Repair & Maintenance Annual Budget 3.0si

R

Roadster44

New member
Hello,

First I apologize because I am fully cognisant of ambiguity in the topic.

Second, I'm flirting with a commitment to a 2008 z4 si convertible with a manual. So naturally, I'm curious to know what kind of annual budget would I have to allocate for maintenance and repair. I'm planning on driving it daily from May through September each year, rest of the year it's storage and rocking an AWD Subaru.

So what would hypothetical be if repairs are done by an experienced mechanic vs doing some of the work myself. I suppose it boils down to knowing cost of parts and cost of labor. Part availability? Aftermarket versus OE.

Thanks!
 
Wow, perhaps asking how well the stock market will perform would yield a similar answer. :poke:

More unknowns than knowns to provide even a vague answer.
Miles, maintenance history, condition, options, your mechanical abilities, etc.

You can likely calculate your fuel and scheduled maintenance costs based on your anticipated miles, but the rest of your costs... :tumbleweed:
 
Ill chuck in my 2c just because I just happened to have had my maintenance record open while procrastinating from work.

Not an Si so not sure how useful this is to you (or anyone else's possible answers really :P), but I've owned my 3.0 from September 2015 till now.

Total spending on "maintenance" and repair items is about $4000 AUD. This includes things that are normal maintenance (oil changes, filters, sparks, coils, tyres etc) as well as replacing worn or broken items (eg: gaskets, seals, sensors, random stuff).

Also includes the biggest cost which was my new soft top - though this was quite optional since it wasn't leaking and simply an aesthetics issue due to vandalism. That accounts for about $1200.

So really, my maintenance (not including the soft top) is about $2800 AUD over, let's just say 3.5 years for sake of simplicity which works out to about $800 AUD/year.

Granted I did nearly 100% of the work myself so I'm not including cost of tools and labour.
 
All depends what its had done previously.

An Si , it'll s**t its water pump, ABS module and roof motor sooner or later, so if they've been sorted , a lot less of an annual budget needed, but still, its a 11 year old car, any ones guess as to what can go wrong over the coming years.
 
Between £0 and the value of the car.

Tyres £500 every 2 - 3 years probably.
Servicing parts £130 depending on what's changed.

Water pump?
Electrical issues?

Who knows!
 
Providing it has been looked after, prior to you buying it, it should cost no more to look after than any other comparable car. How vague an answer can you ask for?
 
Jl-c said:
Providing it has been looked after, prior to you buying it, it should cost no more to look after than any other comparable car. How vague an answer can you ask for?
Click to expand...

This.
 
I get it was a vague question, I suppose I should have added "based on your personal experience, what have you been spending annually to repair and maintain your Z4? If that data is unavailable, try to answer a part of a question." I'm not so much chasing the typical "what tends to break down" questions, but rather expenses incurred annually. Logical thing to be curious about I'd imagine.
 
Additional stuff to be wary of as these cars age are horns (dont laugh they fail regularly at £45 each & there are 2)
Aircon condensor & the xenon lamp ballast / levellers are starting to get mentioned.
You may get lucky & have a Si that runs on oil & filter but worth being aware of possible fails
 
mr wilks said:
Additional stuff to be wary of as these cars age are horns (dont laugh they fail regularly at £45 each & there are 2)
Click to expand...

Yeah, if the low tone one goes your horn sounds ridiculous with just the high tone. It is sometimes possible to get them from a breaker, but you have to get the side/tone right... I *think* the nearside one is the low tone, as that's the one I seem to remember replacing on my Si. That said, realoem will point the way with a part number.
 
Go to https://www.carparts4less.co.uk and put in the reg.

Then look at the servicing parts.

Opie Oils for oil.

Get a diagnostic check done on the car. See the Who has Carly thread and someone can help out. You can then see what other issues the car may or may not have.

I budget for £1000 in case of emergencies and have never needed to use it.

See the buyer's guide for known "features" and by features I mean issues... Window regulator, roof motor, water pump, bushes etc.

The bushes might need replaced.
The window regulator will fail at some point.
The water pump will need replaced.
The roof motor may or may not drown itself.

