini though, it rattled a lot so after 8 weeks and another sunny weekend, it got sold for a small profit
My ‘cash pot’ had grown quite nicely with the sale of the mini, but my daughter then managed to write off her car so I dipped into the pot to help her buy something a bit more robust - her safety is more important than my car buying, so the next hunt had a smaller fund than originally planned.
There wasn’t much about at this time, as many have found, cheap cars aren’t as cheap as they used to be, and a lot of the stuff on FB marketplace is pretty ropey, prices of convertibles were going up due to the nice weather. Spent a week looking in all the usual spots but couldn’t find anything interesting within a 60 mile radius.
I put a low bid on eBay for a BMW E88 120d Msport on a Sunday evening and pretty much forgot about it - 2 days later I got a notification from eBay that I had won an auction - oops!
A week later, I’m in Slough to see what I’d bought without asking any questions or viewing in advance - I broke all the rules of a car purchase and I really do know better.
The car was being sold by a driveway dealer. He buys and sells part exchange cars from somewhere, he wasn’t overly happy that the auction had ended about £7-800 less than he was expecting.
The car looked better in the photos than it did standing next to it. It was FILTHY inside and out - the interior was complete with rubbish and empty KFC cups, it had 7 miles range, and the rear bumper had been used as a parking sensor (even though it had parking sensors front and rear) BUT it was cheap.
A quick test drive showed nothing overtly obvious wrong - the roof worked well, the AC blew cold, it drove ok, had decent tread on all the tyres and had service history showing the timing chain had been replaced a few thousand miles ago.
Then I found out why it was cheap, it was a Cat N car. To be fair to the seller, he had put that at the end of the listing, but I missed it when I bid, so all my fault.
I exchanged a couple of thousand pound notes, put my shades on and drove home with the roof down.
Found the nearest petrol station to put some of the black stuff where I found the fuel cap wouldn’t open. I looked around for a opening switch or lever - nothing! I opened the boot to use the emergency wire but that didn’t do anything - eventually, after looking like a lemon for a few minutes, I found a short, sharp tap on the bottom corner made it open. So that’s the spring loaded catch not working!
All went well, nothing exploded, no lights came on and I saw a reported 62mpg
So what do you get for a £2,000, CAT N BMW E88?
This…
Edited by mattman on Tuesday 12th July 09:35
Once home, I thought I should have a proper look and see what I’ve bought this time.
2009/58
Titan Silver with a Coral leather interior
120d
M-Sport (which I fully appreciate is just a trim level!)
On the plus side:
6 speed manual works smoothly and engine pulls well with no smoke
Fully electric roof that works perfectly
Heated front seats (working)
Aircon (working)
Sports seats (I think) with electrically adjustable side bolsters that work
Full service history including timing chain replacement
Good tread on all the tyres
No warning lights
no sign of any oil leaks
Good mpg
Appears to be slightly lowered
MOT until Sep with no advisories on the last
I like the 17” alloys in a shadow chrome colour
Not been t
tted around with too much
The not so good:
cat N - obviously
Filthy inside and out (more on that later)
Radio display only works when cold, as it gets warmer all the pixels go
It’s dirty
Rear bumper is covered in marks and scratches
High level brake light is flapping about
139,000 miles
It’s filled with someone else’s rubbish
The rear tow hook cover is missing
Boot struts are weak - found this out after it smacked me in the head
It’s been slightly lowered so hits every speed hump/kerb or anything in the road
The fuel cap doesn’t open unless you hit it
Few minor dinks and dents
This is the first Cat cat I’ve purchased, but looking online a non-cat version would probably be over £1,000 more than I paid for this, so it’s not ‘too’ bad. Although I did have to get that straight in my head and it was my own fault for not reading the ad fully.
From what I can see, the Cat marker has been added for the bodywork damage - the rear bumper is really bashed about which is at least £500+paint for a dealer, there are a couple of small dents on the edge of the boot lid and a slight depression in the panel around the roof edge - add all that together with labour and paint and I could easily see a bill for a ‘proper’ repair being in the few thousand.
None of the damage bothers me that much - treat it as the shed that it is and it doesn’t matter where you park it or what you do in it, it’s not going to make much difference. I touched up the paint chips and fiddled with the bumper a bit so it’s not quite as obvious as before. It’s now a good 10 footer and refreshingly good to drive when you think how little it cost.
However, due to the dirty nature of it, SWMBO called it a cockroach and refused to get in it until I cleaned it and removed all the rubbish
2009/58
Titan Silver with a Coral leather interior
120d
M-Sport (which I fully appreciate is just a trim level!)
