Help a new boy find the right e85/86!

[earthdweller]

I just found a great car on Auto Trader.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201806077282656?atmobcid=soc3

Download the app to find your perfect car.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.autotrader.androidconsumersearch&referrer=utm_source%3DApp%2520Share

A bargain or steer clear?

Nice colour .. guys owned it for 12 years ... means one of two things ...

It’s a bit like your old coat, familiar, trustworthy and slightly neglected

Or

Perfectly cherished and adored

Part history and needing work doing would lead me to think towards the former

But .., there’s only one way to find out

 

[Phoenixboy]

Almost seems too cheap.
as has been said, may be ok with some work, but possibly cheap for a reason.
not much effort on pictures, which arises the suspicious nature in me.

 

[JonLeeper]

I just found a great car on Auto Trader.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201806077282656?atmobcid=soc3

Download the app to find your perfect car.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.autotrader.androidconsumersearch&referrer=utm_source%3DApp%2520Share

A bargain or steer clear?

Nice colour .. guys owned it for 12 years ... means one of two things ...

It’s a bit like your old coat, familiar, trustworthy and slightly neglected

Or

Perfectly cherished and adored

Part history and needing work doing would lead me to think towards the former

But .., there’s only one way to find out

Exactally what I was thinking. I've spoken to the owner and he says it only needs a service. I'm going to look this afternoon and, if everything looks OK, I'll offer him £50 to put it through the MOT and see what that says.

 

[JonLeeper]

Almost seems too cheap.
as has been said, may be ok with some work, but possibly cheap for a reason.
not much effort on pictures, which arises the suspicious nature in me.

I can only agree. I almost decided not to even bother going to look, but I'd always wonder if I'd missed a bargain!

 

[Phoenixboy]

Almost seems too cheap.
as has been said, may be ok with some work, but possibly cheap for a reason.
not much effort on pictures, which arises the suspicious nature in me.

I can only agree. I almost decided not to even bother going to look, but I'd always wonder if I'd missed a bargain!

depends how far it is

 

[MefiEcosse]

No photos of the interior?
There was a guy on one of the Facebook pages a couple of weeks ago complaining he'd travelled a long way to see a Merlot Z4 and found there was a tear in the roof, be careful its not the same one!

 

[JonLeeper]

Almost seems too cheap.
as has been said, may be ok with some work, but possibly cheap for a reason.
not much effort on pictures, which arises the suspicious nature in me.

I can only agree. I almost decided not to even bother going to look, but I'd always wonder if I'd missed a bargain!

depends how far it is

Thankfully not too far, so worth going for a look even if it turns out to be a shed I've only lost a couple of quids worth of petrol.

 

[JonLeeper]

No photos of the interior?
There was a guy on one of the Facebook pages a couple of weeks ago complaining he'd travelled a long way to see a Merlot Z4 and found there was a tear in the roof, be careful its not the same one!

Thanks for the warning, I'll be on the lookout.

 

[Phoenixboy]

I suppose it comes down to what its condition is overall.
it is cheap, but if it only requires some tlc and mechanically its not needing anything too major, it could be a good buy.
But, if its not been maintained, and needs a lot of work, you may wish you had spent a bit more to buy one that has been maintained and cherished.
if you are mechanically able its very useful, otherwise it becomes a money pit.
its at the lower end of your budget, so you have options.

 

[JonLeeper]

I suppose it comes down to what its condition is overall.
it is cheap, but if it only requires some tlc and mechanically its not needing anything too major, it could be a good buy.
But, if its not been maintained, and needs a lot of work, you may wish you had spent a bit more to buy one that has been maintained and cherished.
if you are mechanically able its very useful, otherwise it becomes a money pit.
its at the lower end of your budget, so you have options.

This is my thinking. If there are signs that it's been reasonably looked after, the oils clear and the engine bay looks like someone has been in there recently backed up by some receipts then I'll pay him to put it through an MOT. If not I'll walk away.
I am happy to do some spannering but I need it to work straight off as it will be my commuting to work car.

We'll see.

 

[JonLeeper]

Well went to see it and it looks like it might be a bargain! It was very clean and obviously loved.

Engine oil was a nice colour and all the dashboard lights came on and went off as they should. It started right on the button as well. The interior is electric heated memory seats and is showing its age but I thing too serious, no rips or tears etc. Both rear springs were replaced last year, as one broke, and all 4 tyres were matching pirelli p-zeros.
There were a few stonechips on the front bumper and one on the bonnet but, again, nothing too serious.

The reason it's so cheap is the roof only opened a small amount and then stopped. I suspect that this is the common roof motor problem and he's been quoted a lot of money from a BMW garage to fix. Also the front lights looked like some E had smeared vasolene on them! Is this a common problem and if so how easy is it to rectify?

I've asked him to put a new MOT on, as I'm not going to buy a car with 15 days left on the MOT, and he's reluctant but going to chat to his garage today and get back to me. I understand that he doesn't want to do it in case it flags up anything but that's my feeling too!

He's selling as he's just had twins and has based his price on what "we buy any car" has offered him!

Any thoughts?

 

[wonkydonkey]

The fact that it has matching, premium brand tyres says a lot. Only people who truly care about a car would treat their car to matching Pirelli P Zeros.

The glazed over headlights are very common and can be restored easily enough (there's a How To on this forum, naturally  :wink.

My black leather seats looked a bit tired when I bought the car, particularly the driver's seat. I spent one hour (only done driver's side so far) and about £20 worth of leather cleaner, colour restorer and conditioner and had fantastic results:



So the only real question seems to be the roof, which the forum can help with. You're close to Number5 so you could potentially arrange a suitable time to take the car to him if you buy it. It might be worth describing exactly what happens when you try to operate the roof, if you can remember (what sounds do you hear, what lights do you see at the roof buttons etc). Chances are it'll be a fairly cheap fix though.

