In the market..

[mr.tourette]

For me a premium car like BMW Mercedes etc. has to have all the toys. Makes the car nicer to live with and much easier to move on at sale time.

At a minimum iDrive, sports seats, heated seats, folding door mirrors, cruise control, PDC (front and rear parking sensors), wind deflector would be nice but if the car doesn't have it, it can easily be retrofitted.

I am on the fence about the M Sport model being a must, whilst I think the front bumper looks great the back bumper not so much and not too keen on the all black steering wheel or the carbon alu interior trim that came standard on M Sport cars. M Sport has a harsher ride without actually handling any better than the standard SE model. Oddly the Z4 is one of the few BMW models where I don't think M Sport really adds that much.

Agreed.. other than the chrome door sills and front bumper i prefer all other aspects of the se.. especially the ride comfort.. i know people appreciate all the toys but for me as long as its got heated m sport seats and a decent stereo (although thats an easy enough retro fit too) thats fine by me.. cruise is nice in an auto but doesn't work as well in a manual imho.. got me thinking of an msport front bumper for mine now.. off to ebay

 

[Zed Baron]

When I bought my SE it had exceptionally low mileage, it was auto and had iDrive + PDC, there was nothing else around at the time that could tick the boxes. The other little things I was looking for I could change in time and did (later side indicators / sport seats / sport steering wheel with the later paddle shift) and relatively inexpensively to do. Its been a great reliable car.

 

[Nictrix]

Well Mr 20% I thank you for your efforts I think if I could just get one person to see it who is serious about buying an E89 they would find it hard to walk away as it really is that good!!!

I wonder whether the Autotrader search criteria (and BMW's ever changing numbering system) is causing the problem? Maybe your average punters are discounting 18s as they think they are 1800s? Or maybe yours comes up as a high value for an 18? I don't get it. Your car has desirable mods, not excessive mileage and presents really well. Maybe give Pistonheads a shot?

I thought you might have been on to something there with autotrader filtering out models.
I tried it though only selecting from the engine size instead of model and Boltz car is included in the list.

 

[Silverstar]

For me a premium car like BMW Mercedes etc. has to have all the toys. Makes the car nicer to live with and much easier to move on at sale time.

At a minimum iDrive, sports seats, heated seats, folding door mirrors, cruise control, PDC (front and rear parking sensors), wind deflector would be nice but if the car doesn't have it, it can easily be retrofitted.

I am on the fence about the M Sport model being a must, whilst I think the front bumper looks great the back bumper not so much and not too keen on the all black steering wheel or the carbon alu interior trim that came standard on M Sport cars. M Sport has a harsher ride without actually handling any better than the standard SE model. Oddly the Z4 is one of the few BMW models where I don't think M Sport really adds that much.

Agreed.. other than the chrome door sills and front bumper i prefer all other aspects of the se.. especially the ride comfort.. i know people appreciate all the toys but for me as long as its got heated m sport seats and a decent stereo (although thats an easy enough retro fit too) thats fine by me.. cruise is nice in an auto but doesn't work as well in a manual imho.. got me thinking of an msport front bumper for mine now.. off to ebay

We've certainly got a decent stereo now.

I have pondered about changing the front bumper to an M Sport one and its a relatively easy and cheap job to do but then the car will look like half a M Sport so I am not sure. Maybe one day when I can be asked I might try and fabricate some sort of custom spoiler or something to add to the front bumper to give it more aggression. Due to stupid homologations laws here it needs to be easily removal before going for the ITV (MOT) and can put it back on after the ITV.

 

[Silverstar]

Well Mr 20% I thank you for your efforts I think if I could just get one person to see it who is serious about buying an E89 they would find it hard to walk away as it really is that good!!!

I wonder whether the Autotrader search criteria (and BMW's ever changing numbering system) is causing the problem? Maybe your average punters are discounting 18s as they think they are 1800s? Or maybe yours comes up as a high value for an 18? I don't get it. Your car has desirable mods, not excessive mileage and presents really well. Maybe give Pistonheads a shot?

I think this could be the case. Maybe many are not giving the 18i a look in when buying this type of car due to being a base model. Or it could be the mods, as a modified car does decrease your buyer pool.

 

[Pondy]

I think this could be the case. Maybe many are not giving the 18i a look in when buying this type of car due to being a base model. Or it could be the mods, as a modified car does decrease your buyer pool.

That could well be the case; who knows? It would be sad to think that a car which has been looked after and "improved" rather than just "modified" is putting off the uninitiated. If it had a big plastic whale tail and sixteen exhausts I could understand.

 

[Zed Baron]

I have pondered about changing the front bumper to an M Sport one and its a relatively easy and cheap job to do but then the car will look like half a M Sport so I am not sure. Maybe one day when I can be asked I might try and fabricate some sort of custom spoiler or something to add to the front bumper to give it more aggression. Due to stupid homologations laws here it needs to be easily removal before going for the ITV (MOT) and can put it back on after the ITV.

