2011 E89 Atacama Yellow 2.5L 75K - London

[batacama]

Hi there,

Long time visitor to the forum and unfortunately first time posting is to sell :/

I am looking to sell my lovely rare Atacama Yellow 2.5L E89 manual. Recently moved in with my partner and need something a little more 'practical'.

This car definitely stands out and attracts some attention. Appreciate the colour isn't for everyone - some people seem to absolutely love it, others ... less so

The car is currently located in North London, and I am looking for offers around £17500.

Key highlights:
- Limited "Pure Impulse" edition
- Alcantara/Nappa leather heated sports seats
- Electric folding hardtop convertible
- Full service history
- Recent service & MOT (March 2025)
- New alloys and tires (not runflats) (2023)
- New front and rear brake discs & pads (March 2025)
- VANOS recall completed (BMW main dealer, Feb 2025)
- BMW health check passed (Feb 2025)
- Registered: 21/03/2011

More images available on here

 

[Timmyboybunter]

Lovely looking car, good luck with the sale. The M-sport kit in yellow is stunning.

Genuinely wondering if the asking price is a typo though.

 

[Beerman]

Lovely looking car, good luck with the sale. The M-sport kit in yellow is stunning.

Genuinely wondering if the asking price is a typo though.

It's up for sale on AutoTrader for £17,900.

The next most expensive 23i is an AUC with half the mileage and £6k cheaper.

The price is way off.

 

[Pondrew]

Genuinely wondering if the asking price is a typo though.

Was going to ask the same question TBH. I genuinely thought a '1' had been put in by mistake.

£17,500 for a 14 year old 23i with 75k miles? Good luck with that sale!!

OP: I am genuinely interested as to how you came to your valuation, cos as it stands from the details supplied, you are about £9-10k over....which is a lot, even by delusional standards.

 

[CliveN]

Hello OP
I am one who likes cars to hold their value and am slightly more generous on here than many. Just for context I have many BMWs and think I know BMWs reasonably well. I have a 2011 M Sport E89 like yours with full history and reasonably well spec’d including big wheels and idrive etc. it’s only done 28000 miles and is pretty much as new in my opinion. And it’s original. Oh and it’s a 3.0i not a 2.5i. The only downside I can see is that it’s (to some boring) Alpine White but it does have Coral Red interior.

Yours is a very nice (to some) colour scheme but, again for context, I would value mine at no more than £11,000. I would happily give you a pint if you sell at that price but I see yours at less than mine….Just trying to to help you stop waiting for the phone (not) to ring.

 

[Zed Baron]

I was asked to go this week and look at an immaculate 2016 18i Msport (326M's fitted) in Estoril blue (another rare colour) with 19k on the clock, idrive, pdc, wind deflector, heated seats, cruise etc. and I thought £14995 was dear :?

 

[Pondrew]

I was asked to go this week and look at an immaculate 2016 18i Msport (326M's fitted) in Estoril blue (another rare colour) with 19k on the clock, idrive, pdc, wind deflector, heated seats, cruise etc. and I thought £14995 was dear :?

It is!
I sold my 2016 estoril 20i with 27k miles for £11,500 a few months ago. And the buyer still seems to think it was expensive. :wink:

 

[Z450]

I was asked to go this week and look at an immaculate 2016 18i Msport (326M's fitted) in Estoril blue (another rare colour) with 19k on the clock, idrive, pdc, wind deflector, heated seats, cruise etc. and I thought £14995 was dear :?

It is!
I sold my 2016 estoril 20i with 27k miles for £11,500 a few months ago. And the buyer still seems to think it was expensive. :wink:

Your car was not expensive at all IMO

 

[Argyll Andy]

Base stereo and no idrive, @75k even with the typo of the first digit, remove the 1 and it's still expensive.

 

[batacama]

Thanks for the feedback.

When I was looking into what to price it at, I found examples ranging between 14k - 24k. The £14k one has the 2.0L 4-cylinder engine, less mileage ~42k, and a broken roof - though I can see today that it has recently been reduced to 12k. The £24k example, had 83k on the clock and the bigger 3.5is engine, and sold in 2022.

 

[Zed Baron]

I sold my 2016 estoril 20i with 27k miles for £11,500 a few months ago. And the buyer still seems to think it was expensive. :wink:

I thought for a moment it was your old one, but there wasn't any sign of 'My other car is a Furrari' stickers on it :rofl:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Wow.

Good luck - I think you'll need it. :lol:

 

[Argyll Andy]

Thanks for the feedback.

