New Z4 (demo or brand new)

S

sijm

New member
Hi All,

Newbie here, I am looking at a demo Z4 (28is sport - fully loaded in Alpine White) or maybe going new and speccing up. 42k new (specced up and also demo new price).

What kind of discount should i be looking for?

Reading lots of mixed messages on a few forums.

Would welcome any thoughts from the experts.

Thx
 
BMW UK sales programs run by quarters: Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep

For new e89s, BMW was giving dealers a substantial hidden incentive in the first quarter this year. Some dealers were offering discounts of £8,000 or more. You aren't going to be able to get that. The 2nd quarter is almost over. You can either take this quarter's deal or wait and see what they will offer next month.

I'd be very careful with a "demo" car since e89s can be troublesome. The price depends on how much the dealer has into the car and if they think they can sell it. Dealers won't sell a car at a a loss.
 
Andrew*Debbie said:
BMW UK sales programs run by quarters: Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep

I'd be very careful with a "demo" car since e89s can be troublesome. The price depends on how much the dealer has into the car and if they think they can sell it. Dealers won't sell a car at a a loss.
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Hi Andrew,
By "demo" cars do you mean cars that have been taken back by dealers because of problems from new?
 
I think a Demo car is one that the dealer has purchased in order to let potential customers test drive it. The warranty would be the same (although backdated to when the dealer got the car).

Another reason to be weary is that these cars may not have been driven carefully....i.e. someone takes it on a test drive and floors the throttle. If its not run in properly???

I had a loan Mini last week while mine was in for repair. It had 425 miles on the clock. I was reasonably careful with it, and didn't over-rev it....but no one told me about running in periods etc and to not go over a certain number of revs.
 
Lots of people on here have bought ex- demo cars and had no problems, but as Kevin has said they will put a few miles on the car and it will have been driven by anybody, but there are bargains to be had this way. My first zed a 2.5 Si was an ex demonstrator, it used a litre of oil every 3000 miles, my 3.0 l e89 has used 1.5 litres in 56,000 miles.

For me, I wanted to spec the car with my options, which meant buying new, you should be able to get 10% discount from new, use Broadspeed to get a price and then beat the dealer over the head with it.

I would take issue Andrew wrt to problems with the car, yes there have been some issues but I see it as a minority, the forum is open to enthusiasts, so any slight imperfection is going to be publicised. My car has been great and I love it.
 
Not many customers are going to get a Z4 as a loan car unless they own a similar beast I'd have thought. Also it is fairly easy to thrash a smaller engined car but a Z4 would be difficult to thrash and damage due to being a high performance car and the driver thinking about his licence :)
 
K99 said:
Not many customers are going to get a Z4 as a loan car unless they own a similar beast I'd have thought. Also it is fairly easy to thrash a smaller engined car but a Z4 would be difficult to thrash and damage due to being a high performance car and the driver thinking about his licence :)
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The dealer will run at least one car fom each model manufactured as demonstrators, hence the word ex-demo, they keep these until someone makes them an offer or until they are few months old and then they are sold.

Regardless of engine size you can still cause excessive wear when the engine is cold by revving the engine, I try and keep below 3000 rpm for the first 10 minutes or so, at least let the oil temerature gauge show some movement. I wouldn't dream of redlining a cold engine in first gear which would not necessarily break a speed limit.
 
Demos are just that, for customers to test drive but also for members of staff to use as runarounds. My last two 1 series were demos, the first was 4 months old with 5K on the clock and the second was 3 months old with 4K. There is nothing wrong with them and you save around 5 to 6K off new. They will have been driven hard (probably) but as it will have the standard 3 year warranty its nothing to worry about. Only thing to check is for paint chipping and dents but a good save over new. I probably would have bought the Z4 as a demo if it wasn't for the large dealer contribution at the time.

Tim.
 
K99 said:
Hi Andrew,
By "demo" cars do you mean cars that have been taken back by dealers because of problems from new?
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Who knows? I don't trust dealers. Some (most) of the cars really will be demonstrators. Those cars have been driven hard and put away wet. I've yet to see a demo priced low enough to make it attractive. I'd be more interested in a 2 year old one owner car at an even bigger discount.



