pre purchase inspection on 'm' car faults
Discussion
You can afford to be really picky at the moment seeing as there are quite a few S50's for sale.
If you can stretch then go for the S54, will hold it's price better in the long run, and you will have a rarer beast.
That nice phoenix yellow one stands out, ( I am a bit biased though ).
Good luck.
If you can stretch then go for the S54, will hold it's price better in the long run, and you will have a rarer beast.
That nice phoenix yellow one stands out, ( I am a bit biased though ).
Good luck.
steve1 said:
You can afford to be really picky at the moment seeing as there are quite a few S50's for sale.
If you can stretch then go for the S54, will hold it's price better in the long run, and you will have a rarer beast.
That nice phoenix yellow one stands out, ( I am a bit biased though ).
Good luck.
yeah cheers mate, this one is at a price that i'm happy with though s54's whilst a bit better are stretching the budget too much, certainly for a low miles one.If you can stretch then go for the S54, will hold it's price better in the long run, and you will have a rarer beast.
That nice phoenix yellow one stands out, ( I am a bit biased though ).
Good luck.
thanks for the answer though
Have you taken a look at this site, probably the best site for zcoupes, and all the info you would ever want.
http://www.z3mcoupe.com/forum/index.php
http://www.z3mcoupe.com/forum/index.php
It's probably easier for you to come back tomorrow and relay what the inspection found, then we can give rough prices. However, the main bits for me would be:
VANOS - difficult to check as if it's noisy, it does not mean it's on its way out. Check whether there's ever been a replacement. Also check when the VANOS bolts and filter were last changed? However if I were buying again, it would be the first job I did regardless of what the previous owner told me. Also get an idea as to how the owner cared for the car with respect to driving from cold. Does he know not to go over 4k rpm till 60C oil temp etc?
Boot Floor - Remove the carpet & battery tray and inspect the floor. Any signs of cracks, walk away.
Rear Suspension Mounts - Will rattle on the test drive. Not expensive to fix, but a massive PITA job to do (or pay someone else to break their back doing it, like I did
)
Rear Wiper - A crap design that caused me weeks of problems. Just make sure the wiper works, the rear washer works and it doesnt pee washer fluid inside the boot. If it does, it's not necessarily a difficult problem to fix, but how long has it been leaking and what other damage has it done?
Let us know how you get on.
VANOS - difficult to check as if it's noisy, it does not mean it's on its way out. Check whether there's ever been a replacement. Also check when the VANOS bolts and filter were last changed? However if I were buying again, it would be the first job I did regardless of what the previous owner told me. Also get an idea as to how the owner cared for the car with respect to driving from cold. Does he know not to go over 4k rpm till 60C oil temp etc?
Boot Floor - Remove the carpet & battery tray and inspect the floor. Any signs of cracks, walk away.
Rear Suspension Mounts - Will rattle on the test drive. Not expensive to fix, but a massive PITA job to do (or pay someone else to break their back doing it, like I did
)Rear Wiper - A crap design that caused me weeks of problems. Just make sure the wiper works, the rear washer works and it doesnt pee washer fluid inside the boot. If it does, it's not necessarily a difficult problem to fix, but how long has it been leaking and what other damage has it done?
Let us know how you get on.
Vanos is an overblown issue, but make sure bolts and filter have been regularly changed, it isn't excessively noisy or at all leaky, it kicks in when it should and the diagnostic shows no errors. I'd definitely want a full diagnostic and check of any stored error codes.
As to what point I'd walk away, it'd very much depend on the price you can get the car for, having revealed any issues you've found to the seller, and then balanced up whether you may be buying a neglected car because there's so much that needs to be done.
As to what point I'd walk away, it'd very much depend on the price you can get the car for, having revealed any issues you've found to the seller, and then balanced up whether you may be buying a neglected car because there's so much that needs to be done.
dave9 said:
boot floor issues - how much do you reckon to fix, quite bad apparently
growly vanos but not necessarily broker - big cost?
sticky 3rd gear - any major probs or small fix?
leaking oil in the engine bay - is this likely to be a big prob or is it like 911's in that they all do it to an extent.
the guy advised to walk away but your thoughts on the repair bills appreciated
Definitely walk away - the sub frame (boot floor) will be £2.5-3k I would have thought. Vanos £600 with Mr Vanos. 3rd Gear presume the worst - so £500 for a good used box. Oil leak they would be able to advise.growly vanos but not necessarily broker - big cost?