On the plus side:
6 speed manual works smoothly and engine pulls well with no smoke
Fully electric roof that works perfectly
Heated front seats (working)
Aircon (working)
Sports seats (I think) with electrically adjustable side bolsters that work
Full service history including timing chain replacement
Good tread on all the tyres
No warning lights
no sign of any oil leaks
Good mpg
Appears to be slightly lowered
MOT until Sep with no advisories on the last
I like the 17” alloys in a shadow chrome colour
Not been t
tted around with too muchThe not so good:
cat N - obviously
Filthy inside and out (more on that later)
Radio display only works when cold, as it gets warmer all the pixels go
It’s dirty
Rear bumper is covered in marks and scratches
High level brake light is flapping about
139,000 miles
It’s filled with someone else’s rubbish
The rear tow hook cover is missing
Boot struts are weak - found this out after it smacked me in the head
It’s been slightly lowered so hits every speed hump/kerb or anything in the road
The fuel cap doesn’t open unless you hit it
Few minor dinks and dents
This is the first Cat cat I’ve purchased, but looking online a non-cat version would probably be over £1,000 more than I paid for this, so it’s not ‘too’ bad. Although I did have to get that straight in my head and it was my own fault for not reading the ad fully.
From what I can see, the Cat marker has been added for the bodywork damage - the rear bumper is really bashed about which is at least £500+paint for a dealer, there are a couple of small dents on the edge of the boot lid and a slight depression in the panel around the roof edge - add all that together with labour and paint and I could easily see a bill for a ‘proper’ repair being in the few thousand.
None of the damage bothers me that much - treat it as the shed that it is and it doesn’t matter where you park it or what you do in it, it’s not going to make much difference. I touched up the paint chips and fiddled with the bumper a bit so it’s not quite as obvious as before. It’s now a good 10 footer and refreshingly good to drive when you think how little it cost.
However, due to the dirty nature of it, SWMBO called it a cockroach and refused to get in it until I cleaned it and removed all the rubbish
Edited by mattman on Tuesday 12th July 09:59
Edited by mattman on Tuesday 12th July 10:02
The aim of this car was to keep spend to a minimum.
First job was to repair the high level brake light and stop any water getting in. After removing, it looks like someone had just over tightened it previously, so after removing it was a simple case of gluing the lens back to the main body and being extra careful reinstalling. Job done for £0
Next up was to see if i could the corner of the rear bumper to be flush with the body - it’s obviously been like this for a while as the paint has worn away and was also covered in diesel
All the fixings behind the bumper appeared to be ok but the edge between bumper and metal was full of dirt and debris. Cleaning that out helped but couldn’t quite get the corner to sit flush on its own. So with some brute force and a small fixing hidden inside the edge of the bumper, I managed to get it looking a better, not perfect and used some touch up paint to take the obvious colour difference away.
While I was there I had a good poke around underneath and behind all the boot trim panels - glad to report everything is straight and no signs of crash damage to any of the structure.
Ideally a new bumper cover will tidy it up a lot, but at the moment the only 2nd hand one I can find in Titan Silver that doesn’t need painting or isn’t as bad as what I already have is £350+ So for now I’ll just keep my eyes open for a breaking car
First job was to repair the high level brake light and stop any water getting in. After removing, it looks like someone had just over tightened it previously, so after removing it was a simple case of gluing the lens back to the main body and being extra careful reinstalling. Job done for £0
Next up was to see if i could the corner of the rear bumper to be flush with the body - it’s obviously been like this for a while as the paint has worn away and was also covered in diesel
All the fixings behind the bumper appeared to be ok but the edge between bumper and metal was full of dirt and debris. Cleaning that out helped but couldn’t quite get the corner to sit flush on its own. So with some brute force and a small fixing hidden inside the edge of the bumper, I managed to get it looking a better, not perfect and used some touch up paint to take the obvious colour difference away.
While I was there I had a good poke around underneath and behind all the boot trim panels - glad to report everything is straight and no signs of crash damage to any of the structure.
Ideally a new bumper cover will tidy it up a lot, but at the moment the only 2nd hand one I can find in Titan Silver that doesn’t need painting or isn’t as bad as what I already have is £350+ So for now I’ll just keep my eyes open for a breaking car
Next up was the interior and removing the considerable amount of rubbish and DNA of the previous owners.
