Buyers Guide / Tips?

Z

zzpza

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My name's Jules and I'm looking to buy an E89 Z4 2.3. I have a couple of test drives booked for tomorrow morning. I've had my local friendly BMW dealer check out the two cars I am looking at, and have a full breakdown of their warranty work, dealer visits, recall (boot vents done on both cars) and original options.

The first car is a bit miley (60k), blue, cream leather, cruise, heated seats and is £15k. The second car is about 30k, grey, cloth, no cruise or heated seats, but does have the USB stereo option and is £16.5k. I plan on keeping the car for a long time. My current car, (E46 330Ci) I have had for 7 years and put over 130k miles on it. Is there any reason to think I won't get the same level of service from a 2.3 Z4?

From my research, one of the options on the blue car, "02KW Light alloy wheels V-spoke style 296 19" with mixed tyres", concerns me. Is the problem as bad as it seems? Do they all crack eventually, or has it just been a small percentage? From the warranty work, I can see that both rear alloys were replaced at about 58k in November last year.

The grey car has "02S3 Light alloy wheels Star-spoke style 290 17" " alloys. Are these RFT too? Do all RFT wheels have the same problem?

What are my options for getting my iPhones (4 & 5) to work with the steering wheel control, but still being able to run my SatNav app and holding the phone where I can see it? In my E46 I have a Brodit car mount. I can't seem to find one for the E89. I really don't want to use a suction cup windscreen mount. Both cars I'm test driving have the 663 stereo, but only the grey one has the 6FL USB interface. Is the USB interface difficult to retro fit? I fitted the iPod kit in my E46 fairly easily, but that was only to the glove box, not the centre console.

Is there any area I should be paying close attention to on the car? The dealer mentioned the roof well getting clogged with leaves, but it seems this is for the previous Z4. Will be checking for rattles with the roof up.

TIA! :)
 
296 wheels have a rather poor history you can find many posts about them on here and other z4 sites , I believe the design has been changed to resolve the issue but from what you have said 2 of the wheels are still original , all z4's come equiped with RFTs and I believe people have exprienced issues with other wheel models but 296's are by far the worst.
Rattles tend to be a feature also , people have varying degrees of sucess in getting these resolved
 
Thanks for the info. From the research I've done, it looks like cracked wheels are most common on the rear as they have greater camber, so place more stress on the inside edge of the rim. Does that sound plausible?

Is water collecting in the rear clusters a common problem? Any problems with the 6 speed manual or electric handbrake?

As part of the electronic research my local dealer did for me, I have a list of the option codes on the cars. Some are pretty obvious what they are, some not so. Is there a list of options codes and their explanation anywhere?
 
Thanks, very helpful :)

A couple of follow up questions... One of the cars is a bit miley (60k). How long does the clutch last? Obviously this will depend on the driver and road type, but roughly how long are people getting? Any idea how much it costs to replace?

Re the 296 alloys. Can I just change to non run flat tyres and just call the RAC if I do get a flat? Or do I need to change the wheels to use 'normal' tyres? Sorry, I've never had a car with RFT before.
 
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