Buying at 100,000+ miles

J

Jezza21

Member
Hello! I'm new here, first post, hopefully joining as a fully signed up member and owner of a Z4 3.0 within the next 2 months!

Looking at 3.0's and the prices of cars with over 100,000 miles on the clock are very appealing!

But this will be my daily driver, I'll put 10,000+ a year in the clock myself, can I trust a car with such mileage? Or do I bite the bullet and fork out an extra £1,000 - £1,500 for a lower mileage Z4?
 
These cars and engines can take the mileage. Make sure it's been serviced properly and it'll go on for another 100k. A few I've seen for sale with 160k+ some US members have theirs at 200k+
 
Welcome Jezza, keep your eye out for one in the forum's Marketplace (there may be one there now). If its a well know forum car then you can be more confident about buying on 100k plus
 
Buy on condition, proof of maintenance and provenance.

100,000 miles is nothing - it is after all just a number - but in the U.K. we seem obsessed by the mileage almost above everything else.
 
I wouldn't have any concerns about the engine itself, there might be small parts that need replacing but that's part and parcel of buying a 12+ year old car. I got a bit unlucky with mine due to the steering throwing a wobble, but it's hardly common and nothing to worry about.

Either get one with the roof motor moved or budget for one of the resident forum mechanics to sort it for you, around £80 and can save a big bill down the line!

Obviously cars this age are going to have some well worn rubber bushings and suspension parts, but that won't change drastically across any of the available cars, again if you can find one that's had new shocks/springs/bushes its a plus, otherwise consider doing them in future. To be fair this is true of any 100k mile car, so nothing specifically wrong with these.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum OP. :thumbsup:

100K doesn't seem to be a problem for Z4s. You may need to replace ancillary bits like suspension bushes, water pumps, batteries, etc. but you'd have to do this on any car at that age! A Forum member was selling an E86 (so Coupe) with 200K a while ago, so 100K isn't really an issue!

To be honest if you are doing significant mileage buying one that has already done some may be a good idea - putting loads of miles on a low-mileage one would probably cost in depreciation.

Hope you find one soon, then you can post some photos! :lol:
 
Thanks guys! Great to know what to look out for, sounds like it's certainly worth investigating some of these higher mileage motors.

Just discovered the for sales section, bingo!!

Gonna try and book a test drive tomorrow for a Z4 near me that's at 110k right now - guess a couple test drives will give me all the answers I need!

Can I check springs / bushes with my eyes / hands at a viewing, or is this a jack up / garage job?
 
I've just past 100k and I'm replacing my shocks and springs. From looking at them there was no obvious signs of wear. The handling did seem sloppy at speed so this was my only clue. The old bounce test showed nothing, but the rear shocks were shot.
Oh, if they've been replaced by bilsteins the shocks will be yellow. Estimate up to £1k to replace front and rear shocks and springs including topmounts etc.

As said before, this is not just z4s, but any car of this age/mileage. Only difference is this is a good looking car!
 
dhobbs said:
I've just past 100k and I'm replacing my shocks and springs. From looking at them there was no obvious signs of wear. The handling did seem sloppy at speed so this was my only clue. The old bounce test showed nothing, but the rear shocks were shot.
Oh, if they've been replaced by bilsteins the shocks will be yellow. Estimate up to £1k to replace front and rear shocks and springs including topmounts etc.

As said before, this is not just z4s, but any car of this age/mileage. Only difference is this is a good looking car!
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If you upgrade, sure. However the B4 kit is "OEM equivalent", much cheaper and black. It's just a matter of opinion if you want to spend £600+ on B6 or B8 shocks or £350 on B4s. Sure they're better but believe me, anything will be leagues ahead of tired original parts.
 
TR4man said:
Buy on condition, proof of maintenance and provenance.

100,000 miles is nothing - it is after all just a number - but in the U.K. we seem obsessed by the mileage almost above everything else.
Click to expand...

It's funny, that thinking has made its way here as well. But because we're metric, everyone sees 100,000Km as the 'must get rid of it before it totally self-destructs or costs me a fortune' point. Which of course, is 'only' 60,000 miles...
 
mjennings23 said:
dhobbs said:
I've just past 100k and I'm replacing my shocks and springs. From looking at them there was no obvious signs of wear. The handling did seem sloppy at speed so this was my only clue. The old bounce test showed nothing, but the rear shocks were shot.
Oh, if they've been replaced by bilsteins the shocks will be yellow. Estimate up to £1k to replace front and rear shocks and springs including topmounts etc.

As said before, this is not just z4s, but any car of this age/mileage. Only difference is this is a good looking car!
Click to expand...

If you upgrade, sure. However the B4 kit is "OEM equivalent", much cheaper and black. It's just a matter of opinion if you want to spend £600+ on B6 or B8 shocks or £350 on B4s. Sure they're better but believe me, anything will be leagues ahead of tired original parts.
Click to expand...

Good point, mine is the b12 kit which was recommended by the guys here.
 
We'll I think I answered this question for myself today, test drive 2 Z4's.