When I was looking into what to price it at, I found examples ranging between 14k - 24k. The £14k one has the 2.0L 4-cylinder engine, less mileage ~42k, and a broken roof - though I can see today that it has recently been reduced to 12k. The £24k example, had 83k on the clock and the bigger 3.5is engine, and sold in 2022.

There's LOADS of these cars advertised on At, eBay etc, a lot of them at prices they'll never achieve! but here's a reference point for you of one that's for sale on here. Very similar mileage, but the 35iS, lots more toys and some performance and price increasing mods.

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=152056

Your car being yellow, is a very marmite colour, some people wouldn't be seen in one, some people will pay a premium for one. I would have one that colour BTW. Unfortunately the 23i is a very reliable engine but there's very little you can do to squeeze any more power out of it. A 2 lts 18i can go from 156 bhp to 280 bhp with a remap costing a couple of hundred quid. The 3 ltr N52 commands better money because of the higher output.

Personally if you want to try and use the colour as the USP I'd be advertising @ £8995 and even then, because of the marmite element of the colour it could still sit for a while. Some 23i's are down around the £5k mark.

All this is IMHO and you're perfectly entitled to ask whatever you want for it but be mindful you're pitching to a group who know these cars. and their values, VERY well.

 

[Beerman]

Thanks for the feedback.

When I was looking into what to price it at, I found examples ranging between 14k - 24k. The £14k one has the 2.0L 4-cylinder engine, less mileage ~42k, and a broken roof - though I can see today that it has recently been reduced to 12k. The £24k example, had 83k on the clock and the bigger 3.5is engine, and sold in 2022.

There is no 23i for sale anywhere near to your valuation. You can't compare the values of a 23i against the 35is.

There is only one 35is on AutoTrader just now. It has key options such as idrive, 43,000 miles and it's up for £14,500.

I really hope you didn't pay a crazy price for the car and need to recover anywhere near your advertised price.

 

[enuff_zed]

OP, I hope you came to this experienced forum with an open mind, looking for input from serial Z4 owners.
Some of the comments are a little harsh, but they all reflect reality.
If I were you I would take the recommendations from here, go to Autotrader etc and try to sell your car there, adding maybe £500 -750 to the average valuation on here with an expectation of haggling down a little.

 

[Gwest44]

Not a bad advert and decent photos but if you've frequented the forum for a while you should realise the asking price of £17500 is laughable for a 23i - even a yellow one.

Obviously you can ask what you want but Autotrader will give you a valuation for a private sale of £6500 and the retail valuation is £8000.

If you do decide to amend the price I'd also offer to send potential buyers the health check video that BMW sent you when they did the vanos recall.

GLWTS.

 

[Pondrew]

Thanks for the feedback.

When I was looking into what to price it at, I found examples ranging between 14k - 24k. The £14k one has the 2.0L 4-cylinder engine, less mileage ~42k, and a broken roof - though I can see today that it has recently been reduced to 12k. The £24k example, had 83k on the clock and the bigger 3.5is engine, and sold in 2022.

Wherever you found these examples (which don't make any sense to me TBH) and when is irrelevant.
The long and short is that your car is massively overpriced, so you ain't gonna sell it at that price, simple as that.

Did you not notice that your car is thousands, and I mean many thousands, more than every other 23i for sale on the internet (now)?
You can't compare prices of a 23i to a 35i, or 35is, or a 20i, or anything other than a 23i. You definitely can't compare prices for cars sold in 2022, that was a lifetime ago in value terms.
As said, the colour reduces your market (it just does cos it's extremely marmite), as is the interior colour and coverings, even though it is unusual.
The CSL wheels (Chinese replicas presumably?) were never offered on an E89, so that makes them 'aftermarket', which is again marmite.

The car does present very well and looks very clean and tidy. The N52 engine is desirable (cos it's reliable) but was the 'entry level' engine in 2011. If everything else stacks up; service history, etc etc it looks to be a good car.....for the right money. Unfortunately the right money is around 50% of your asking price.

 

[BeardyJon]

It's a nice car, but you can't honestly expect that kind of premium just for the colour of the car. It's not something people care to pay that much extra for. Rarity of colour isn't that valuable. A 2011 23i with 75k is at most a £8-9k car in my view. Go back to Autotrader and take the average price of cars that spec (regardless of colour) and that's your price.

 

[eddietiv1]

Why are you asking double what its worth ? Absolutely nobody on this forum will fall for that, I've heard of chancers but this is taking the biscuit.

 

[Beerman]

The car has been removed from AutoTrader and hasn't changed ownership. The advert either ran out, or the seller realised the price was so far out.

I've never understood why some people see rare colours or options as very valuable.

Most rare colours are rare because few people liked the colour to begin with. It's rare for a reason.