Advice for potential new owner please

[roblightbody]

Hi,

We're selling our ultra-reliable, ultra-cheap to run MX-5 because its succumbed badly to the old tin worm, having lived outside all its life in the West of Scotland...

Hoping to move to a Z4 Coupe - and wanting some advice please...

Rust - do they? I saw some bits and pieces about rusty bootlids, but that's all.

Big bills - really nervous about this - never had a BMW - or a car with such a big/powerful engine... would use a local BMW specialist (can anyone recommend the best one in Glasgow area?)

mpg - not expecting miracles - but how bad is it if driven normally in traffic, for example... or a normal cruise on the motorway?

Thanks

 

[skelters]

PM sent.

 

[idej_z4]

I'm a coupe (none ///M) owner myself and never had any rust issues, although you are very far North and having bought a car from up your neck of the woods I know rust can be a problem!

The bills really depends on who you know, how handy you are and the condition of the car you get. The big job everyone mentions is the water pump...if it's a higher mileage one you get, worth asking if it has been done at some point (along with the bushes and arms). Other than that though its not too bad - apart from the road tax the robbing bstards.

MPG I would say you can expect between 25-35mpg. If you're doing some spirited driving it can easily drop below the 20's.

Good luck with your search. I've had mine 3 years now and it still puts a smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel.

 

[Capa]

Bootlids do go, as you expect. You can catch it before it becomes a problem mind.

Bills are pontentially problematic. The engine in a coupe is modern and complicated. Electric water pumps are expensive, and as a few owners appear to be finding out - myself included - faults can be an absolute sod to trace unless there's an obvious fault code.

The flipside of having a modern engine is that economy is very good for a 3l 6. I'd daily mine during rush hour and get 29mpg... On a run I'd happily see 35.

 

[wonkydonkey]

"Sticky steering" is something and nothing. BMW will quote you £2,500 or so to replace your column if your car suffers from this particular problem. In reality, a competent spanner twiddler can fix this in 1-2 hours the first time.

Z4s can wear their bushes, as mentioned above, so pay attention to the steering on your test drive. Be wary of run flat tyres also making the steering feel wayward though.

There's a good buyer's guide on this forum, so have a read of that before your hunt begins. Bills really do depend on how much work you can do yourself. I find the Z4 really easy to work on. I've done a lot of work to mine in this first year, but all I've paid for is the wheel alignment.

 

[Ed Doe]

The non M coupe only came with one engine...? :roll:

Budget around 500 quid if the water pump hadn't been done. Do the stat at the same time.

Check wear on the inner edge of the tyres - they can hide it well as the tyres are wide, particularly the rears.

Bushes can wear but aren't expensive - I'd always recommend upgrading to powerflex at the same time - it's not big money maybe a couple of hundred quid.
Don't be massively out off by ticking on cold start after a minute or so, as long as it disappears when completely warm - these cars are known to do it but it's yet to be shown to be symptomatic of a problem other than just being an annoyance.

If you're sensible 33mpg is a good average, 40 on a run
Check the arches for rust - it's extremely rare though. Bootlids again are pretty visible when they go.

I'd recommend getting a diagnostic done as if it has had any dtc issues a recon unit can cost a bit and be a pain. It never happened to me but has happened to a few on the forums.

Aside from that a lot of the parts are e46 330ci bits so not that expensive in the grand scheme of it. Enjoy man, I did 55k in mine over 4 years, and several trackdays and aside from brakes and tyres, and the water pump it cost me very little in terms of normal servicing bills. Suspension and bush upgrades, quaife diff remap exhaust mods new headlights big brake upgrades on the other hand
..... :lol:

 

[Ed Doe]

Also just to add I loved every mile of mine - so mich so that after a few months of selling it and having time to think about what maybe next, I couldn't think of a more aesthetically pleasing, challenging performance car for the budget than an Mcoupe, so here I still am :lol:
Buy wisely and you're unlikely to lose a lot of money, you'll have a blast - good luck with the hunt!

 

[wonkydonkey]

The non M coupe only came with one engine...? :roll:

Fair enough. Edited my reply.

 

[roblightbody]

Thank you everyone for your replies so far, very helpful indeed.

I won't be doing much to it myself, we'll be relying on whatever the best BMW specialist here is - there seems to be a few.

 

[Mr Tidy]

They're fantastic cars - I'm on my 2nd and coming up for 5 years of Coupe ownership.

I thing the weak points have been covered already - as for economy mine is a 2nd car so never subjected to rush hours or queues and generally driven on clear roads with higher speed limits and the OBC is showing an average of 33.2 mpg!

The one thing you might want to consider is spec. BMW were a bit miserly with that, as rear parking sensors, cruise control, a Multi-Function Steering wheel and cup-holders were all on the options list for the Coupes. Of those, cruise isn't too difficult to retro-fit and neither are cup-holders - although they can be hard to find!