The dash top cubby wouldn’t open when I picked it up and after some fiddling, I managed to get it open. The reason it wouldn’t open was all the crap inside that had got stuck in the mechanism
Lovely! among the crap were 3 pairs of reading glasses, 2 small screwdrivers, £3.58 in change and other stuff I didn’t want to know where it came from. Once removed, a liberal coating of APC and anti-bac cleaner sorted the inside and some WD40 improved the opening mechanism.
I then started on the dash and trim panels - I used a whole bottle of Demon Clean and a scrubbing brush just to remove the debris and sticky sweets
Before a good hoover throughout - another £4.10 was found under the seats with a couple of brand new SDS masonry drill bits so I’m getting some of my outlay back
The dash top cubby wouldn’t open when I picked it up and after some fiddling, I managed to get it open. The reason it wouldn’t open was all the crap inside that had got stuck in the mechanism
Lovely! among the crap were 3 pairs of reading glasses, 2 small screwdrivers, £3.58 in change and other stuff I didn’t want to know where it came from. Once removed, a liberal coating of APC and anti-bac cleaner sorted the inside and some WD40 improved the opening mechanism.
I then started on the dash and trim panels - I used a whole bottle of Demon Clean and a scrubbing brush just to remove the debris and sticky sweets
Before a good hoover throughout - another £4.10 was found under the seats with a couple of brand new SDS masonry drill bits so I’m getting some of my outlay back
Steering wheel next - hate to think what was on it
Started off with more of the Demon Clean APC to get the worst of the dirt and DNA off. The matt finish on the wheel centre was all scratched so I ended up peeling that off with my thumb nail. I then repaired a small nick in the leather on the backside of the wheel which was being annoying before cleaning again with Autoglym leather cleaner.
A quick dab of some black leather dye on the more worn bits bought the wheel back to a more consistent colour and then finished up with a leather balm.
So much nicer to hold now and I know that it’s clean
After taking this photo I used some Autoglym vinyl and rubber care on the spokes where the matt finish used to be and that’s come up really well and doesn’t notice anymore
Started off with more of the Demon Clean APC to get the worst of the dirt and DNA off. The matt finish on the wheel centre was all scratched so I ended up peeling that off with my thumb nail. I then repaired a small nick in the leather on the backside of the wheel which was being annoying before cleaning again with Autoglym leather cleaner.
A quick dab of some black leather dye on the more worn bits bought the wheel back to a more consistent colour and then finished up with a leather balm.
So much nicer to hold now and I know that it’s clean
After taking this photo I used some Autoglym vinyl and rubber care on the spokes where the matt finish used to be and that’s come up really well and doesn’t notice anymore
Nice find! I owned the 120d coupe for a few years and it was an excellent little car - more than enough performance and efficient at the same time. They handle great too!
Did almost 20k a year in mine with zero issues.
It amazes me how people have the gaul to sell a car with so much detritus inside - one of the most basic forms of laziness. Enjoying seeing your cleaning efforts though!
Did almost 20k a year in mine with zero issues.
It amazes me how people have the gaul to sell a car with so much detritus inside - one of the most basic forms of laziness. Enjoying seeing your cleaning efforts though!
Doesn't look a bad but - I like these but am biased because I bought my other half a 125i last year.
The fuel filler flap is a common problem on this era 1 series - I've had to replace them on her old 116 and my old 130. The part is about £46 from BMW...it's an OK DIY.
The soft plastic finish on the interior trim is ste and wears really badly but its easy to remove with some nail varnish remover once it gets scratches.
The fuel filler flap is a common problem on this era 1 series - I've had to replace them on her old 116 and my old 130. The part is about £46 from BMW...it's an OK DIY.
The soft plastic finish on the interior trim is s
te and wears really badly but its easy to remove with some nail varnish remover once it gets scratches.Court_S said:
Doesn't look a bad but - I like these but am biased because I bought my other half a 125i last year.
The fuel filler flap is a common problem on this era 1 series - I've had to replace them on her old 116 and my old 130. The part is about £46 from BMW...it's an OK DIY.
The soft plastic finish on the interior trim is ste and wears really badly but its easy to remove with some nail varnish remover once it gets scratches.
Difference with yours is it was a nice one to start with and you made it nicer. This is a bit of clunker I have just made it cleaner The fuel filler flap is a common problem on this era 1 series - I've had to replace them on her old 116 and my old 130. The part is about £46 from BMW...it's an OK DIY.
The soft plastic finish on the interior trim is s
te and wears really badly but its easy to remove with some nail varnish remover once it gets scratches.I was thinking I need one of these, but it does feel like it’s working ok when I took it out and bathed in Wd40 - is there something else that can cause it? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252431652461?fits=Car+M...
Biggest cleaning job for me was the seats. They were really dirty and covered in random sticky things.
