E89 Purchase

[Adam. Eustace]

Hi Everyone,

I am 19 year old and from the UK,

And I am looking to get my second car I have always liked cars and the Z4 e89 has been a car I have wanted for quite some time.
I test-drove a 2011 23i e89 about a week ago and loved it it had a full-service history and only 70 K on the clock it was perfect.

My worry is about running costs as much as I love the car I don't want to end up with a financial burden that will leave me with too many holes in my pocket.

From my research, the 20i engine is very close in performance to the 23i, except has much better running costs, cheaper tax slightly cheaper insurance and servicing is much cheaper too. I wondered however if the engine was slightly less reliable and cost me more in repairs if the 23i would be a better option.

From my research the 23i would cost me about £5500 a year to run, including insurance tax service fee and fuel cost for the year is this accurate I do about 12,000 miles a year. When you compare this to the 20i £4500 does this sound about right?

Would anybody be able to give me a price breakdown of what ownership looks like and some advice between the two engines?

Thank you very much, Adam.

 

[B21]

Welcome…briefly the 23i generally is pretty bomb proof and fractionally easier to maintain…

The 23i you should be able to get for £2k-£3k less than a 20i..

Pre 2013 20i run the risk of cam chain failure..it’s a £1k+ cost to fix before it goes catastrophic..

 

[matsmith749]

Insurance - whatever you need to pay.
Tyres & expected consumables - budget £400 (2x tyres a years / maybe wipers)
Servicing £500 (BMW prices - less if you do it yourself)
Warranty inc breakdown cover (if you care) - £500
Tax £200

so about £1600 a year + fuel & insurance

 

[Adam. Eustace]

Hi Thankyou both,

The car I viewed was £8100 from a garage does this seem about right would you say for full-service history and 72,000 Miles

 

[B21]

For a dealer about the expected price range..privately folks who are selling are in the £5k-£7k range

 

[Adam. Eustace]

ahh ok thankyou

 

[Mr Tidy]

I think your questions have been answered really, but welcome to the forum.

As B21 said the N52 engine in the 23i is pretty bulletproof. If it gives you any peace of mind I had a 325i with the same engine that was still performing great on nearly 140K miles. The straight 6 is one of the Z4s unique features, and the soundtrack is better!

Anyway good luck.

 

[Pkrs1]

Welcome, the outlay is nothing compared to the enjoyment

 

[Adam. Eustace]

Hi All,

Thank you very much for all of your responses it has been beneficial in the decision-making. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Andrew Franklin who in a roundabout said both engines are great but if you can get a 6-cylinder then you may as the money you would save practically wouldn't warrant choosing the 4-cylinder. I have also decided to wait till I officially get my 2-year NCD which will be in October as it does bring the insurance down by a few hundred pounds which seems worthwhile. As for the question of stuby or whippy I will be going stubby aha.

Thanks all again very nice to see how welcoming you all are and I will defiantly share some pictures when the time comes

 

[Mr Tidy]

Waiting a couple of months to save a few hundred £s certainly makes sense.

But getting into the whippy/stubby debate before you've got your Z4 is brave!

 

[Pondrew]

As for the question of stuby or whippy I will be going stubby aha.

That's because you are young and naive. Give it 20 years and your life experiences will show that you made the wrong decision. :wink:

 

[Adam. Eustace]

E89 Purchase:


Hi All,

I am over the moon to say I put down my deposit on my BMW z4 23i yesterday.

Thanks for the replies I ended up choosing the 6-cylinder the noise is worth the extra cost I can't wait to get driving it.
I pick it up in a few weeks.
The one I found was too good to wait till next year.
I was wondering if anybody can recommend me any other tyres as it is on run flats at the moment and I am aware these aren't favoured.

I also ended up with a whippy but that may change we shall see.

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Thank you all.

 

[Pondrew]

Well done! To quote a recently departed and missed forum member "most excellent! Congrat's"

I am interested how much your insurance premium is at your age on that?
As for tyres, I would wait for the RFLs to get low, then change them all. I am a tight arse so hate the thought of throwing hundreds of pounds worth of tyres away just for the sake of it.
I am sure many on here will disagree. Tyres is a favourite subject to argue about on any car forum, this being no exception.

