Looking to buy first Z4... advice

M

mikee_j

Member
 Fulham
Hi all and everyone... first post.

been lurking and searching the forum for a while but thought i'd seek some advice from those who know best... you guys! as the title suggests, looking to buy. My current car astra 1.7cdi 05 plate just doesn't cut it and its time to upgrade.

i live in London and wil be using the car for the 15 mile commute everyday. weekends i will be using it to travel out of London out to the countryside. I play a lot of golf so will be motorway driving pretty much every weekend. Bearing this in mind, my head says go for a 06 or 07 plate 2.0i se. However, my heart says i should go for the 2.5i se. My questions are basically, what are the main differences between the 2.0 and 2.5 other than the engine... will i regret not buying a 2.5 in the future... will a 2.5 or 3.0 be economical enough to justify city driving?

also, i'm on a budget of very maximum £15k. what should i expect to be able to pick up on this budget. Also, how much would one expect to chip off the asking prices of cars advertised? If a car is advertised for, say, £17k... what would you expect the dealer to do a deal at.?!?

thanks for taking the time to read and i thank you in advance for your responses.

:D
 
Bigger engine isn't that much more to run. You will only regret not getting a sporty sports car instead of a 2.0 :-)
 
You might also want to consider the auto. It will be way easier on the City commute and you're not going to get any fun out of the manual on the motorway.

Personally I'd get a 6 cyl engine in it for the noise and better performance along with extra that are typically on them.
 
I also echo the comments above, i have a 3.0 and although i dont do many miles, approx 7k a year it has been relatively cheap to run. And its also been without fault, its never missed a beat apart from a fuse for the cigarette lighter.

Previously i used to swap cars every 6-12 months, i have owned this just over 18 months and have no plan to sell it in the near future, in fact i cant even imagine selling it ! Its been awesome.
 
3.0 all the way :) Running costs between the 6 cylinder models is not drastically different and its nice to have more torque and gadgets :thumbsup:
 
3.0 all the way! Or, if you can find a bargain 2.5, settle for that. With your budget, I reckon you'll either get a 3.0i or a 2.5si - Not sure if you'll get a 3.0si unfortunately. Out of the two (3.0i or 2.5si), I'd go for the 2.5si.
 
Thanks for the replies... i think deep down i've already decided to go for the 2.5 or 3.0.

so with a budget of max £15k, what should i be realistically looking to get in terms of engine, year and mileage? also, how important is mileage. I alway seem to ignore anything above 30,000 miles wrongly or rightly i don't know!?
 
I would defnitely go for a 3.o if u can get a 3.0si would be great. More to do with engine later on if need be plus more fun and pretty good on economy. BMW ENGINES run a long way so dont worry. good luck
 
£15k should see you in a 2004 or 2005 3.0i with lowish mileage, trade. Private less.
Prices are rising as I reckon that's 1-2k more than 6 months ago

Run a search on autotrader to see a range
 
I have a 3.0l and do mixed driving and always see 30mpg, 35 on a run, most economical 3.0l i've ever seen :thumbsup: my old e28 528 used to get 14mpg :fuelfire:

Milage wise, i think you'll get something quite low on that budget, lots about that have only been used as weekend cars so it won't be hard to find a low milage one anyway.

Good luck :driving:
 
Ok well my 2 pence worth.... :D

Being an impoverished 20-something with a mortgage to pay etc etc, to me (doing a 25 mile round trip on 70% urbanish roads with longer trips on weekends etc) the 2.0 is perfect for me. It has plenty of performance (no it wont beat a scooby from the lights but how often does anyone actually do 0-60 in 6 seconds...) and is great fun to drive AND will get you 38ish MPG (45 on an Mway run a few weeks ago) even if you aren't slouching around the place. :driving:

Also, what people rarely mention is insurance. I pay (from memory) £600 a year, when I quoted on a 2.5 the cheapest was over a grand.

I was initially sceptical as well about the 2.0 as well but what I would say is go & test drive one... I did and loved it, and combined with the saving in inital cost, insurance and economy don't regret it for a second... :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
Main reason i have a 2.0 was insurance and cost of a 2007 3.0Si as i wanted a facelift model. Being 25 with 2 claims, 3 points and 0 NCD a 3.0Si was going to cost £1600 to insure and 18k to buy. I picked up my 18 month old 2007 2.0SE for 13.5k back in jan and love it. Yes its not super fast and could with more power sometimes but i only drive to and from work (1 mile) and around town in it.

I do have my eye on a 3.0Si coupe next though or maybe a new sDrive Z4 :)
 
To be honest, there are not many differences between the running costs. I thought my 3.0si would cost a lot more to run than it does. I do roughly 250 miles a week and this costs me 50 pounds (1 full tank), i had a 1.6 Ford SportKa before the Z4 (first car and all that) and doing 250 miles a week in that cost 40 (also 1 full tank)! So they are a lot more economical than you would think. And the main difference between the 2.0 and 2.5 is 2 cylinders ;)

I would reccomend you get a 2.5si or a 3.0i. And for what you would be using it for i think an automatic gearbox would be good. I have a manual 3.0si but have been using an automatic 3 series for the past week while my Z4 is in the bodyshop, and the auto box is lovely for driving around town. I enjoy my manual with a lead foot though and can't wait to get it back 8) Plus you don't really need a manual if your doing a lot of motorway driving.
 
