Buying my first BMW Z4, Advice?

Hello Everyone,

I'm a 20 year old College student and have been driving a 2005 Honda Accord w/102,000 miles for some time now and have decided although its a fairly reliable car, I would like to purchase something more sporty.

After Many long months of deciding between cars such as,

pre-2003 Porsche boxters,
honda s2000
bmw 325i
audi tt
nissan 350z
bmw z4

I finally narrowed it down to my my two favorite
the Nissan 350z and the BMW z4

I've been told that the Nissan would be much cheaper to maintain than the z4, especially because the cars at my price range have pretty high mileage. I know that both will require maintenance but I feel the z4 parts/labor will be considerably more, Is this true? and if so by how much?

I have a weakness for the z4, but I just don't want to fall in a money pit. Im comfortable spending 1000$ a year on the car, but not much more.

The z4 I've been looking is a 2003 2.5i and has 109,000 miles on it, Automatic, has brand new rear tires, rebuilt title(due to interior vandalism but all has been replaced)
The seller says it does have an "Check engine light" on, but said that when he took it in, the shop told him the sensor was old/malfunctioning.
everything else works fine.(as far as I know) and he recently had all the fluids changed and some other repair under the hood(cant remember atm)

What other questions should I ask If I was considering buying the z4? that would be z4 specific/related problems around 100k miles and what things fail around this time and what do they cost to fix?

the seller is willing to let it go for 7,900$ usd, of course I would pay for it in one sum, as I hate the obligation of car payments. from what I said, does this sound like a reasonable deal?

and If I decide to go look at the car, is there anything I should be wary of/look for?


Just thought it would be wise to consult with actual owners before jumping into something I may not be ready for. One thing is for sure, If I don't buy the Z4 I will be getting the 350z. your thoughts?

Thanks,
Steve

Hi Steve,

There is a buyers guide here, do a search on the forum and you'll find it easily, I'd link it but I'm travelling at the moment...

There are a lot of standard things to check, but the things that go wrong are usually easy fixes, buy with tour eyes open. Re: check engine light, that's an alarm bell for me, never take a sellers word for it especially if they're not specific about the fault. Get a cheap code reader, plug it in and take a look, they may have cleared the codes so do it before and after a test drive.

Personally from what you've said about it being 'rebuilt', I'm wary and would probably walk away and find another z4, although I don't know what the prices/availability are like in your area.

Good luck!

Dev

This won't sound very helpful but my advice would be to save up some more money.

It will open up a wider range of cars for you, or at least give you some cash to fall back on should a big bill arise.

Personally I wouldn't recommend buying a performance car on a tight budget, too much of a lottery for me....... Bargain of a lifetime or a money pit!

Popey said:

This won't sound very helpful but my advice would be to save up some more money.

It will open up a wider range of cars for you, or at least give you some cash to fall back on should a big bill arise.

Personally I wouldn't recommend buying a performance car on a tight budget, too much of a lottery for me....... Bargain of a lifetime or a money pit!

Click to expand...

Hey popey,

thanks for the response I have seriously considered waiting and saving more but If I buy this car, I will still have about 7,000 in the bank since i've been saving for sometime now enough to be comfortable for now. And i'm not ready to save for a really expensive car yet(for me 30k), as I will probably end up saving for the next 3 years before I would have enough to purchase something I like. Personally I would never consider car payments its just the way I was raised. So If I don't buy one at this time, I would probably end up saving a lump sum of 30,000$ usd for a used Porsche cayman(or something idk) over the next 3 years.

Plus im selling my Honda accord for 6,000 so it offsets most of my z4 price. so it wont really burden me unless maintenance is high.

I know i'm just starting out, and have a lot of college ahead of me. but I really crave a low budget(but nice) sports car for college days without over extending myself.
the serious saving for the more expensive cars will come after graduating. As for now i'm pretty comfortable and don't have any college debt/rent to worry about.

Dev said:

Hi Steve,

There is a buyers guide here, do a search on the forum and you'll find it easily, I'd link it but I'm travelling at the moment...

There are a lot of standard things to check, but the things that go wrong are usually easy fixes, buy with tour eyes open. Re: check engine light, that's an alarm bell for me, never take a sellers word for it especially if they're not specific about the fault. Get a cheap code reader, plug it in and take a look, they may have cleared the codes so do it before and after a test drive.

Personally from what you've said about it being 'rebuilt', I'm wary and would probably walk away and find another z4, although I don't know what the prices/availability are like in your area.

Good luck!

Dev

Click to expand...