 

[DonDon]

Congratulations and welcome! Any decent tyres will be fine, but I'm sure others will be along shortly to recommend specific ones.

Don't get cheap tyres - they are your only contact with the road and with that power, you don't want to be slipping in the wet.

If those are 19" rims, get them checked out. There are lots of instances of 19" wheels cracking when combined with RFTs.

Don't be put off, but it is worth reading this thread by RobbiZ4 https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=148657. Particularly check there is no water around the battery in the boot.

 

[Chippie]

Congratulations on the new purchase, as said above, don’t buy cheap tyres, you need to be confident that they will keep you on the road.

 

[Adam. Eustace]

Hi,

I wasn't going to cheap out on tyres as would like to have grip in the wet.

But regarding the run flats, I read about the cracking of alloys and would rather mitigate that risk.

My insurance with all my business miles and 2 years ncd is £2500.

Regarding that thread, you posted with all the big faults.

The one I bought is 2010 with 70,000 miles and has full service 10 stamps and a great MOT history.

In the thread you linked about the age repairs like the battery and the coloured relays and everything else on that list, should these items have been carried out anyway because of their age?

Finally, this may be a silly question but currently, I am working on a construction site where lots of heavy-duty vehicles pick up dust has anyone heard of any problem where dust affects the motors?

Many thanks

 

[DonDon]

Some of those items aren't safety related, and not all previous owners will know or bother about checking them. Some may work, but be near to failing, so won't cause an issue with the MOT. You don't want to be in the middle of nowhere and find that it start raining and the roof won't close.

The Salmon relays (they are salmon coloured(!)) are easy to pull out and have a production week / month stamped on them. They are very cheap and easy to replace, so if they are older than the recommendation, it is best to do so. They are a common cause of issues and will leave your roof inoperable.

Like any modern car, the E89 has LOTS of electrical items and they mostly communicate on one, shared data bus. If even a trivial fault occurs, it can flood the bus, giving rise to lots of false messages about other components which are perfectly fine, but can't share that info. Keeping everything running smoothly is very dependent on the battery, so if it is over 5 years old, it is worth replacing to be on the safe side. The manufacture date should be stamped on it. ONLY replace it with an AGM type battery of 70 Ah or 80 Ah. You can fit something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09YTWJ6BL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title and leave it permanently in place and get reports on the health of the battery.

When (or if) any issues arise, you can take the car to a garage, or get an idea of the issue and maybe fix it yourself if you have a diagnostic code reader. There are lots out there, but one of the best is BimmerGeeks ProTool https://www.bimmergeeks.net/protool... android device into one of the most powerful. It only runs on Android phones, but you can get a cheap one (check the minimum version of Android it needs) and keep it in the car along with a Bluetooth or cable OBDII adapter. That plugs in to the OBDII port down on the right hand door post near the floor. You can buy just the code reader part of the app, or you can buy the code writing part as well.

Don't despair! You don't see posts on here saying "I have been running my car for 10 years and everything is working fine". People only post when they have issues, but that doesn't mean they are very common. The post I linked to is a list of sensible preventative maintenance.

 

[Adam. Eustace]

Oh, I understand thanks I did appreciate you sending it but when I read through it all it was very alarming as I have bought this car and understand not a great deal that go wrong with them I will have an extended warranty on all mechanical and electrical faults.

Is there any other advice you can offer me I would appreciate it.

Finally, this may be a silly question but currently, I am working on a construction site where lots of heavy-duty vehicles pick up dust has anyone heard of any problem where dust affects the motors? - Is this a problem and should I get a cover to cover it on-site that seems a bit overkill.

Thanks a lot I appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions nice to have people who understand what they are talking about.

 

[DonDon]

No idea about dust in particular, but some of the other workers might think you are being a bit precious :wink: Try to park upwind of the dusty areas. Is there an underground car park nearby that you could use instead?

 

[Christopher72]

Congrats Adam! Stubbys rule.