Starting with this
Started with a mild washing up liquid mix and soft brush to get the worst of the dirt off. Dried off then followed up with the Demon Clean APC again, dried again before cleaning with Autoglym leather cleaner and finally a leather balm to finish.
On the plus side, it was easy to see what parts I had cleaned!
Took a couple of days, but finally got all the seats cleaned up and looking more like their original colour
Starting with this
Started with a mild washing up liquid mix and soft brush to get the worst of the dirt off. Dried off then followed up with the Demon Clean APC again, dried again before cleaning with Autoglym leather cleaner and finally a leather balm to finish.
On the plus side, it was easy to see what parts I had cleaned!
Took a couple of days, but finally got all the seats cleaned up and looking more like their original colour
That looks like a decent buy for the money - now it's been sanitised!
I think the M-Sport trim is why you've got those M-Sport seats with the electric side bolsters and M-Sport steering wheel. It's probably got lowered and stiffened M-Sport suspension with bigger wheels - 18s at a guess.
A recent cam-chain is a bonus as that is one of the N47s weaknesses. And they do drive pretty well for a 4 cylinder turbo-diesel. I had a 123d E87 for over 6 years - I must have liked it.
I think the M-Sport trim is why you've got those M-Sport seats with the electric side bolsters and M-Sport steering wheel. It's probably got lowered and stiffened M-Sport suspension with bigger wheels - 18s at a guess.
A recent cam-chain is a bonus as that is one of the N47s weaknesses. And they do drive pretty well for a 4 cylinder turbo-diesel. I had a 123d E87 for over 6 years - I must have liked it.
In line with the rest of the grubby car, the boot and grille badges had seen better days. I’m not actually sure how they got that bad in the first place - I know they are not original, most likely eBay specials, which is why the colour has come off.
Everyone should know it’s a ‘real’ M Sport and therefore it needs lots of badges to tell people the interior already has a few on the steering wheel, gear knob, door sills etc - but that can’t be enough!
I couldn’t be bothered to remove them and polish off the residue, so armed with a half full can of platsidip and some masking tape, 10mins later they were looking a bit more respectable.
Another free job ticked off the list and saved a few quid from buying replacements.
I have resisted the urge to buy those colour grille lines - the force is strong, but I must resist!!
Before:
After:
Everyone should know it’s a ‘real’ M Sport and therefore it needs lots of badges to tell people
the interior already has a few on the steering wheel, gear knob, door sills etc - but that can’t be enough! I couldn’t be bothered to remove them and polish off the residue, so armed with a half full can of platsidip and some masking tape, 10mins later they were looking a bit more respectable.
Another free job ticked off the list and saved a few quid from buying replacements.
I have resisted the urge to buy those colour grille lines - the force is strong, but I must resist!!
Before:
After:
mattman said:
Difference with yours is it was a nice one to start with and you made it nicer. This is a bit of clunker I have just made it cleaner
I was thinking I need one of these, but it does feel like it’s working ok when I took it out and bathed in Wd40 - is there something else that can cause it? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252431652461?fits=Car+M...
It’s scrubbing up well in all fairness. I’d love to swap the black seats in ours for red ones but they sell for loads so it probably won’t happen.I was thinking I need one of these, but it does feel like it’s working ok when I took it out and bathed in Wd40 - is there something else that can cause it? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252431652461?fits=Car+M...
It might well be that switch causing you grief. How is the flap once open - is it solid or floppy?
I absolutely love seeing transformations like this and, at 64 cars, you are clearly a pro! I get loads of enjoyment doing them myself... the problem for me being that I've usually ended-up with a polished turd at the end!
I'd personally remove the M badges, but otherwise this looks like a cracking car and great value.
I'd personally remove the M badges, but otherwise this looks like a cracking car and great value.
Finally spent some money!
After nearly 140,000 miles, the gearknob wasn’t looking its best and no amount of cleaning was going to improve it
So a replacement was purchased from EBay for a whole £10.59! I’m pretty sure it must be genuine OEM parts for that price
A simple job to replace, twist and pull the old one to remove and then push the new one back on. Actually feels ok to use, not as heavy as the original, but hardly surprising for the price.
After nearly 140,000 miles, the gearknob wasn’t looking its best and no amount of cleaning was going to improve it
So a replacement was purchased from EBay for a whole £10.59! I’m pretty sure it must be genuine OEM parts for that price
A simple job to replace, twist and pull the old one to remove and then push the new one back on. Actually feels ok to use, not as heavy as the original, but hardly surprising for the price.
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