£16k for a Z4 35I DCT with Red Leather?

[sunnydays]

Hi all,

First time poster here, just found the forum and it looks excellent.

My first question is:
will £16k be enough to see my self in to a good quality Z4 35i.

Second question:
what are the essential options that i should aim for? The things i am really keen on are, Coloured Leather, Satnav, Heated Seats, Premium Sound Systems, DCT Auto is a must

Third question:
How rare is the red leather,i am a sucker for red leather, the cream is nice too. Ideally i only want a car with Red Leather, its that essential to me lol. Currently on auto trader, Z35Is with DCT, under 50k miles and under £18k. None have coloured leather. How long will i be waiting for this?

And finally, is their any thing i should look out for when buying a new car (apart from the obvious etc), ie are their any specific things to look for in these cars

Thank you

Sunny

 

[tomscott]

Red leather is also essential to me and ive been looking for about 3 months and nothing has come up in that price bracket. The odd 35 comes up at the price point but is always low spec. 18+ will get you well specced 35 and 20+ will get you where you want to be.

 

[WilliamB]

You need to remember that most choose conservative colours and most of those "used but actually new" cars that dealers pre-order are also colour conservative. Then again personally I have a white exterior and red interior and when I bought it every Z4 seemed to be white with red seats. Your requirements are very reasonable and many would say standard in 2016, apart from the premium audio.

Bump up your budget to £18-19k and you'll get the colour plus lower mileage. It can be better value for money even if it costs more.

Specific things are to go for 2013 or very late 2012 because that's when they fixed most of the common faults including the leaking LED rear lights (it will cost you £400 for a pair to replace otherwise). Spending an extra £500 for an example with 19" premium alloys is better than saving it and then having to spend £1k+ to upgrade the alloys & tyres later. Lookout for examples with cruise control, I didn't and I regret it big time. If an example has 'BMW connected drive' but costs an extra £500, it might actuallybe worth it.