In the US, dealers generally don't have demonstrators. Most people test drive and then buy from dealer stock. Cars that are sold as demos frequently aren't. "Brass Hats" are commonly miss labelled as demos. Those are cars that were driven by BMW employees for 6 months. Not a problem really as the Brass Hats are often in good shape. Is the US we also have to watch out for dishonest dealers reselling buybacks and cars from the various BMW driving programs as "Demos" The driving program cars often go through a set of tires in a few days.

This 335i was less than a month old and had already gone through a few sets of tires.
335i_tire0.jpg
 
Thinking about it, my E90 that I had a few years ago was an ex-dealership car....apparently it was one they lent out to customers who's cars were in the bodyshop (i.e. people who had proved they could crash a car!!!!).

I never had any problems with that car.

I know people who have bought ex-demo cars as well, with no issues, and as said, the price will be less.
 
I nearly purchased a demo E89, but didnt have the spec I wanted, also the fact the salesman thrashed the living daylights out of it from cold didnt fill me with the greatest confidence :thumbsdown:
 
I've driven many, many dealer demo cars over the years and in every case they were thrashed from cold by the salesman trying to impress me with car's performance, I think you have to accept those cars will have been well abused by them and the 200+ other test pilot's

I was on a Porsche dealer drive day a few week's ago and all their cars were new demo's, and you could smell the clutch on each car when we stopped, I wouldn't have liked to purchase one of those.

Best to purchase a one private owner car if possible :)
 
Carol M said:
Andrew*Debbie said:
I'd be very careful with a "demo" car since e89s can be troublesome.
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Saying that, I've had no trouble whatsoever with mine.
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Ditto. I've had two in the past - they always tend to be well sorted and no provlems at all. (good colour combos and plenty of kit!)
 
Go for the ex-demo if it was registered in the first quarter of 2012 i would expect a saving of £8-10,000 over new price.Some "demonstrators" are never demonstrated and are driven by just one sensible and senior staff member who treats it as they would their own.Trust me,i spent 20 years in the business.
 
micz4 said:
Go for the ex-demo if it was registered in the first quarter of 2012 i would expect a saving of £8-10,000 over new price.Some "demonstrators" are never demonstrated and are driven by just one sensible and senior staff member who treats it as they would their own.Trust me,i spent 20 years in the business.
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I agree with this, but sometimes not...when I ever test drive a car I am careful about revs etc until warm, which most sales staff think I am nuts :thumbsdown:

But my first time in a E89, the salesman was trying to sell me a nice ish red one, but drove out of the carpack and literally hit the red line from cold...then said its good isnt it :headbang: :thumbsdown:
 
cjp2k said:
micz4 said:
Go for the ex-demo if it was registered in the first quarter of 2012 i would expect a saving of £8-10,000 over new price.Some "demonstrators" are never demonstrated and are driven by just one sensible and senior staff member who treats it as they would their own.Trust me,i spent 20 years in the business.
Click to expand...

I agree with this, but sometimes not...when I ever test drive a car I am careful about revs etc until warm, which most sales staff think I am nuts :thumbsdown:

But my first time in a E89, the salesman was trying to sell me a nice ish red one, but drove out of the carpack and literally hit the red line from cold...then said its good isnt it :headbang: :thumbsdown:
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There are sadly always a few.
 
micz4 said:
Some "demonstrators" are never demonstrated and are driven by just one sensible and senior staff member who treats it as they would their own.Trust me
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Oh I do like that old chestnut :lol: that's what they tell the poor sucker they are trying to offload their demo on :)
 
micz4 said:
Go for the ex-demo if it was registered in the first quarter of 2012 i would expect a saving of £8-10,000 over new price.Some "demonstrators" are never demonstrated and are driven by just one sensible and senior staff member who treats it as they would their own.Trust me,i spent 20 years in the business.
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Agreed. I think a saved £16,000 and £12,000 respectively. Neither car had done 3000 miles. I do that in a little over a month anyway. :thumbsup:
 
I bought my 335i a couple of weeks ago. Always had new cars, but decided a few years ago not to do that again.

found mine at a local dealers. just over a year old, specced up at £49,200. i picked up this ex BMW management car with 4 k on the clock for £32.5k.

I glad i never paid list for it when new.

Looks just as good to me and not spending the best part of an additional £17K is good!

IMG_4785tree-2.jpg
 
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