M roadster

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Simple question guys - I've been offered an M roadster with 130k on the clock. It had a wing and the bonnet sprayed, needs a sumo plug and rocker cover gasket along with a damn good clean. At that price would you say I'm buy into trouble, does the price reflect a multitude of hidden problems?
 
Simon Blythe said:
Simple question guys - I've been offered an M roadster with 130k on the clock. It had a wing and the bonnet sprayed, needs a sumo plug and rocker cover gasket along with a damn good clean. At that price would you say I'm buy into trouble, does the price reflect a multitude of hidden problems?
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What price is that then? :?
Rob
 
You'll never know, all you can do is listen to the engine, or get someone with experience to listen to it, get as much info on the car as possible, look at its service record but don't be put off by the odd discrepancy, has it had the vanos rebuilt, a clutch, how much life is in the brakes, etc etc as you would any not new car, accept the running costs, make a judgement and say yay or nay. Any car can kick you in the knads, even low mile examples, there's no crystal ball, if it looks, sounds ok then why not?

BTW....what price...?? :?
 
A game of chance that imo is 80% in your favour with regard miles v price
As ever buy on current condition / drive but with a keen eye on how the 130k were clocked up & that means oil - ins1 - oil - ins2 - oil etc have been followed , if so & numbers of owners are low then factor in the routine service stuff then crack on & enjoy cheap ///Motoring knowing worse case scenario is a major engine bill should the worse happen :wink:
I know we have heard a lot about bearing shells & cam lobe wear but a well maintained leggy car is no more likely to explode than a short miler ragged on cold dirty oil or flogged to death doing circuits :cry:
 
That's the thing isn't it. I recently sorted my 3.0 and it's a beautiful car but fundamentally it just isn't fast enough and it doesn't "punch" you in the back when you accelerate. I do however need to remind mindful of the fact that I only got a Z4 for the enjoyment of a soft top with a bit of poke. I'm in a difficult position as I once had an Audi RS2 - now that was a great car and like the M, limited in numbers.
 
I am with Byron, grab it mate. Hey and as a bonus, now you don't have to buy a wing anymore :thumbsup: :rofl:

Not sure what the pommy pound is going for today, but at 9k, its gotta be a win win mate. :driving:
 
It could be win win indeed - but as its out of a main dealer there must be a reason for it being part ex'd. 9k isn't cheap if it subsequently needs a 3 - 5k engine rebuild or clutch - it has130k on the clock too. I've booked a test drive though :)
 
Simon Blythe said:
It could be win win indeed - but as its out of a main dealer there must be a reason for it being part ex'd. 9k isn't cheap if it subsequently needs a 3 - 5k engine rebuild or clutch - it has130k on the clock too. I've booked a test drive though :)
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Hence my thoughts on it being a game of chance 80% in your favour :wink:
Have you got £14k to throw at a 60k car ? or £13k for a 70k car ? or £12k for a 80k car ? ( which might still go bang ? )
Or take the chance & enjoy the same experience as a much more expensive ZM for a good lump less ?
Going forward it will always prove a difficult offload but providing you maintain it & treat it with respect i don't see any reason why it will cost any more to upkeep than a car on half its miles
 
Whilst mine's a coupe, and on 150k, I still wouldn't let it go privately for £9k.

In my case it's due to the amount if money that's been spent on repairs/maintenance in the last 10k miles...probably close to £15k between me and the insurance company, and the fact that I know it's history intimately from 9,000 miles when I bought it. Plus a couple of grand on upgrades.

About the only major part that's not been replaced on mine at some point is the gearbox, and probably has more younger/newer parts on it than most "low mileage" cars for sale :P

At the mileage you're looking at I'd be expecting to see a clutch/flywheel change and at least one set of springs/dampers. Most cars will be fine at these sorts of mileage as long as they're maintained and not neglected when the repairs become expensive.

To give you a bit of an idea of what you can save/spend by taking it to a specialist instead of a dealer for maintenance...with OE/genuine parts:
  • oil service - £180 specialist vs £400 dealer
  • Insp 2 - £400 specialist vs £900 dealer
  • clutch & flywheel - £2k specialist vs £4K dealer
  • diff (dealer only part) - £3k specialist vs £4K dealer
  • 224M wheels - £600 German dealer vs £1400 UK dealer
  • MAF - £200 specialist vs £600 dealer
  • Rear trailing arms (dealer part) - £900 each

Other than the servicing, I've only needed to do the items above once - and it's still about half the cost of running my M5. Of course there's plenty that I've done that is not listed above :?

If it's got a big folder full of invoices then it's easy to see where the money's been spent on it.

High mileage may only indicate it's done lots of steady motorway miles, which are not hard on the car, but you can get an idea of how hard it's been driven by the mileage between servicing, as the service indicator bases its countdown on using 500 gallons of fuel to give you the max range of 15,500 between services, which will an average of over 30mpg.

Significantly less than that average MPG will give you correspondingly shorter service intervals and something like 10-12k would indicate more town/stop/start driving, short runs, weekend use only. Mine does 14k between schedules services and I do the odd track day, ring trip, weekend noon between my 200 mile motorway commutes. I supplement this with extra oil services around ring trips, and do them at least every 6k miles.

On the other hand, you could super/turbo-charge your current car that you know the history of :fuelfire:
 
I spotted this I while ago if it's the same one and the only negative I thought was if you wanted to sell it on later then your potential audience would be a lot smaller than one with say 70-90k on it. If it's a keeper though why not. Go for it
 
Thanks for your input mmm-five. I'm a big fan of OEM and that's how the M or my current car would stay, it would essentially be a weekend toy. You mentioned almost everything on you car has been replaced, why is that - is there an inherent problem with the M or have you just enjoyed your car?

I know no car is infallible and I've seen brand new cars have significant amounts of trouble with engines and gearboxes etc. My E85 is relatively cheap to fix and parts prices are sensible (yes it's not a super car like an M) but forewarned is forearmed in my book.
 
Simon Blythe said:
Thanks for your input mmm-five. I'm a big fan of OEM and that's how the M or my current car would stay, it would essentially be a weekend toy. You mentioned almost everything on you car has been replaced, why is that - is there an inherent problem with the M or have you just enjoyed your car?

I know no car is infallible and I've seen brand new cars have significant amounts of trouble with engines and gearboxes etc. My E85 is relatively cheap to fix and parts prices are sensible (yes it's not a super car like an M) but forewarned is forearmed in my book.
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Everything has been replaced either due to failures (replaced under waranty - engine at 23k, diff at 80k), due to age/mileage-related wear (clutch/flywheel, brake discs, wheels), accident damage (2nd diff, rear trailing arms, wings, doors), preventative maintenance/upgrades (cooling pack, springs, dampers, exhaust, carbon intake).

Considering mine has done a fair amount of track/hooning miles, I'm surprised the parts lasted that long.

IF I ever come to sell mine, then a potential owner only has to look at my profile/posts on here & Pistonheads to see the service/accident/driving/modification history (good & bad).
 
Are you planning on doing the crankshaft bearings? I have read they need replacing too.
 
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