sticky 3rd gear - any major probs or small fix?
leaking oil in the engine bay - is this likely to be a big prob or is it like 911's in that they all do it to an extent.
the guy advised to walk away but your thoughts on the repair bills appreciated
Eitherway I definitely agree with the indy - walk away!
under £10k does seam very cheap for a 50,000 mile car but with that list of things to do I'd be walking away unless I was in a position to do the work myself.
although a much higher millage car this is probably a better example for not a great deal more money http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2109986.htm,
I'd have thought that if looked after the Z3m Coupe will cope with high millage easily after all there's E36 M3 evo's with well over £200k out there.
although a much higher millage car this is probably a better example for not a great deal more money http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2109986.htm,
I'd have thought that if looked after the Z3m Coupe will cope with high millage easily after all there's E36 M3 evo's with well over £200k out there.
As mentioned by others above, that's a walk-away job unless you're specifically looking for a project. With only 50k, the condition makes it sound like it's an un-cared for car which, imo, is definately to be avoided.
With MCs, mileage should not be the primary factor! Oh, and oil leaking in the engine bay...if it's coming from just behind the VANOS unit then it sounds like a unit about to blow its bolts.
With MCs, mileage should not be the primary factor! Oh, and oil leaking in the engine bay...if it's coming from just behind the VANOS unit then it sounds like a unit about to blow its bolts.
It is very cheap I suppose
I'd be incline to get a firm quote to fix the floor and a better idea of where the oil leak is coming from and then possibly go for it.
Vanos can be rebuilt for circa £600 as someone else has already commented
Is the Z3M gear box is the same as an 5 speed E36 M3 box? if so these aren't very expensive second hand if it does brake.
It does still seam slightly odd that all these things need doing on such a low millage car.
I'd be incline to get a firm quote to fix the floor and a better idea of where the oil leak is coming from and then possibly go for it.
Vanos can be rebuilt for circa £600 as someone else has already commented
Is the Z3M gear box is the same as an 5 speed E36 M3 box? if so these aren't very expensive second hand if it does brake.
It does still seam slightly odd that all these things need doing on such a low millage car.
Have you done all the other checks on the car, just to make sure it is what it says, ( you know what I mean ).
In this instance, ( low mileage/low asking price ), then I would go by gut instinct, does it look right, does it feel right.
All cars have faults, some more than others, you might have just picked one with more faults than most at that sort of mileage.
The gearboxes on the coupes are not the smoothest of things, ( even on the later models), oil leak could be anything, but if you factor in worse case senario then you should be fine, as for the boot, well I would get a price from bmw for this, ( at least this way you know you wil get it done cheaper elsewhere ).
Armed with all the above, go back and haggle like hell on the price, maybe it's priced that low hoping someone would just take it without having it inspected and hence not noticing all the faults.
Good luck anyway.
In this instance, ( low mileage/low asking price ), then I would go by gut instinct, does it look right, does it feel right.
All cars have faults, some more than others, you might have just picked one with more faults than most at that sort of mileage.
The gearboxes on the coupes are not the smoothest of things, ( even on the later models), oil leak could be anything, but if you factor in worse case senario then you should be fine, as for the boot, well I would get a price from bmw for this, ( at least this way you know you wil get it done cheaper elsewhere ).
Armed with all the above, go back and haggle like hell on the price, maybe it's priced that low hoping someone would just take it without having it inspected and hence not noticing all the faults.
Good luck anyway.
Slurms said:
Don't really understand the logic here, you paid for the inspection...
The inspection says that it's got problems both structural and engine...
Yet you still want to buy it...
Every 2nd hand car will have problems but it's weighing up if they are offset by the purchase price.The inspection says that it's got problems both structural and engine...
Yet you still want to buy it...
If this car has £3k worth of work but is £5k cheaper than others with similar millage and condition once the £3k is spent it might be worth looking at.
Slurms said:
Don't really understand the logic here, you paid for the inspection...
The inspection says that it's got problems both structural and engine...
Yet you still want to buy it...
You have to understand ZMCoupes to fully understand the logic.The inspection says that it's got problems both structural and engine...
Yet you still want to buy it...
Many are well known to have had boot floor problems, the same for vanos issues, but both are easily fixed.
You just have to do the maths, simples.
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