Trying to buy a Z4 - Can someone help?

[dado5]

I'm new'ish so hope its ok to ask for advice on this. I've spotted this on ebay and it looks all genuine with detailed description of what has been done to the car. The price is high for an 03 i guess as is the mileage but I've been told to look at condition and servicing more than mileage. It looks ok by me (altho a lot to read) so am looking to proceed. I've just asked the seller for SH photo and photos of receipts of some of the more costly things. MOT history is acceptable. Appreciate if anyone could spend a few mins to take a look. Hope its ok to ask and post (maybe in wrong forum area and hope that link below is ok - sry if not)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326353537058?_skw=bmw+z4+3.0&itmmeta=01JFTJQNCJADAE853QF7VNYSGQ&hash=item4bfc2fc822:g:aQcAAOSwGdhnRvbk&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnOv8g0XlK1UHpNmuB6q79jrQjuVEyFVXPBppwZQn3ZHxq%2B5Mv8%2FvTaGJrNoexZpy1omDVB0u2%2FKP%2FZIRqzMvUu%2FD6ygUwEW9m33j75yafJIzQhQ1EcwVBcbD2aC6Ct%2Bff13D9vckwBMMt44jGCfhLhli0rWnIWIGXo5zZhbSFUECK2UsVv8xgNzJBJrHtFn8MLarM%2FwFTTi4zEpt0%2BTNeeRck2zAHAgk9Fdi6YFY4nWWaH%2Fc49gPixyD%2BH6TJ%2FK%2B0%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR67W3tL-ZA

 

[Rockhopper]

Thing is it’ll always a 150k mile car regardless of what’s been spent on it. Bear that in mind if future values are important.
I’ve not looked at the MOT history. What do you mean by acceptable?
It’s not hugely over priced though in my opinion.
Hate those wheels though!

 

[dado5]

Thanks Rockhopper. Perhaps more than acceptable. The advisories appear to be addressed although there is one on a small oil leak which I cant see has been sorted. Perhaps I cant be too fussy at this level. Thanks for that thought about pricing, appreciate that. I thought the wheels are ok

 

[Mr Tidy]

Given the mileage it isn't exactly cheap, although it looks like it has the Aero bumpers - just not the Aero sills that fetch £1K a pair all the time!

But if the history is good it has to be worth looking at to check out the condition then take it from there. Good luck.

 

[pvr]

You are missing M sport seats though, which would add about £800 to add them afterwards. No satnav system so you would miss the phone book on screen, the radio channels and the extended board computer functions. Also the nav itself of course.

There is no such thing as a factory aero kit, you could only buy that afterwards.

It really depends on your priorities of what the car needs to have. The mileage is v high

 

[raymond.harper]

It is a buyer's market so be fussy. Overpriced and the mileage will put off a future buyer.

 

[dado5]

Thanks very much all. Very useful comments and thoughts - I'm off to sleep on it! thanks

 

[RMB]

Big aftermarket front sensors fitted!
If he’s done all the suspension work why not add photos of it all.
It looks very tidy but a strong ask for a high miler pre facelift imo.
You can probably get a much lower mileage 3.0si for not much more than that.

 

[Z450]

Looks like a nice looking car. As others say mileage is high so something to bear in mind when selling on. What are you after ideally, did you have a budget in mind, The E85 was facelift in 2006 and most come with the desirable M sport seats. Also if it is a 3.0 you got the N52 engine which is a wonderful engine and slightly more powerful

 

[pvr]

….. and my 3.0 si is available :lol:

 

[enuff_zed]

Very simply, you could pick up one with a lot less miles for £3k if you shopped around and weren’t in a rush.
Having dabbled with a few lately I would say that this one is seriously overpriced!
One thing which would affect your choice is whether you could do work on it yourself. That brings the overheads way down

 

[Mike6]

Too high mileage full stop. If it's going to be a keeper, Walk away and look for something with a much lower mileage. Problem with the 3 litre is an awful lot of them are on high mileages approaching end of life, why not look for a 2.5 where I found a lot on lower miles and performance more than enough for me .

 

[dado5]

Thanks very much all - some excellent nudges, prompts and thinking points. Thanks Mike6 I like that. cheers all and have a nice Xmas if you are celebrating !!

