Newbie looking for a Z4 coupe

[TheRuss]

Howdy folks, thought I'd join up here as I'm currently looking to get a Z4 Coupe, probably a 2007 model, unless a newer one turns up for a good price.

Currently just deciding whether to trade-in my car at a dealership, or to spend a couple of hundred quid getting it tidied up by Chipsaway and trying to sell it privately on ebay or something.

Anything to look out for with the 2007 Z4 coupes when buying? I've read the buying guide on here, but it was more of a general car buying guide than specific to that model.

I've seen an '07 with 24k miles on it, but not many toys and only 1 service in 5 years, though apparently the BMW dealer that sold it to the second owner deemed it not necessary to give it another service and sold it as one of their Approved Used Cars.

1 service in 5 years seems a bit cack to me, though I suppose it's not due another for another 1000 miles if the service interval is 12,500 miles...

 

[Stuart Truman]

1 Service in 5 yrs is BS. They need a service every 2 years if they don't reach the mileage required. :thumbsdown:

Avoid this one like the plague

 

[TheRuss]

Doh! But it's the lowest mileage example within my price range by about 20,000 miles! Still seems stupid to me though, only having one service, even if it is a weekend car.

 

[Adamski]

Buy on condition and history. Don't let mileage be the primary factor.

Welcome to the forum


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[TheRuss]

Thanks. The condition of the car (from pictures) looks good. I'm trying to clarify with them if it only has had 1 service, as the way he worded his reply was confusing, so it's possible that it's had more.

Might try to sell mine privately so I can have the choice of privately sold cars as well.

Any common faults? I'd noticed something mentioned about the facelift 3.0l engines...? Or is that quite rare?

 

[mr wilks]

never fails to amaze the number of "high end"vehicles operating on LL service schedule of 18,000 miles . . i always change oil+filter every 12months or 8k miles whichever comes first , ,
my zed was last serviced 15months/7k ago so its getting done next week

 

[Stuart Truman]

Any common faults? I'd noticed something mentioned about the facelift 3.0l engines...? Or is that quite rare?

Broken rear springs (not to difficult to deal with) and potentially sticky steering (that'll be £2000 thank you sir) Sticky steering is by no means a given, but it does happen more than it should. If you buy a warranty you'll be covered as a couple of us have had cause to be thankful for recently.

Otherwise, Zeds in general are very solid and reliable. History is everything though. You could always take it to a BM dealer on a test drive and get them to stick the key in their reader...

 

[Bad_Pritt]

Buy on condition and history. Don't let mileage be the primary factor.

Welcome to the forum
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First of all: Welcome!

Totally agree with Adamski! I once bought a 911 "looked good", the owner was a nice guy... but I did not have the full history of the car. The car ended up more in the shop than in my garage... I sold it after 1 year, even my Stealer was surprised how many issues it had... :thumbsdown:

I now just bought a Z4 with 85.000 kms, BUT from an official dealer where it was sold as a new car in the past and maintained at the same dealer, with full servicing history, 1 year full warranty, an extra service, wax clean, leather treatment, replaced shocks (though it passed MOT, but the dealer felt they had to be replaced!)...

It now seems that the car has "sticky steering" another typical problem of a Z4, which would cost you 2K for repairs... but will now be repaired in warranty

Bottom line: if you can get a car with full history, regular servicing, all documents and warranty, the mileage really doesn't matter.

 

[TheRuss]

How does the sticky steering occur then?

I've found another Zed for sale privately, around 26,000 miles on it, on a 57 plate again, this one has had two services in its lifetime. Is that enough for a car of this age with low mileage? I'm not sure what BMW recommend for cars that are weekend motors and don't get much miles on them...?

 

[Bad_Pritt]

Sticky steering is due to a bad steering column design, whatever the age/mileage of a car, a service every two years is a minimum... Any Stelaer will tell you the same. Of course it doesn't mean it's a bad car, but you need to know more about the car: 1st owner, where has it been serviced, has anything been replaced/repaired, accidents, original exterior colour, options list codes, was it stored inside or outside, is the hood still working properly, how the gear box sounds/feels (hopefully not like a spoon in a bowl of soup), how the clutch feels (direct or not) etc... Iyou can see/hear things the owner is not telling you, start running

Of course you can always ask a specialist to join you when testing the car...

 

[TheRuss]

Thanks for that. 2 services in 5 years means that it's had the pre-requisite number of services thus far. The car is actually from a member on here, albeit one that had only posted a handful of times before selling the car.

Anybody know of any HPI checks that can be done cheaply or for nowt?

 

[TheRuss]

ALso, the sticky steering? Is that something the would need to be fixed if it occurred, or does the car still work fine regardless of this?

Not sure what kind of warranty I could get to cover this and the cost involved... never bought a waranty for any car before.

 

[Bad_Pritt]

In Belgium it would cost a dealer about 1000 euro to provide warranty, so that is roughly the advantage cost. Repairing sticky steering costs about 2500 euro... But you can check if the car has sticky steering: if the steering wheel does not fully return to the centre after small corrections of it gets stuck off centre at low speed. Sometimes greasing the column joints from time to time, could do the trick too. If sticky steering only occurs on a hot day, it is more likely to be the steering ecu that can't take the heat. You should also check if the engine runs smoothly on idle. If it stalls, the double vanos may have to replaced (yet another typical Z4 problem). The hood is also one of the things that fails sometimes. BMW also tramlines, but if it tramlines a lot, check if it has runflats. If it doesn't, than something else could be wrong. Maybe you can buy a warranty yourself? Don't really know if this possible. Anyway, if it doesn't have these problems, maintenace is ok and you have the full history of the car and proof of the correct mileage, you probably have a good cr and most probably not particularly cheap Better pay more for a good car...

 

[Bad_Pritt]

Forget about the soft top trouble, you are looking for a qp... Lol

 

[TheRuss]

Yeah, a coupe, and also a 2007 model, so hoping the VANOS won't be an issue and the sticky steering is less likely to occur as well. I've bombarded the seller with questions and will HPI the car before going to see it.

Thanks!

 

[Bad_Pritt]

Yeah, a coupe, and also a 2007 model, so hoping the VANOS won't be an issue and the sticky steering is less likely to occur as well. I've bombarded the seller with questions and will HPI the car before going to see it.

Thanks!

Hehe, ye sellers be warned!