I've considered changing the front and back bumpers, nothing has turned up yet and once you've picked up replacement skins, brackets and any missing grilles + repair/paint you're looking at about £700 - £1000. Don't know if I'd be keeping the car after this year so I wouldn't reap any enjoyment from doing it.

 

[Stash36]

iDrive, cruise, colour, heated sport seats, in the right colour, 6 cyl were the things I didn't want to compromise on....very hard to find. Up popped a very close spec and I moved very fast on it at £7750, thought that was very keen.
Cruise missing but knew I could add it later, white leather missing but cream nice enough.
Wasnt bothered about mileage as these can take it if the history looks good enough. Check a few out first just to get to know what you are looking for.
I think the car would be boring without iDrive, the sound system is very good, love the pop up screen and the programmable buttons

 

[biZ4rreMids]

My red zed has most of the toys but does lack heated seats but that hasn’t stopped me hooning it through the winter with the roof down. Haven’t missed the heated seats but have suffered from cold fingers so for me a heated steering wheel would be more practical........

 

[Anonymous]

I have pondered about changing the front bumper to an M Sport one and its a relatively easy and cheap job to do but then the car will look like half a M Sport so I am not sure. Maybe one day when I can be asked I might try and fabricate some sort of custom spoiler or something to add to the front bumper to give it more aggression. Due to stupid homologations laws here it needs to be easily removal before going for the ITV (MOT) and can put it back on after the ITV.

I've considered changing the front and back bumpers, nothing has turned up yet and once you've picked up replacement skins, brackets and any missing grilles + repair/paint you're looking at about £700 - £1000. Don't know if I'd be keeping the car after this year so I wouldn't reap any enjoyment from doing it.

Zedbaron...so what’s on the bucket list next?

 

[Zed Baron]

Zedbaron...so what’s on the bucket list next?

Don't know Peter... the Z is 12 years old this year with 32k on the clock, and lives in the garage on its trickle charger. I took voluntary redundancy 4 years ago and then started my own company and work from home, so the 3 cars we have hardly go anywhere. I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop at the moment, a last hurrah before we can only buy electric go-carts. Well, I've considered a 5.0 XKR (kinda gone off that now), maybe a RangeRover Sport (my mechanic says no) or the newest Audi Q5 Quattro or a BMW X5... or be really sensible and keep the money in the bank or something and keep my old faithful Z4 as it owes me nothing... a Bentley GT won't fit in the garage :x

 

[Anonymous]

Zedbaron...so what’s on the bucket list next?

Don't know Peter... the Z is 12 years old this year with 32k on the clock, and lives in the garage on its trickle charger. I took voluntary redundancy 4 years ago and then started my own company and work from home, so the 3 cars we have hardly go anywhere. I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop at the moment, a last hurrah before we can only buy electric go-carts. Well, I've considered a 5.0 XKR (kinda gone off that now), maybe a RangeRover Sport (my mechanic says no) or the newest Audi Q5 Quattro or a BMW X5... or be really sensible and keep the money in the bank or something and keep my old faithful Z4 as it owes me nothing... a Bentley GT won't fit in the garage :x

Well I’ve pondered the Jaaagggg, the RR and the X5 in the past...for me with the Zed it’s the wider community here and on FB that I think I would miss if I traded out..plus I just love topless motoring...a bit like motorcycling but without all the clothes and helmet faff..

Although the zenith of internal combustion engines came just after the E89 I’m not sure that there’s much to gain from the last throw..

 

[Silverstar]

I have pondered about changing the front bumper to an M Sport one and its a relatively easy and cheap job to do but then the car will look like half a M Sport so I am not sure. Maybe one day when I can be asked I might try and fabricate some sort of custom spoiler or something to add to the front bumper to give it more aggression. Due to stupid homologations laws here it needs to be easily removal before going for the ITV (MOT) and can put it back on after the ITV.

I've considered changing the front and back bumpers, nothing has turned up yet and once you've picked up replacement skins, brackets and any missing grilles + repair/paint you're looking at about £700 - £1000. Don't know if I'd be keeping the car after this year so I wouldn't reap any enjoyment from doing it.

I didn't realise it was that expensive, I was thinking more like £500 for both front and back. I forget how expensive paintwork is in the UK.

 

[Zed Baron]

I didn't realise it was that expensive, I was thinking more like £500 for both front and back. I forget how expensive paintwork is in the UK.

I think the problem is finding a front bumper skin thats not cracked / dented / got the grille tang slots missing, the M sport rear bumper is made of two parts and I would want the rear diffuser also after seeing one on Pbondar's car . Then have them all colour coded to car + maybe the rear parts of the headrest hoops, so I'm looking at £300/£400 paint (mates rate).