 

[enuff_zed]

The M54 engine is proven to go to 300k if maintained well. Trouble is you don’t know how that 150k has been reached. So it’s not really a no-no to buy the car on that mileage but NOT for that much money.

 

[Jollygiant]

I'm new'ish so hope its ok to ask for advice on this. I've spotted this on ebay and it looks all genuine with detailed description of what has been done to the car. The price is high for an 03 i guess as is the mileage but I've been told to look at condition and servicing more than mileage. It looks ok by me (altho a lot to read) so am looking to proceed. I've just asked the seller for SH photo and photos of receipts of some of the more costly things. MOT history is acceptable. Appreciate if anyone could spend a few mins to take a look. Hope its ok to ask and post (maybe in wrong forum area and hope that link below is ok - sry if not)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326353537058?_skw=bmw+z4+3.0&itmmeta=01JFTJQNCJADAE853QF7VNYSGQ&hash=item4bfc2fc822:g:aQcAAOSwGdhnRvbk&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnOv8g0XlK1UHpNmuB6q79jrQjuVEyFVXPBppwZQn3ZHxq%2B5Mv8%2FvTaGJrNoexZpy1omDVB0u2%2FKP%2FZIRqzMvUu%2FD6ygUwEW9m33j75yafJIzQhQ1EcwVBcbD2aC6Ct%2Bff13D9vckwBMMt44jGCfhLhli0rWnIWIGXo5zZhbSFUECK2UsVv8xgNzJBJrHtFn8MLarM%2FwFTTi4zEpt0%2BTNeeRck2zAHAgk9Fdi6YFY4nWWaH%2Fc49gPixyD%2BH6TJ%2FK%2B0%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR67W3tL-ZA

As a price guide I paid £1,500 for my 53 plate 2.5 E85 that had done 108,000 miles 5 months ago and the tops of two wings the paint had crazed, so I replaced them for 2nd hand ones which cost £100 and a days work to fit them.

So I'd be looking for a lot less than what they are asking for a 3 litre.

Just take your time and the right one will come along. Don't buy one with faults unless you are 100% sure they are fixable cheaply as the air bag lights can be costly to fix.

 

[paddy wright]

Looks over priced but a nice car. See if you can do a deal.

 

[Z450]

Did you buy it in the end?

 

[dado5]

No and thanks for asking. Thought about it and the seller did supply lots of details and photos of maintenance and SH. Also great comms. But the views of people here were great and helped me reach this decision. I'm going to go at a slower pace and not jump in. Thanks Z450 I should have come back and thanked everyone again - invaluable help from this forum....

 

[Z450]

Hi dado5 I was just curious as I saw the eBay listing had ended so wondered if you had bought it!

 

[redgum]

The best advice you have is above, TAKE YOUR TIME, and it is a buyers market. I got all excited a while back and felt I had to have a 3lt E85 Z and saw a lovely one advertised 350 miles from home, it had just under 60,000 miles on it. It was on ebay and the bidding was quite low to start, before doing anything I spoke to the owner and he sold me a lovely story of heated garages and being the most loving of owners with endless service history. Well long and short of it I got carried away on the bidding as someone else was also sold on it. I won the car for just over four grand and happily trudged off to North Yorkshire. No heated garages just a dodgy estate in the middle of Harrogate, why I didn't just get a taxi back to the station I will never know. The car looked the business but could not test fully as the dodgy git selling it said he had to get back to work asap so driving around in traffic. Sat Nav set up off I go homeward bound, get to a dual carriage way n open her up, she just cut out and I drifted into a layby, rang the seller and he said just start it again and it should be fine. It did start and as long as I kept below 3000 rpm it was fine, at this point the seller must have pulled out his sim card and thrown it in the ditch, end of contact. Well the long and short of it is that it got me home and we formed a bit of a bond, slightly wounded the car brought me back the 350 miles safely, the full service history was all fake and there were a multitude of electrical problems. Never realised how difficult it was to report a bad seller or get a refund on ebay.
The engine problem was air flow mass sensor and most of the problems were just fiddly and with the help of many on this site I now have a low milage z that I absolutely love but I could have saved myself a hell of a lot of stress by being more patient.