E86 Z4 Coupe service history - thoughts?

Zedebee · Post by **Zedebee** » Sat Nov 12, 2022 9:26 pm

j24 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 7:02 pm Yep:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 0301213984

It definitely looks the part in montego blue

Very nice. Good price too. If I was looking to get back in a coupe, I’d definitely consider this one and the service history would not put me off at all.

Secondtothird · Post by **Secondtothird** » Sat Nov 12, 2022 9:26 pm

Looks very nice. I'd echo the consensus in the comments so far, only issue is whether it'll put off the owner after you, if you ever decide to sell. (They are such an event to drive, you may never wish to!) I drive mine regularly and have fresh oil and filter three times a year for peace of mind.

Owen

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Sat Nov 12, 2022 9:29 pm

Hi and welcome to the forum.

There is nothing in that service history that would put me off. My Montego Blue Coupe had 5 previous keepers when I bought it in 2016 and my MC had 7 when I bought it in 2019. As others have said frequent ownership changes seem quite common on 2 seaters.

Whether it is this one or not good luck with your Coupe search - they are great cars.

N4LLY · Post by **N4LLY** » Sat Nov 12, 2022 9:51 pm

j24 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 7:02 pm
N4LLY wrote: ↑Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:55 pm Do you have a link to particular car for sale ?
Yep:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 0301213984

It definitely looks the part in montego blue!

Yep looking damn fine from here

j24 · Post by **j24** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 2:07 pm

Update:

Brought it home last night!

N4LLY · Post by **N4LLY** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 2:09 pm

Most excellent !

Congrat's

inkey$ · Post by **inkey$** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 2:18 pm

Good news

j24 · Post by **j24** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 3:21 pm

Thanks both!

Really happy with it so far - looks and drives brilliantly.

Although it absolutely chucked it down on my way home last night, so not ideal conditions for a first proper drive - Looking forward to my first proper dry weather run!

There are a couple of issues for me to sort out, which I knew about before going to see the car.

1. The keys aren't remote locking/unlocking the car. So until that's sorted I'll have to go the old school route of physically turning the key in the door to lock/unlock the car. Plus the central locking isn't working at all!

Have read a few things on the forum re similar problems with the GM5 module... I'm going to see if charging the keys with a toothbrush charger works - then maybe try the re-pairing keys to the car key in barrel method. If neither of those work, I'll finally give in and send my GM5 module off for repair...

2. It's also got the common condensation in the foglights, and also a bit of condensation inside the passenger side repeater... thinking I'll probably try to sort these out next year when the weather is a little less wet!

Other than that, there's handful of other minor cosmetic things you'd expect in a 14-year-old car (bit of stone chips on the front that could probably do with addressing, and alloy refurb probably isn't too far away)

But overall it looks brilliant for the age, and the important bits seem to be great. It drives great, has a stack of paperwork for past services etc, and no rust anywhere that I could see. Managed to negotiate a great price and seller was a nice genuine guy who was only selling due to an imminent move to Japan.

I've been on the lookout for a fun second car for about a year now... came very close to a couple of other cars (was originally looking at caymans for a while!) but seriously happy with how things have turned out, and hoping to hold onto it for a while!

The next important question for me to answer is... will it fit in the garage??

Zedebee · Post by **Zedebee** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 8:01 pm

Very happy for you, that looks like a fab purchase.

1. The keys recharge in the ignition, so don’t bother about the toothbrush method unless they’ve actually run out.
2. Replace the fog lights with new (Magneti Marelli ones are often available quite reasonably priced) or change them for blanking plates. It’s not worth trying to repair/restore.

I remember picking mine up when it was chucking down with rain - it only gets better from there.

j24 · Post by **j24** » Fri Nov 18, 2022 11:07 pm

Zedebee wrote: ↑Thu Nov 17, 2022 8:01 pm Very happy for you, that looks like a fab purchase.

1. The keys recharge in the ignition, so don’t bother about the toothbrush method unless they’ve actually run out.
2. Replace the fog lights with new (Magneti Marelli ones are often available quite reasonably priced) or change them for blanking plates. It’s not worth trying to repair/restore.

I remember picking mine up when it was chucking down with rain - it only gets better from there.

Cheers - Yeah very happy with it!

I think the keys were pretty dead... toothbrush charger method has revived one of them, so have remote central locking working with one key now. Hoping that means it's not the GM5 module, which is a little bit of good news! Going to try and charge the other one, re-pair both to the car and then hopefully just a case of keeping them charged by making sure I rotate the keys every time I head out for a spin.

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Sat Nov 19, 2022 12:12 am

Welcome to E86 ownership and well done for finding a late one.

It was raining when I collected my Montego Blue one and drizzly when I got my MC, but both times I still enjoyed driving 100+ miles home.

If one key has been revived your GM5 module should be OK. I make a point of using both keys for mine now!

I hope it fits in the garage.

j24 · Post by **j24** » Sun Nov 20, 2022 10:51 am

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 12:12 am I hope it fits in the garage.

Thanks for the welcome to the e86 club!

And glad to report that it fits in the garage - and more importantly, I managed to get out!

Definitely a little on the tight side but no where near as tight as I was worried it would be. Most difficult part is getting it past the garage door.

Re the remote central locking, the one key I managed to get working on Friday stopped working yesterday, so I’m suspecting it might be time for a couple of new key batteries… have seen there’s a couple of places which offer to restore keys and put a new battery in for about £25-£35 a key, so thinking I’ll send one key off initially and see how it goes when I get it back.

Vijay · Post by **Vijay** » Sun Nov 20, 2022 1:16 pm

Looking good j24 - welcome on board!

Zedebee · Post by **Zedebee** » Sun Nov 20, 2022 2:57 pm

j24 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 10:51 am Re the remote central locking, the one key I managed to get working on Friday stopped working yesterday, so I’m suspecting it might be time for a couple of new key batteries… have seen there’s a couple of places which offer to restore keys and put a new battery in for about £25-£35 a key, so thinking I’ll send one key off initially and see how it goes when I get it back.

I’d recommend The Master Locksmith at themasterlocksmith.com

j24 · Post by **j24** » Sun Nov 20, 2022 10:19 pm

Zedebee wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 2:57 pm I’d recommend The Master Locksmith at themasterlocksmith.com

Thanks for the tip! Think it's between them and Remote Fob Centre (who I can't find as much about but seem to have decent reviews).

https://www.remotefobcentre.com/collect ... ond-shaped

Thinking I'll take the opportunity to get a new key case whilst I'm at it. The Master Locksmith might have the edge as I can find more recommendations on here - plus it looks like from their listing that their new replacement key case already comes with a BMW badge on it, but have emailed both to check.

Worst case looks like you can buy a couple of badges for the key fobs for about a fiver on ebay.

Z4-forum.com

Z4-forum.com