There are some horror stories that are probably due to poor maintenance. Don't believe all of them.

For any new owner I'd recommend...

Oil change.
Plugs
Brakes checked.
Brake fluid change.
Air filter and Pollen filter change.
Get the bushes checked.
New tyres if required.
Hunter Alignment.
Check error codes and reset any faults. Drive it for a week and check the faults again. Then make a list and see what else needs looked at.

Oil change / filters are usually changed yearly by most on here.

Always remember that the cheapest cost isn't always the best option!
 
My Dad always kept a record of how many miles he'd done, how much fuel he'd put in, where he'd been and what he spent on parts/repairs, etc. in a notebook.

So as I obviously inherited the OCD genes I do the same, but it's so much easier using Excel! :oops:

Anyway in the hope this might be of some help to the OP, I had my 1st 3.0Si Coupe for 23 months and I spent just short of £2,500 on tax, insurance, tyres, parts, servicing and repairs (including the dreaded water pump replacement). Fuel and depreciation aren't included - servicing and repairs at a BMW Indy.

I've had my current Coupe 35 months now and the same items have come to almost £2,700 so far, but it will be due an MOT, tax and a service in June!

Obviously insurance may make a huge difference - mine has always been in the £300 to £400 range (and of course I haven't needed to spend on roof motor issues)! :lol:

Those costs are for annual mileage of about 4,000, but the big ones (insurance, tax and servicing) would be the same for 6/7K a year - although going SORN could save on tax for the OP.

Sad as this may seem, I'm not really bothered what the numbers are - so long as I can keep paying the bills I'm not bothered! :lol:

Anyway, if you fancy one OP just get one - oh, and welcome to the forum BTW. :thumbsup:
 
Expect your Y1 budget to be quite high because you’ll be replacing lots of bits that this place will recommend should be changed due to age...

Y2 budget will be even higher, because you’ll want new alloys... with different tyre sizes & other goodies such as suspension upgrades

Y3 will be higher still as you may then change to an M

Lol...
 
If you forget about tax insurance etc. Then think that it will probably require at least one of these tyres/brakes/electrical gremlins/ roof motor/ancillary issues . You may get lucky but in 5 years and 2 cars I’ve had brakes/ central locking module/roof malfunction/satnav aerial.... I still love driving the car.

Go for it ,as they say ONE LIFE,LIVE IT
 
In 4 years of owning mine (coupe)

first year full service (gearbox oil, engine oil, diff oil, spark plugs, brake fluid and all filters), just so i know it was done, that was about £400
Electric window motor wouldnt auto up, covered under warranty.
Brake pads where low, so upgraded all them discs,shoes and new fluid, that was around £400
rest of services so far have been basic ones at around £120
the only thing that failed really was the abs module again around £400 removed/fitted and repaired

just waiting on the waterpump to go, only other thing would be rear springs but they was changed by previous owner
 
I have had mine 2yrs. I have done 10k miles.
Spent:-
Battery £85
2 recon front brake calipers £80.
2 oil and filter changes £42
Cabin filter £15
That's it!
+ 2 MOT's with zero advisories.
It is so important to look for a well looked after car.
However this Easter I will be fitting bilstein b4's to improve ride and handling.
Cheapest old car to run that I have ever had!
 
So, into my 3rd year of ownership now and approx 16k miles done. I've done the following:

Suspension - Shocks, springs, bushes, drop links, tie rods (none NEEDED replacing, but it was due a freshen up) - £500ish
Electrical - Alternator, amp repair (alternator was dodgy and spiked, blowing the amp along with it, fantastic!) - £205 new Bosch alternator, £130 amp repair
Steering - Yes, the motor popped its clogs. Hyrdo conversion done - £400ish
Roof - Motor moved to the boot - £80
Cooling system - Again more preventative than anything, no leaks etc but they have a tendency to let go suddenly - £200
Also had a couple of keys done and a replacement backbox, but those were optional and not really 'running costs'

Servicing, well I do all that myself and parts are cheap. Hell, my last service this weekend cost me about £35 for a full oil change (with very good oil too, Fuchs Titan GT1), oil and air filter.
 
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