Other popular options are Bi-Xenon headlights, heated seats and power folding door mirrors, so if any of those are essential for you just bear it in mind when you are searching - and good luck.

 

[ph001]

The water pump is only £200 to buy so if your indy is happy to fit that it shouldn’t be more than £100 labour...its a pretty simple job. Most owners change them between 60k and 100k miles but many have gone longer than that. Overall the N52 engine is very reliable, try to get one with the black top known as the N52K, it has several improvements over the silver top engine. Probably looking at an 07 or 57 plate for that.

 

[roblightbody]

I wanted to thank you all for your advice, and to come back to say that yesterday we finally bought our Z4 Coupe.

Its a low-mileage apparently pampered car, in Stratus silver with the oxblood "individual" interior - we think its just stunning looking! We drove from near Luton to Glasgow in it yesterday, pretty much non-stop, and got around 34 mpg (did it easily on one tank). Seems amazing economy for a powerful engine. The car was one of the best cruising experiences I have experienced - completely effortless. Grand Tourer seems fitting.

Got various questions already! I'll do some digging on the forum later.

• 
  We found getting into reverse really difficult, but think this might be a "BMW knack" - seller had told us to push it down, but that apparently isn't right.

• The drivers door-sill trim strip came off when i caught it with my trainer - looks like it needs replaced and/or new clips - i'm presuming its a common issue?

• 
  The wheels have some light kerbing and corrosion - I know these wheels can be problematic - but they're original to the car, and we think they're the best looking, so willing to pay to get them sorted.

• 
  The seller thinks the satnav is stuck at 2014, and you can't get any later. Is that right? Are there any third-party solutions? I'm imagining the same system was in lots of BMWs, so surprised the updates stopped so soon?

• Handbook lists lots of things that you can get a dealer to setup on the car - e.g. linking a car key to a seat memory position - is it really only BMW dealers that can do that?

• And what is the recommended BMW specialists in the West of Scotland!

 

[skelters]

There's B for BMW in Clydebank. No idea if they're good or bad.

I'll PM you later with some stuff.

Commiserations on the Coo Pee.

 

[Crazy Harry]

Well done - love it when someone comes on here looking then reports a buy. Roadster man myself but pleased you've found your Zed - post us some pics of the interior sounds good ...... and of course what options its got.

 

[davros]

Well done on your new purchase. It looks a beauty

 

[Ed Doe]

Reverse gear is not push down - push left hard and it will clunk ove, then push the lever forward into reverse.

Go to realoem.com - enter the last 7 digits of your vin (on the chssis front strut tower under the bonnet) and browse the part numbers - it'll be in there somewhere for the clips etc you need

Satnav is annoyingly the thing that dates these cars the most in my opinion - I wish I didn't have it in mine! I'm not sure if there are updates or not - be interested for my own car :lol:

Coding of all sorts of things can be done through an app called carly and an obd2 plug - it's a £50 annual subscription though. Alternatively there's a thread on here titled 'who has Carly and where' - you'll almost certainly find someone local to you who will be prepared to do it for a) cheaper than a dealer or b) free if you ply them with biccies and tea :lol:

 

[Ed Doe]

Also congrats on the purchase!! Looks lovely 8)

 

[Jamesw]

Pretty sure I went to the dealers in 2015 and got the updated maps 2015 disc for my 58 plate coupe

 

[roblightbody]

Reverse gear is not push down - push left hard and it will clunk ove, then push the lever forward into reverse.

Got it now, thanks! It was only difficult when I thought I was meant to be pushing it down!

Go to realoem.com - enter the last 7 digits of your vin (on the chssis front strut tower under the bonnet) and browse the part numbers - it'll be in there somewhere for the clips etc you need

Thanks!

Satnav is annoyingly the thing that dates these cars the most in my opinion - I wish I didn't have it in mine! I'm not sure if there are updates or not - be interested for my own car :lol:

I agree - was actually looking for a car without it for that reason - but it was so hard to find a good car that we liked, we had to put up with this aspect. I've just bought a 2019 "High" Navigation DVD from Ebay - a genuine one - and will see if that brings the map up to date at least.

Coding of all sorts of things can be done through an app called carly and an obd2 plug - it's a £50 annual subscription though. Alternatively there's a thread on here titled 'who has Carly and where' - you'll almost certainly find someone local to you who will be prepared to do it for a) cheaper than a dealer or b) free if you ply them with biccies and tea :lol:

Will need to explore that, thanks!

 

[Ed Doe]

No bother chap - I was the same, secretly very pleased when I found my first coupe (si) with no nav, and a bit annoyed my M has the nav! Heyho!

Out of interest whats the difference between the 'professional' and 'high' nav dvd?