The first was bang on 100,000 miles. Smooth, lovely engine, good gearbox (bad roof motor)

The next was 54,000 miles. Horrible ticking in the engine, lots of cranks from the steering and suspension

The first was almost Twice the miles but twice the better car!!

Oh and my goodness doesn't that 3.0 engine sing a beautiful tone :driving:
 
Jezza21 said:
We'll I think I answered this question for myself today, test drive 2 Z4's.
The first was bang on 100,000 miles. Smooth, lovely engine, good gearbox (bad roof motor)
The next was 54,000 miles. Horrible ticking in the engine, lots of cranks from the steering and suspension
The first was almost Twice the miles but twice the better car!!
Oh and my goodness doesn't that 3.0 engine sing a beautiful tone :driving:
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Dont worry about the roof motors. A year or two back any issues would have cost you c£800 at a BMW dealer, but now there are several of us members here who will sort your roof motor for approx £100 and relocate it to the boot at the same time.

If its the right car other than the roof go for it but suggest he knocks a bit off to compensate for the work to be done and it could go in your favour.
 
[/quote]

Dont worry about the roof motors. A year or two back any issues would have cost you c£800 at a BMW dealer, but now there are several of us members here who will sort your roof motor for approx £100 and relocate it to the boot at the same time.

If its the right car other than the roof go for it but suggest he knocks a bit off to compensate for the work to be done and it could go in your favour.
[/quote]

Really!? I can get a new motor fitted for £100-ish quid???? That's pretty good if they can move it to the boot too. The motors are still pricey though, just checked and they're £400 on eBay!

i'll see how the dealer reacts to a £500 price cut ha, fingers crossed!
 
No.
Several of us charge from £80-£150 for the relocation and within that it's usually possibly to get the original motor going again with a few tricks and a bit of TLC.

A new/refurbed motor on eBay is about £100-£149 tops should you need it.

However the 5 or 6 of us doing it carry spares so if yours is that bad it's not salvageable we can still sort it same day at £250 max I'd say, So if you can knock £400-£500 off the car you're laughing.

The 'fixers' are
Number 5 (me) Bristol
Diwtcokeman - Bucks
Ducklakeview - Liverpool area
Bowser - Hampshire
Durham Dave - Durham
Tug - central England ( I think)

Send any of us a PM and we'll try to help.
 
My 3.0i is just shy of 140k. I've had it a year, and it's had RTABS, back tyres, coolant hose, shocks (Bilstein B4S), DISA valve and a handbrake lever. All are not unexpected, but will still need a few other jobs done, including rocker gasket and oil filter gasket. Nothing unexpected apart from the handbrake, which is a big job to do. BTW, new shocks transform the car.

I just had mine MoT'd and the emissions were really low, I think the engine and gearbox will easily see 200k, I have heard that automatics get issues when high mileage. However the expansion tank burst during the MoT, which was spectacular and stressful.

I got an Indy to look after mine, and it's not been cheap, in fact it's cost a small fortune, but I saved a ton of cash by missing out on depreciation. I figure that most service items will be covered during this year, so the next few years will hopefully be much cheaper. Of course if you DIY it's a lot cheaper, I always intended to DIY, but life keeps getting big the way.
 
Jalfrezi said:
My 3.0i is just shy of 140k. I've had it a year, and it's had RTABS, back tyres, coolant hose, shocks (Bilstein B4S), DISA valve and a handbrake lever. All are not unexpected, but will still need a few other jobs done, including rocker gasket and oil filter gasket. Nothing unexpected apart from the handbrake, which is a big job to do. BTW, new shocks transform the car.

I just had mine MoT'd and the emissions were really low, I think the engine and gearbox will easily see 200k, I have heard that automatics get issues when high mileage. However the expansion tank burst during the MoT, which was spectacular and stressful.

I got an Indy to look after mine, and it's not been cheap, in fact it's cost a small fortune, but I saved a ton of cash by missing out on depreciation. I figure that most service items will be covered during this year, so the next few years will hopefully be much cheaper. Of course if you DIY it's a lot cheaper, I always intended to DIY, but life keeps getting big the way.
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Wow, that's impressive! It seems like the engines on these things will run for a looooong time - it's just all the other bits that I was initially concerned about dealing with.

But already my roof motor concerns are over, this forum seems to be super helpful so I guess any nasty surprises I find I'll be able to solve with a bit of DIY and a bit of forum research!

You're right about depreciation being the biggest cost, if you were still hanging onto one of these from brand new I reckon £30,000 of your hard earned would have vanished!
 
So some good news OP!

I can't tell whether the cars you drove were Pre-facelift or facelift ones, but if you did drive a facelift those engines just love to chase the red-line! And if you only tried pre-facelifts but you could find a facelift in budget then you should probably try it. :lol:
 
It would be the newer 2 ltr turbo cars that would worry me with high mileages. The stress that a turbo puts on an engine is considerable and I say that as someone who recently rebuilt a small engined turbo car. With the older 6 cylinder units they are much stronger so dont worry about engine problems.
 
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