New member saying hi

[Zedebee]

Nice, but strong money again. The going rate for a decent coupe on 60k was about £12k back in the summer. Although they are quite a rare car, there always seem to be plenty for sale, so lots to choose from. There is only one engine and two specs, so the things to consider are mileage, overall condition, service history, colour and options. Some of the options are easily retrofitted like cruise control and cupholders.

The only two things I regretted with my coupe were the colour (Monaco Blue is beautiful but lighter colours are easier to keep clean) and the basic 6-speaker stereo (the 10-speaker non-DSP in my current roadster is so much better).

[Deadlysub]

Thanks for all the advice so far

[Mr Tidy]

Hi and welcome to the forum from a Coupe addict.

FWIW I would be looking for a Sport model rather than an SE for the M-Sport seats alone. Used M-Sport seats typically sell on here for £600/700 or so, although some SEs had them as an option and some may have been retro-fitted with them.

Both the linked cars look strong money to me but the A/T one looks to have a better spec with heated seats and Bi-Xenons which would both be expensive to retro-fit. It also has Cirrus Aluminium trim which is pretty rare, but IMO is much nicer than the standard Brushed Aluminium trim. The A/T one may have a slightly higher mileage but N52 engines cope well with high mileages - my current daily 330i with the same engine has done 120K and still pulls really strongly and happily revs out.

The electric water pump on N52 engines will fail, but how long it lasts seems pretty random. My first Z4 needed a new one at 60K, my 2nd seemed to be on the original pump when I sold it on 91K. The main issue is that when the pump dies the engine overheats in less than a mile, although it can be driven a bit further in "limp" mode. So some people fit a new pump to avoid needing to rely on a recovery service! And new pumps are expensive - BMW charge over £500.

But you can buy the same Pierburg pump elsewhere for £250/300.

Some Coupes suffered from rusty tailgates so that is worth checking. Just open it and check around all the edges.

It may not be too near to you and isn't quite OE but this one is £6K cheaper:- viewtopic.php?t=140185

Good luck finding the right one anyway.

[Pondrew]

It has become a buyer's market again, despite some of the ridiculous asking prices (hangover from the past 18 months of madness). Give it another few months and they will fall. Private sellers wanting as much, if not more, than dealers is a new phenomenon which will soon pass IMO.

[Baelle6]

Autotrader Car is the better specification car, EBay car has the better history & Maintenance? Can’t imagine there is many Coupes around that have Full BMW History and that much maintenance done with invoices to prove, totalling thousands well above and beyond standard maintenance looking at the write up. - I’ve always bought based on condition and history etc, at the end of the day the dealer car has come from a private individual somewhere and you get a 3 month warranty which I’d imagine isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Contact the dealer and see if the car has had the water pump done, any suspension work? Tyres? Brakes etc all stuff that could be costs to yourself in the next 6 months? Don’t want to buy one then have to spend getting it right, these are old cars now. MOT history on the EBay car is much cleaner than the Autotrader car as well having reviewed both briefly.
Also EBay car is Revised Engine N52K with Black engine top, AT car is the older engine (Silver Cover).

[Deadlysub]

Hi and welcome to the forum from a Coupe addict.

FWIW I would be looking for a Sport model rather than an SE for the M-Sport seats alone. Used M-Sport seats typically sell on here for £600/700 or so, although some SEs had them as an option and some may have been retro-fitted with them.

Both the linked cars look strong money to me but the A/T one looks to have a better spec with heated seats and Bi-Xenons which would both be expensive to retro-fit. It also has Cirrus Aluminium trim which is pretty rare, but IMO is much nicer than the standard Brushed Aluminium trim. The A/T one may have a slightly higher mileage but N52 engines cope well with high mileages - my current daily 330i with the same engine has done 120K and still pulls really strongly and happily revs out.

The electric water pump on N52 engines will fail, but how long it lasts seems pretty random. My first Z4 needed a new one at 60K, my 2nd seemed to be on the original pump when I sold it on 91K. The main issue is that when the pump dies the engine overheats in less than a mile, although it can be driven a bit further in "limp" mode. So some people fit a new pump to avoid needing to rely on a recovery service! And new pumps are expensive - BMW charge over £500.

But you can buy the same Pierburg pump elsewhere for £250/300.

Some Coupes suffered from rusty tailgates so that is worth checking. Just open it and check around all the edges.

It may not be too near to you and isn't quite OE but this one is £6K cheaper:- viewtopic.php?t=140185

Good luck finding the right one anyway.

Thank you for the really detailed post.

The AT one is still on the original water pump, so that needs to be factored in.

[Z450]

The water pump is an interesting one, I have spoken to the BMW specialist I use and they do come across failures the often, however they see more issues with oil leaks from the N52.

The grey private sale Z4 is one of the nicest private sale ones on the market currently. The one from Miramar cars looks nice but for a dealer is probably £500-£1000 more than I would think from a dealer. That all being said they appear to be a good dealer judging by their reviews

[Mr Tidy]

The water pump is an interesting one, I have spoken to the BMW specialist I use and they do come across failures the often, however they see more issues with oil leaks from the N52.

I can only speak from personal experience, but I've currently got my 4th BMW with the N52 engine and I've needed new water pumps on two of them. Only my current one has needed a new cam-cover gasket (luckily just before I bought it) and then an oil filter housing gasket. But then it's also the oldest one I've had! Fingers crossed I might avoid water pump number 3.