Thanks Dev,

I have not seen the buyers guide but I will certainly look for it.

At this point i've saved enough for a used budget sports car, anything around 10,000 won't really extend me. I just don't want a crazy 5,000$ repair bill per year. as that takes from my savings for my next car.

I agree on the rebuilt title, and engine light did worry me. I've been looking for months now and its the cheapest one i've seen. it is a 4 hour drive though.

there is another one I was looking at, that runs fine and has a clean title, however that one is 8,800.
I guess it would be safer to go with that one instead, however the 140,000 miles on it puts me off a bit :| one good thing is its a 3.0i but i don't feel that justifies 900$ more? Im not planning on driving any of these cars hard anyway, with that many miles ill be driving them more like golf carts lol
Is it safer to go higher mileage instead of rebuilt title/engine light? or with the 30k more miles am I asking for more expensive problems much sooner?


Also if I buy one of these cars, I plan to drive it for 3-5 years then sell it(if that makes any difference), and upgrade into the 30,000$ price range.

Without going too much into your financial situation (that's for you to keep to yourself) it's hard to say which could be the best option, I know some low mileage cars that can have problems and some higher mileage ones have no problems...it's luck of the drawer.
Prices do seem steep over there...I doubt there's much difference running costs between a 3.0 and 2.5, you're in college so surely saying it's a three litre is easier than saying 'it's a two point five litre' college chicks will love that

I'd be wary of the check engine light one, could be a maf sensor but they aren't cheap! Cost about 400 dollars over here! And it might be a vacuum leak or similar which would be a pain in the arse!

I don't know if anyone's interested but I did end up purchasing it. I've had it for almost 5 months now, had to replace a water pump, but other than that, its ran fine.

Bought a wind screen,
Painted calipers red,
New floor mats,
Also got a wood dash kit,
And an actual z4 xenon conversion kit.(not the cheep stuff)
Got some new front tires,
Did the stubby antenna mod,
Also things like TouchUp paint, valve stem caps.
Sound mod, and muffler delete,(left my catilitic converter) no drone
Fabric protectant
And a few other small stuff.


I love the car, and am happy I bought it. I can post pictures if anyone would like,
But please keep in mind its not the greatest z4 out there, as I'm just a student with a budget.

I'm considering replacing the sterio, but all the aftermarket ones don't look that great on it, and the OEM is not that bad, but if you've any suggestions I'm all ears.

I'm thinking single din, android flip screen, so I can run the torque app or something similar,

Oh yea also picked up a valentine for it


Edit: I had no idea, but the z4 gets a lot of compliments lol. I'd say more than the 350z

And yes, I wish I had the 3.0i but I can't be picky

Sounds lovely and already into the mods

However you update the thread after 5 months and you didn't post any pics....... yep you know what comes next

:worthless:

Derfen Steve said:

Hello Everyone, I'm a 20 year old College student and would like to purchase something more sporty... I finally narrowed it down to my my two favourite -the Nissan 350z and the BMW z4... Steve

Click to expand...

On another thread here I was advised that students could not afford a Z4 oke:

It's a great choice, but make sure you use it every day and not leave it parked up near your 'digs' for days [weeks] on end annoying the neighbours

Swiftly said:

Sounds lovely and already into the mods

However you update the thread after 5 months and you didn't post any pics....... yep you know what comes next

:worthless:

Click to expand...

Waiting for the sun to come out! so I can get some decent pictures
Its been cloudy and cold for like 2 weeks straight =(
I had forgot about this site until today, So I'll take a ton of photos soon and show all the work I've done on it.(Did what I could without "Ricing it")

thepits said:

Derfen Steve said:

Hello Everyone, I'm a 20 year old College student and would like to purchase something more sporty... I finally narrowed it down to my my two favourite -the Nissan 350z and the BMW z4... Steve

Click to expand...

On another thread here I was advised that students could not afford a Z4 oke:

It's a great choice, but make sure you use it every day and not leave it parked up near your 'digs' for days [weeks] on end annoying the neighbours

Click to expand...

Oh I do, It's my daily driver!
And yea, I saved for 2 years before I could buy one as a student. I almost financed one, however I pulled through until I could actually fully afford a cheep one.

You have to start somewhere!

The Z shares a huge amount of parts from the E46 BMW. Check compatibility on Real OEM web site and keep your budget costs down when replacing most parts + getting salvage parts

Great story Steve, loved the fact you did your research and went for it despite the risks! Be great to see the car before and after mods...never known anyone go for a wood dash but it suits certain colours imo.