The car won't hang around for long at that price so my advice would be to try and make a speedy decision if you don't want to miss it. Could be a great buy!

 

[Z4 COUPSTER]

Super priced E86 Coupe on eBay leggy but history

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z4-3-0-SI-SPORT-METALLIC-BLACK-2007-57-PLATE/232792586628?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dcf9c3e6f58f048848452371547e98261%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D132629710039%26itm%3D232792586628&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Adecb93fb-6bbb-11e8-a497-74dbd1806711%7Cparentrq%3Ae39427851630a88af7be4940fffb79c8%7Ciid%3A1

And this roadster with hard top looks a,steal

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Bmw-z4-convertible-with-hard-top-Low-Millege/253667227223?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dcf9c3e6f58f048848452371547e98261%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D132629710039%26itm%3D253667227223&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Adecb93fb-6bbb-11e8-a497-74dbd1806711%7Cparentrq%3Ae39427851630a88af7be4940fffb79c8%7Ciid%3A1

 

[Phoenixboy]

Super priced E86 Coupe on eBay leggy but history

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z4-3-0-SI-SPORT-METALLIC-BLACK-2007-57-PLATE/232792586628?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dcf9c3e6f58f048848452371547e98261%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D132629710039%26itm%3D232792586628&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Adecb93fb-6bbb-11e8-a497-74dbd1806711%7Cparentrq%3Ae39427851630a88af7be4940fffb79c8%7Ciid%3A1

And this roadster with hard top looks a,steal

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Bmw-z4-convertible-with-hard-top-Low-Millege/253667227223?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dcf9c3e6f58f048848452371547e98261%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D132629710039%26itm%3D253667227223&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Adecb93fb-6bbb-11e8-a497-74dbd1806711%7Cparentrq%3Ae39427851630a88af7be4940fffb79c8%7Ciid%3A1

that coupe has been for sale since last year, may be ok but suspect mileage is putting people off, but could be a good buy if looked after.

 

[JonLeeper]

Super priced E86 Coupe on eBay leggy but history

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z4-3-0-SI-SPORT-METALLIC-BLACK-2007-57-PLATE/232792586628?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dcf9c3e6f58f048848452371547e98261%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D132629710039%26itm%3D232792586628&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Adecb93fb-6bbb-11e8-a497-74dbd1806711%7Cparentrq%3Ae39427851630a88af7be4940fffb79c8%7Ciid%3A1

And this roadster with hard top looks a,steal

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Bmw-z4-convertible-with-hard-top-Low-Millege/253667227223?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dcf9c3e6f58f048848452371547e98261%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D132629710039%26itm%3D253667227223&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Adecb93fb-6bbb-11e8-a497-74dbd1806711%7Cparentrq%3Ae39427851630a88af7be4940fffb79c8%7Ciid%3A1

At least the coupe is out of my price range, thankfully! :rofl:

 

[JonLeeper]

The fact that it has matching, premium brand tyres says a lot. Only people who truly care about a car would treat their car to matching Pirelli P Zeros.

The glazed over headlights are very common and can be restored easily enough (there's a How To on this forum, naturally :wink.

My black leather seats looked a bit tired when I bought the car, particularly the driver's seat. I spent one hour (only done driver's side so far) and about £20 worth of leather cleaner, colour restorer and conditioner and had fantastic results:

pixlr_20180517213547286_20180517224139845.jpg

So the only real question seems to be the roof, which the forum can help with. You're close to Number5 so you could potentially arrange a suitable time to take the car to him if you buy it. It might be worth describing exactly what happens when you try to operate the roof, if you can remember (what sounds do you hear, what lights do you see at the roof buttons etc). Chances are it'll be a fairly cheap fix though.

The car won't hang around for long at that price so my advice would be to try and make a speedy decision if you don't want to miss it. Could be a great buy!

Really nice job on the seats, hopefully these will respond equally well. I'll take a look at the "how too" for the headlight glass.

Thanks

 

[JonLeeper]

So the vendor didn't come back to me yesturday so I texted him last night. I'd welcome some other thoughts because I think I'm rapidly going off the deal!

There are all the hallmarks of a well looked after car, the matching tyres, the clean oil, the overall condition, etc but his massive reluctance to get it MOT'ed is now worrying. I'd welcome any thoughts, conversation below!






My thoughts are that if he's had lots of viewings and no-one has been worried about the MOT then what we're they worried about as no-one has bought it!

 

[ErrErrminator]

Hmm, an slightly strange attitude, particularly as you are offering to pay for the MOT. I wouldn’t even consider selling a car with so little MOT. I think personally I would be looking for another car. One will come up which ticks all your boxes, but it not come up straight away or may be some distance away. Neither of which should get in the way of finding the ‘right’ car.

 

[wonkydonkey]

I think you're wise to stick with your approach. It is possible that he simply wants it gone and wants to have to make no more effort, even though the car is fine. You could potentially take a mechanic friend along who could effectively give it an MOT check on the spot to give you some peace of mind. It depends how badly you want the car, but the easier, safer option is to carry on as you are. Not many people would be keen to buy an old car with a short MOT.

 

[JonLeeper]

Hmm, an slightly strange attitude, particularly as you are offering to pay for the MOT. I wouldn’t even consider selling a car with so little MOT. I think personally I would be looking for another car. One will come up which ticks all your boxes, but it not come up straight away or may be some distance away. Neither of which should get in the way of finding the ‘right’ car.

Thanks for agreeing with my thoughts. There is the possibility of a nice Maldive Blue 2.5 very close to me in Bristol so there are options.