Lucy I had a SportKa too on a 53-plate (loved it, great car!) and yea that drink a hell of a lot of juice for what it was, but it was a lot of fun! :driving:

I get 400-450 miles out of a £50 tank now though, so there is a noticable difference.... All about budget & priorities I spose, for me the trade off just wasnt enough to make me consider spending the extra on a 2.5.

Don't get me wrong, I've driven my Dad's 3.0Si Coupe and a 2.5 R & I can completely see the appeal and yes if I had an extra £100 a month that I didn't need to spend on other things, I would have gotten a bigger engine but when it comes down to it, I really don't feel like I'm missing out by having the 2.0 :thumbsup:
 
One of my favouite things about my Z4 is the noise from the 6-cyl engine, so on that basis I've always discounted the 2.0 4-cyl as a no-no. But, the 4-cyl still makes a good noise so for someone who's mainly city-based it might be a sensible option: it's rare you'll need the extra power of the 2.5 or 3.0. Saying that, if you can afford to get into a 2.5 or 3.0 I'd say go for it. The running costs between the 2.5 and 3.0 seem to be very similar, so plumping for a 3.0i pre-facelift will be within your budget :)


cj10jeeper said:
£15k should see you in a 2004 or 2005 3.0i with lowish mileage, trade. Private less.
Prices are rising as I reckon that's 1-2k more than 6 months ago

Run a search on autotrader to see a range
Click to expand...
And as cj says, prices have risen in the past 6 months. Credit crunch started in late 2007, folk were unwilling or unable to get credit to buy cars. Means less two-to-five year old cars in the second-hand market, as fewer new cars are being sold and more people are hanging onto what they've already got. Result is used car prices for prestige cars have gone up slightly! Added into that, soft tops always become more desirable in spring/summer, so a double whammy for Z4 values. Good for owners, bad for buyers :D . The new-model Z4 hasn't affected older Z4 values much so far either.

In the Glass's Guide, my 54-plate 3.0i Z4 is now listed at £11.6k trade price (mileage corrected for 22k miles), but my father-in-law (car trader) says mine would now fetch £12-12.2k at auction because of low miles and condition. Not bad when I paid £10.6k (call it £11k when you factor in intact springs and new non-RFT tyres) 7 months ago. A mixture of a good price, a good time of year to buy, and a bit of luck!

Ally
 
OwenT said:
Ok well my 2 pence worth.... :D

Being an impoverished 20-something with a mortgage to pay etc etc, to me (doing a 25 mile round trip on 70% urbanish roads with longer trips on weekends etc) the 2.0 is perfect for me. It has plenty of performance (no it wont beat a scooby from the lights but how often does anyone actually do 0-60 in 6 seconds...) and is great fun to drive AND will get you 38ish MPG (45 on an Mway run a few weeks ago) even if you aren't slouching around the place. :driving:

Also, what people rarely mention is insurance. I pay (from memory) £600 a year, when I quoted on a 2.5 the cheapest was over a grand.

I was initially sceptical as well about the 2.0 as well but what I would say is go & test drive one... I did and loved it, and combined with the saving in inital cost, insurance and economy don't regret it for a second... :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Click to expand...


Thanks Owen for your comments and to be honest your post is the one which i can relate to the most. I'm a 20-somthing with a mortage who can really benefit for the better mpg, cheaper insurance and cheaper initial price. and to be honest, a 2.0 litre car coming from the 1.7cdi astra is going to be a huge difference.

in terms of insurance, i'm getting a difference of £500 between the 2.0 and 3.0 so that is also a mjor benefit.

I think all things a pointing towards the sensible option of a 2.0, then perhaps upgrade in 2 or 3 years time to the stunning coupe.
 
I got the 3.0 and also live in London. I get 240 city miles with one tank of Sainsburys' Super Unleaded. I was also considering the 2.5, but i'm so happy i got the 3.0! def go for the 3.0 you will not regret it. with 15k you can get a 2005 with satnav and around 25k/30k miles. personally i'd add around 1.5k/2k to your budget and get the facelift 2006+ 3.0Si Sport.
 
Definately the 3.0 in my opinion, I test drove a 2.0 model before i got my 3.0 and it just felt like it was lacking power (no offence to anyone on here, as the 2.0 is still a lovely car) but I was not happy with the fact that my VAG TDI was quicker, and at the end of the day I bought the Z for a weekend fun car as I live down lots of country roads.

With town driving im sure the difference between engines would not be that great? however the one big advantage of opting for a 2.0 is that you will probably get a younger car with less miles.

As people have said, you should test drive a few models before buying, as it depends on what you like! not what people tell you! good luck.
 
You can get a BMW approved used 2003 or 2004 2.5i SE for about 13k which is pretty good and below your budget. The cheapest si on the AUC site is almost exactly 15k (pre bargaining).

Now i'm not so familiar with the differences between pre and post facelift 2.5 engines but from what that all powerful, all knowing cradle of knowledge tells me the facelifted engines are more powerful, lighter and yet more economic. Now that sounds perfect to me. I think the perfect compromise in your situation would be to go for a 2.5si. 3.0i SE ones are cheaper but the the newer 2.5si is almost as powerful, almost as fast and (slightly) cheaper to run. Could be cheaper to insure too but i'm sure you guys know better about that than me.

My opinion? A 2.5si and some haggling. But then again it's your money, your choice. Either way be sure to let us know! :thumbsup:
 
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