Advice needed - about to buy a Z4

B

branwellm

Member
Hi all

I'm new to this forum and about to new to Z4 ownership (owened a Z3 many years ago).

I am thinking of buying a second-and Z4 and have found one that I think I like but would like some advice from you good people to make sure I am not making a mistake.

The car in question is from an independent dealer and is an 03 with 54k on the clock. It's got memory seats, red leather & parking sensors as extras. The quoted cost is £8385 although I am planning to bargain if I can. They offer a free 6-month warranty (probably a fairly basic one I suspect). The service history is a little patchy with some BMW and some indepentent dealers. They are going to do an inspection 2 service and MOT free of charge now.


The main concern that I have is that it has had 6 previous owners. Is this something I should be concerned about? The other concern is that some areas inside are a little scruffy. For example, the plastic bit under the handbrake is fairly scuffed as I suspect some kept keys there or something. Nothing too serious but enough to annoy me. Is it easy to replace things like this?

Anyway, any advice for what to look out for or whether I should avoid this would be very appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Branwell
 
thats alot of owners branwellm......consider how someone who owns a car like this AND keeps there loose change or keys in that plastic bit. I wonder how much care they lavished on the rest of the car and how it was driven. Also consider your position should you want to sell it on.
 
Thanks for the quick replies. I thought that the question of the number of owners would divide opinion.

I have another question which I forgot to put on my original post. I have been trying to find out if there are any major areas of maintenance (such as timing belt change) that need to happen at around the milage of this car. I don't want to buy it and then find I have a massive bill within the next year. Any thoughts?

Thanks again.
 
most of them are scuffed underthe handbrake- I think it is a big job to change a small piece of plastic.
There is no timing belt - it's a chain which should last 150,000 plus
Price and milage seem ok
What engine?
 
You probably dont want to hear this, but if its a bit scruffy and dosnt look like its been looked after then it probably hasnt. There are lots of z4s for sale at the mo so if I were you I would keep hunting around until the right one crops up.
 
Hi branwellm, my opinion is there have been too many owners and would look for a better car. Don't rush into any deals and consider a BMW dealer with warranty for peace of mind. If there is something about the car that bothers you now it will get worse the longer you own it so take your time get the right colour, history & condition and you will be happy.
 
when people are buying a second hand car the first two questions are usually how many miles has it done and how many owners has it had. Milage is a difficult one somepeople dont mind a high milage car especially if it is "good" miles .Some people will walk from a car with low milage,especially an older car. I would say no to 6 owners and I agree that if condition is poor and the service history is a bit suspect then keep looking.Its your money you want the best you can get not the first one or two you see.
 
you had me at red interior.

the Z4 is a bullet proof machine, and as long as reasonable maintenance has been done, you should be fine.
 
if you have doubts look elsewhere, i think 6 owners is too many, especially if its looking a bit tatty, there are plenty of good quality zeds out there
 
Like Taz says - any doubts then walk-away. There are loads of cars out there right now. From £8k/59k miles. Try Autotrader and Pistonheads for starters.
Someone already mentioned the guides on the Forum. You will find much useful Buying advice in there.
The right car will come your way. Took me 3-months to find the right one. And with guidance from the Forum we got a cracking car.
 
I'm with the majority on here - in that I'm not sure it sounds like such a good deal. I'm sure you've done this already but looking on Autotrader there seem to be much more appealing bargains to be had (don't know which spec you're after or where you are obviously).

Take this one for example, 2 years newer, 10K less on the clock, and 4 fewer owners. And it's £100 less.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201120387426000/sort/priceasc/usedcars/price-from/7000/seller-type/trade_adverts/price-to/9000/maximum-mileage/up_to_40000_miles/model/z4/make/bmw/page/1/radius/1501/postcode/ng11nn?logcode=p
 
Hi guys

Thanks for the advice. I went for the car in the end. The dealer did an inspection 2 on it as well as new rear tyres, and MOT all free of charge. They also gave me a good part exchange price on my exsiting car. All of this coupled with the fact that they were just down the road from me, made it a fairly good deal for me. I'm sure I could have found a better deal somewhere else but I didn't want to travle the country looking for it and buying from a dealer gave me some extra confidence.

Cheers
 
Congratulations and welcome to Z-ownership! You'll never look back...

Looking forward to some pics when you're ready! :D
 
6 owners does sound alot but with a Z4 you have to think its not the most practical car in the world, so people will buy it at the start of the summer then sell it sometime in the winter or when they have kids.

Congrats on the purchase.
First thing is to post pictures up.
 
I used to worry about # of owners but I bought my zed 15 months ago (03 reg, 65k) and it had 5 owners. I looked at a number of zed's before it and this one had fbsh and pretty much every single service and parts receipt from when it was new. It was almost immaculate and the guy i bought from gave me alot of confidence about how well he had cared for the car. The ownership thing should be evident by the quality of the car. There are lots of reasons people can change a sports car within just a few months - loss of job, cannot afford running / insurance costs, change of family circumstance (eg baby lol), speeding tickets, loss of license etc. Due to this I wouldnt rule out a more sporty car with lots of previous owners, I would however be weary if buying a more mundane car with so many owners. Having read a few articles online, I wouldnt necessarily always trust old too good to be true low milers as it doesnt appear to be too difficult to forge a full history and get an adjusted speedo. Welcome to the zed club!
 
Depends where the car comes from. Mine has 5 prev owners. It is an ex BMW contract car obviously passed through a number of contractees.

Perfect history, always maintained by dealers so no issue in my eyes.

I think people get too hung up on owners. A mate of mine bought a brand new M3 and thrashed it. Sold as one owner 5 years later but was a dog.

All luck of the draw. If it looks right buy it.....
 
I was in a similar situation last year.

Also got my Z4 a bit 'scruffy' with the same scratches under the handbrake. I plan on repainting that part. In the meanwhile I picked up some black leather from a textiles shop and cut it to fit there. Adds a nice piece of richness and covers up those scratches. Sometimes I still put my cell phone or extra keys there when I'm on the run.

6 Owners really depends on who those owners were. I saw my car had 5 previous owners. (!!!) Then I asked to see the actual carfax / owner history.

The owners were:
- Original owner
- Temporary owner (BMW car auction site)
- Temporary owner (dealership that purchased the car)
- Temporary owner (sold to another dealership)
- Second owner

Who is who I purchased the car from. So really, 2 owners. Although the history said 5.

The history was also patchy with some indy service some bmw service. Really what I wanted to see was the history for the first 3 years after ownership to see what recalls /service was done and if the car kept going back for a repeated problem.

Other than that I had a good indy mechanic inspect the car from top to bottom and come up with a list of every little thing that needed replacing. He didn't find much, but enough that I could negotiate the price of the car down even more.

Car so far has one had one problem, which was leaking coolant. Turns out to be my reservoir+water pump+thermostat. These problems weren't there when I purchased the car and had the systems compression tested.
 
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