We now have a 1 year old toddler and although we replaced the wife's 3dr hot hatch with a sensible BMW F30 3er as the family car, I think it's also useful to have a 'backup' car that can at least carry my wife and I with the little one in the back.
Otherwise I rarely drive myself around, so it's 335D Xdrive chauffer duty which is ok, but not properly fun in any shape or form vs a Z4.
I've also fancied an E46 M3 for many years I thought it'd be a fun car to own and tinker with, while having back seats!
My Z4 is starting to cost a bit to keep nice (all the same stuff as a similar age/mileage E46), so I figured it'd be just putting more money down on an M3 and enjoying similar running costs and ownership/driving experience.
I did test drive an M3 CS and part of me felt a bit cold vs my Z4. I'm now wondering whether to sell the Z4 for an M3, or just keep the Z4 and spend some money on it.
I rarely use it now since we usually go places all together. It's main use will be my wife driving to work, about 30min each way on rural Dales roads two days a week... so less ideal in winter too, hence the thoughts about letting her take the xdrive 3er, and I have the M3 there so I can actually get somewhere with the little one if needed.
So right now my Z4 is as follows:
2004 BMW Z4 3.0 SE
Titanium Silver
Red Leather M Sport interior (LCI retrofit, airbag warning light present)
Owned 9 years since Jan 2009 @ 60,000 miles
Currently on 125,738 miles
MOT until 17th October 2018 (10 months)
2 previous owners
Heated mem seats
Wind deflector
Standard HiFi
18" Ellipsoid 107s
Steering wheel controls
Original chrome exhaust tips
Hardtop prep
Aux input retrofit
Cruise control retrofit
De-secondary cats (passed all MOTs with them fitted)
Stubby aerial (original present)
M sport gearstick (original present)
BMWSH as follows:
Oil Service, 14,632 miles, 01/08/2005, Cooper Cobham BMW
- 16,245 miles - 1yr 4mths
Inspection 1, 30,877 miles, 26/02/2007, Cooper Cobham BMW
- 29,108 miles - 1yr 9mths
Inspection 2, 59,985 miles, 05/12/2008, Cooper Cobham BMW
Oil Service, 66,429 miles, 29/07/2009, Selby TVR Sports & Classics (my interim service to satisfy a thrown-in warranty from dealer)
- 15,770 miles - 1yr 7mths
Oil Service, 75,755 miles, 15/06/2010, Sandal Wakefield BMW
- 15,807 miles - 1yr 5mths
Inspection 1, 91,562 miles, 11/11/2011, Sandal Wakefield BMW
- 18,763 miles - 2yrs 1mth
Oil Service, 110,325 miles, 20/12/2013, Sandal Wakefield BMW
- 15,413 miles - 4yrs 1mth
Inspection 2, -- OVER-DUE --
Other service items:
Brake fluid, 55,299 miles, 08/08/2008, Cooper Cobham BMW
Brake fluid, 75,755 miles, 15/06/2010, Sandal Wakefield BMW
Brake fluid, 110,059 miles, 10/2013, Independent garage while doing rear brake pipes
Air conditioning, 15/06/2010, Sandal Wakefield BMW
Rear differential and gearbox oil & new gearbox drain plug, 2016, Independent garage
2 x new keys and valet key bought new from BMW shortly after I took ownership of the car
2017:
- New front springs, bought from Suplex direct OE spec (invoice to find, ordered on phone and I fear I just got a box, again, but I did buy them, fitted with below items. Can dig out proof from somewhere if a buyer is adamant, but the car rides the right height and I've invoices for fitting them!)
- Front Bilstein B4 dampers (Z4VLB4 22-164568/575) from Demon Tweeks, £196 + fitting.
- New Bosch S5 096 battery (summer 2017 from ECP), £116. DIY.
- Front discs/pads (OE Textar pad and ATE discs from ECP), £105. DIY.
- Goodyear Eagle F1 Asym 3 225/40 - 255/35, £560 inc fitting (then another new front one a week later as one got a puncture!)
- Gearbox oil (Opie Oils Castrol Syntrans B 75W) £35.90 inc delivery + fitting.
- Differential oil (Opiel Oils Castrol Syntrax Longlife 75W-90) £41.46 inc delivery + fitting.
- Gearbox drain plug from BMW Harrogate Stratstone, £12 + fitting.
- Passenger window actuator (full kit, local trusted garage fitted it, I perfected the alignment), ordered from the chaps at Lincoln BMW, £150 ish (invoice to find) + fitting.
- New front lower control arms, MEYLE HD C813 from eBay seller tierod69, £195 + fitting.
- Rear brake discs, £137 inc fitting (includes labour for a broken rear spring, all part of issues in poor/weird handbrake performance diagnostic)
- New rear spring, one had snapped (again! last one in 2012), but I like OE, so bought matching Suplex (invoice to find, ordered on phone and I fear I just got a box?!)
- Rear discs/pads, for MOT, £75 inc fitting.
- BMW Oil service, Sandal BMW Wakefield on 20 Dec 2013 @ 110,325 miles.
- New engine aux belts from BMW, £51.34 + fitting.
- Brake fluid and new made up rear brake pipes (from underfloor to caliper flexi) for MOT, £164 (includes fitting belts above)
- Intake boot/pipe (one between MAF and manifold proper, had split a tiny bit, spotted while I was doing starter motor), £24.
- Starter motor, exchange item from GSF, have return part of invoice, but it was about £150.
