Every time I drive it I end up with a massive grin on my face, just the noise from that massive 6 cylinder beast and the way it accelerates you up to speed in no time at all. The acceleration is so addictive that I have to keep reminding myself that its a fast car and to keep it in the limits. (The Z4 feels more planted than my old Octavia but doesn't munch the motorway miles as easy.)
The only issue I have with the car is a rattle from the engine (VANOS?) so hopefully a good service and new seals will fix that. I have also had the "Lollypop" bushings and Inner+Outer Tie Rod ends replaced as they were badly worn(MOT Failure in July 2017 but then magically passed 2 days later yet 1000 miles after that they are broken again).
Im looking to put together a maintenance schedule to get it back up to where it should be as its been services on average of every 2 years.
Brake fluid was replaced @15,142 miles back in 2007 (doesn't look like its been done since. )
Oil Service @ 15,142 - 2/4/2007 (Brake Fluid Change)
Inspection 1 @ 25,727 - 11/6/2009
Inspection 2 @ 39,008 - 13/4/2010 (New Front pads)
Inspection 1 @ 49,229 - 23/11/2010
Inspection 2 @ 67,632 - 27/04/2012 (New pads all around)
Oil Service @ 81,660
Oil Service @ Unknown Miles - 31/08/2016 (MOT was on 09/02/2016 @ 85,657)
First time they tried to sell it, sounds awful you can hear the rattle as he drives it across the carpark
This is roughly what it sounded like when I bought it, and the noise is getting quieter or I'm just getting used to it, If you keep it above 3000rpm and accelerate with purpose you can't hear it lol. If you try and drive slowly e.g. at a drive thru it rattles like a tin of marbles. I always wonder if the drive thru guys are laughing (Nice car but sounds like a bag of nails)
The garage I took it to for the Lollypop and tie rod replacement didn't do a very good job as the handling still felt sketchy after they had done the replacement and "Laser tracking" (WFT is that I asked for an alignment) anyway not happy I took it for a hunter alignment and these are my results, the top was after the garage had replaced the parts and supposedly "tracked" the car. And the bottom is after a KwickFit Geocare, apparently the camber needs a special tool so they couldn't adjust it. Also when I asked the guy what the camber does for my handling he told me " you don't really need it; its just for the stance look" (WTF?) Anyways it feels much tighter with these settings and new bushes than it did when I bought it.
Onto the oil change, the car has only done 4000 miles since its MOT in 2016 and from what I can tell the oil has not been changed since, I have taken an Oil sample to send off to TheOilLab to see what they say and have it booked in for an inspection service on Friday at a local BMW Indi garage, Not sure if he is going to do an inspection 1 or 2 I told him I would like him to give the car a good once over. So at the very least he will do Brake Flud, Coolant, Oil.
Here is what the sample looked like when I drew it from the car.
Out of embarrassment I'm not going to tell you how much I paid for it as I think I got a good deal, but in light of the maintenance requirements I may have overpaid. It was somewhere between £3500 - £4000 (3.0i with "M Sport Suspension", Memory seats and Cup Holders, No Blueteeth)
I don't think I'd be driving it hard until that was sorted
lol
