Advice on potential new purchase

A

Andrew-C

Member
 Berkshire
1st of all, Hi All,

After a few years of procrastination, I've decided to take the plunge and buy a Z4!

I've had a look at one close to me, which is close to my ideal spec, but has a few niggles. I just wanted to run them pass you experienced lot, to see if they're going to be expensive to fix or something quite minor...

So, to the list:

- Water in battery well
- Hood lining catching on passenger silver 'roll hoop'
- No rear wind deflector (it has black slots on the inside of each roll hoop, are they cheap/easy to get hold of?
- Condensation in near side headlight (zenons)
- Badly fitting front bumper on near side
- thin black plastic trim behind door (between roof and bodywork), badly fitted and a bit bent (poor description I know),

Panel gaps and paint seem pretty uniform, so I'm fairly happy the car is straight, but I've really not bought that many used cars, so will get a 2nd opinion before jumping in.

Another quick question - car has electric seats, do the manual seats go lower due to having no motors? I'm 6'6" and the car is just okay for space, but if there's a few extra mm with the manual seats, then I'd seek one out.

I've read the buying guide on here, but are there any trouble areas I should look out for? Roof motor sounds okay, (although I've not heard another to compare it to), and raises and drops pretty quickly...

Thanks in advance,

Andy.
 
ZermattV said:
I think you can find better that's quite a list- what is it in terms of spec that makes it ideal..
Click to expand...

To be honest it's the 1st one I've looked at, and was the only one with 40 miles of me on Autotrader!

However, it's the colour I'd most like, (although am flexible on colour), it has the wheels I favour, has low mileage(55k), FSH, xenons, heated seats, pdc, etc.

It's seems a competitive price, (6.5k)

However the main problem is that I'm rather an impatient fellow, (haven't sold my other fun car yet!), I know I have a major weakness in this area, (you should see me on Christmas day)!

I wasn't sure it was a case of, "oh yes, they all do that", or more that it's a bad example...
 
Regading the seats i'm 6'3" and i found the manual seats in my E85 far better for getting in to the best position than the the electric seats in my E86.
Plenty out there so have a look at few then make your decision :thumbsup:
 
Roof lining catching on roll hoops is quite normal, lots have a little wear mark there that isn't usually noticed.
Badly fitting bumper could be a clip not clipped in properly, or could be worse.
Should be able to get a wind deflector easily from a scrappy, but their prices nowadays aren't great. At least you have the clips to fit it onto.

May be worth trying to find a tidier example.
 
The wind deflector clips into the underside of the bootlid when not in use .........are you certain it isnt there ?
 
slick said:
The wind deflector clips into the underside of the bootlid when not in use .........are you certain it isnt there ?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. To be honest I didn't look there, so it might well be in its little hidy-hole!
 
If its the car you linked in previous post then it does have many things going for it .
Have you a decent indy in mind for repairs ? this can make or break a decent used car needing a little attention .
Is the car going to be garaged ? if so 2 of the problems will almost rectify themselves once you get the car "dried out " :)
Always worth a cheeky offer . especially a ragtop in a snowy january :thumbsup:
 
i would prefer to buy a car from someone that is fussy like myself and would not of left these things unfixed.
at least you will have peace of mind knowing that is was maintained properly
 
mr wilks said:
If its the car you linked in previous post then it does have many things going for it .
Have you a decent indy in mind for repairs ? this can make or break a decent used car needing a little attention .
Is the car going to be garaged ? if so 2 of the problems will almost rectify themselves once you get the car "dried out " :)
Always worth a cheeky offer . especially a ragtop in a snowy january :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

A cheeky deal will certainly be offered, whether it's this car or another!

I've not got as far as looking for an indy yet, I only made the decision to buy one last night!

The car will be garaged, it's to be a week-end toy rather than a daily driver. How did the water get in the boot in the 1st place? Is this a common problem? The car had recently been valeted so might be residue from a wet-vac? Or something more sinister?

The car in question is this one:

http://www.vixenprestige.co.uk/used-cars/bmw-z4-3-0i-se-2dr-bracknell-201304499517433
 
apologies . got my posts crossed :cry: another guy on the lookout linked a black 53/3,0 auto with 107's at £6500 & similar mileage :wink:
as for the water in the boot ? i would put that down to the E85 not having the correct roof :wink: its not a problem with the E86 :poke:
 
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