- 5x engine spark plug coils, Bosch ones from GSF (one had failed, car running rough, RAC recovered car for wife, decided to buy all the ones GSF had and replace as many as I could, kept old good ones, will be sold with car, £96.75
- Front ARB drop-links, bought from BMW Sandal Wakefield, £65 (did DIY, made a specially cut back spanner to fit over ARB BJ chamfers so they don't spin, included in sale!)
- KDS alignment and new rear spring at BMW Sandal Wakefield, £243
- BMW INSP1, Sandal BMW Wakefield on 11 Nov 2011 @ 91,562 miles.
- Front and rear ARB bushes, bought from BMW (invoice in stack of random invoices) + fitting
- BMW Oil service, Sandal BMW Wakefield on 16 June 2010 @ 75,752 miles.
- New keys and valet key from BMW Sandal Wakefield, £126.
- Intermediate oil service I needed for the 12 months warranty the trader threw in for me, 66,429 miles, £89 2x4l Castrol fancy LL04 stuff + labour.
- Aux connection from BMW Sandal Wakefield
- New first aid kit
- M sport gear knob from BMW Sandal Wakefield (still have original)
- Stubby aerial (still have original)
- New filler cap from BMW Sandal Wakefield (rubber snapped)
- Cruise control retrofit from BMW Sandal Wakefield (invoice to find)
- New numberplates from Sandal BMW Wakefield, rather than the horrible ones from the trader that sold it to me.
- New DISA from BMW Sandal Wakefield in 2009/2010, probably have invoice in my pile, but there is a thread on here about it any way)
As the eagle eye'd will have seen, the time based interval for the due inspection 2 has run over 2 years!
My wife and I have had a roller coaster 3 years with a lot going on, so I can only put it down to "next month'ing" and there has always been something much more important to deal with... and given all the things going on and the time-warp it creates, I honestly thought it was maybe 6 months over until a week ago when I dug everything out and realised! Yikes!
I'm so annoyed I missed it to be honest as it'd have been a nice FBMWSH with an OIL due right now, rather than INSP2 over-due.
This is my very honest to do list, what I 'want' to do, but maybe not what I'll do based on what people think.
My to-do list as it stands today:
- INSP 2 at BMW due in 150 miles (or minus 2 years! oops!) (Sandal Wakefield are really good, and they genuinely do decent thorough checks on INSP1/2 which are useful, then you do the work elsewhere haha!)
- Cam cover gasket to DIY (because it's easy ish, and it's been getting worse over the last few years, to the point it can smell a bit sometimes when warming up for the first time after a long stand)
- Oil filter housing gasket (There are signs of a leak here, but I only looked because it's a common leaky point apparently)
- Coolant (BMW don't do it on INSP2, but surely it must need doing? The stuff still looks bright blue, clear and fine though)
- Recondition wheels (again, they're now almost 9yrs since reconditioned, and they're the first thing you spot as not 100% as you approach the car) Also a few tyres go down very very slowly, just old rubber on the backs of the beads and poor seals/low mileage usage, sadly the 'well regarded' tyre fitters didn't clean the beads up or put a bead sealer on, so recondition seemed the best fix/£ ratio
- Tracking again, maybe after a few last front suspension related bits are replaced, it's had a lot of everything else recently so due a good check up (KDS at BMW)
- Sort that occupancy sensor/airbag light once and for all! I'd priced parts up from Lincoln BMW at about £180 for new mk1 mat and sensor, then a seat out and leather off job, then sell on the mk2 occupancy sensor to recoup some of the money. Oooor, just buy a box from eBay for £30, then reset the codes from INPA. Or maybe people know how to code it now?
- Localised spray/new panels. The rear wing tops which I had done under warranty are feint bubbling again, and feint bubbling on all arches just starting, almost none on nearside front, worst on offside front
- Full respray. As time has passed the scope has grown, but I thought £2,500 or so to have the car looking mint up top for the next 15 years (now it can be garaged and kept nice) is a bargain!
I'd been offered £1,750 trade in.
I'd prefer it to go to a person who wants a project for £1,750. But I also think it's worth more like £2,500 as it is, maybe £3,000 if I do a bunch of jobs on it.
I think I could break the car for more than the trade in value given.
I can't see it being worth making it 'mint' if I'm going to sell it as I'll just waste time and at best just recoup what I put into it.
Given you can buy a 3.0Si which is arguably better in every way (sans rear lights and front bumper imo ) a 3.0i can't get too expensive.
Ooor I just keep it and throw £1,500 at it and make it nice, use a good specialist independent and screw the BMSH now I've got a big gap in it?
I'd just like honest opinions because I'm a bit at a loss. Even if I don't keep it, should I do it up, by how much? Or sell it as a project to someone who'll genuinely get it right and keep it (which is what I want, rather than seeing it being scrapped a few years down the line)
I think I'm going to go drive a manual M3 to see how I feel about them again, it might help me make up my mind. Maybe the missing element was a manual clutch and a gearstick!
But I also still can't help but think a Z4 is a pointless car if I'll never get much opportunity to drive it and my wife just uses it for commuting on salty wintery (for now) roads.
I've also considered a 330Ci but from what I gather this will be too far the other way (softer and heavier and slower) vs the Z4...
I've had a look for a B3 3.4 Alpina but they're all convertibles which would be cool, but I don't think they're ideal for kiddie seats in the back.
A Coupe would be nice but I assume they come up hardly ever.