Viewing tomorrow a few questions

[jswillia]

Off to view a 2.0l (68K) 2006 z4 tomorrow. It has its Inspection 2 due in 2k so was wandering what the cost at a specialist would be for this? Also it has the following as advisories on its last MOT:
- Nearside Front Lower rear Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
- Offside Front Lower rear Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
- Front lipped brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (3.5.1i)
Will these be expensive to fix in the future? As I am planning on using these to negotiate the price.
Cheers

 

[Bing]

I just had a compliance bush replaced on the front as it was almost totally worn away - though it says no excessive movement, it will get excessive (and may be already if the MOT was a while ago). On mine it caused both the front brake discs and pads to wear unevenly so they need replaced too - all in about £400 if I subtract everything else that needed done...

In all honesty, the price doesn't matter - you want to ask for receipts proving the work has been done, and if it has not been done ask them to do it before you pay. Not sure, but I think discs should at least be replaced in pairs, with new pads ?

Not had inspection 2 done on mine yet, but I think you are looking at another £350+ for that IIRC from looking on here. Search to 'inspection' in e85/e86 problems' or discussion

 

[ranski]

whats the full spec and the current purchase price?

 

[jswillia]

Its on for £7k and I have a bit of a drive to go and see it. Has full cream leather, 17inch alloys and does look v nice. It would be a private sale. Do you think it would be best to try and negotiate the service plus the other work to be done before I buy it?

 

[jswillia]

Bing was that £400 for the Bush replacement and new discs and pads? The MOT was done last month.

 

[ranski]

always negotiate

Are you up to speed on the available specs on the Z4? e.g. xenons, M sport seats, heated seats, electric seats etc

Also the common problems, such as roof motor and rear springs/

If not i would check out the buyers guide and check other Z4's for sale to match prices like for like

PS dont rush into a purchase, there are 100's out there

 

[jswillia]

I have checked out the buyers guide and have printed off a copy to take with me. I think it is well priced just dont want to get one which needs lots doing to it. Any ideas of a price to go in at?

 

[Bing]

Bing was that £400 for the Bush replacement and new discs and pads? The MOT was done last month.

Yes - a good chunk of that was labour, think the bushes take longer to do on the front than the back. Just checked back up, sorry, a 2.0 Inspection 2 may be less than mine.

Ranski is quite right though - there is a lot more to check but there are loads on the market, so as a minimum find AlanJ in the members list, look at one of his posts and click the link in his signature to the buyers guide. Print and take with you

 

[Chris1712]

You should have lots of wiggle room with that price, the market appears to of fell on its face in the last few months. Saw an 05 3.0 got for only £5800 recently!

 

[rooki]

It's amazing how much more expensive the Z is in our market relatively speaking. At an exchange rate of roughly ZAR12 to 1GBP have a look at this.

http://www.autotrader.co.za/makemodel/make/bmw/model/z4/stock-item-id/at8a6afb4535c649970135c73a10fd6224/advert


That"s almost GBP 17 000 for a 2007 2.0! Very interesting!

 

[bcworkz]

Many people do not realise that car markets in various countries vary greatly from what the monetary exchange rate would lead you to believe. The average asking price for a 2007 3.0 in the US translates to 15k GBP. (No 2.0s here) I had always thought the UK market was higher in general than the US, but things may have changed while I was not paying attention.

The average asking price for my car is currently about what I paid for it 2.5 years ago. I know about a year ago it was 80% of what it is now. I'm not sure what's going on, as I just woke up to find something crazy is happening here!

OP: sorry to hijack your thread, I was caught by surprise and just had to share.

 

[jswillia]

Cheers for the advice so far! Off to view it now so will let you know how i get on and no doubts lots more questions!

 

[jswillia]

Right got back from my test drive and spent about 2 hours checking the car. Just a couple more questions, i checked the oil and the red stick was about 1/2 inch inside the barrel and i could push it down about an inch further. It didn't pop right out, is this correct? The rev counter was smooth when accelerating but judder a little when going down before it settled. Is this a sign of a problem? I accelerated from 35ish in 6th gear and it pulled really smoothly.

Think this could be the one for me

 

[bigshurv]

Personally I'd walk well away from this car. A lot ofstuff is needing to be done, I suggest why the seller has put it up for sale. Budget a grand to get it in tip top condition. Think along the lines of, if the seller allowed so many service items to get so bad that they became MOT advisories, how slack have they been in general maintenance and looking after in in general. I'd never dream of selling a car with anything needing doing especially a service and brakes. As others have said, plenty out there,find a mint one that's been loved and cherished.It'll be cheaper in the long run.

 

[ranski]

Personally I'd walk well away from this car. A lot ofstuff is needing to be done, I suggest why the seller has put it up for sale. Budget a grand to get it in tip top condition. Think along the lines of, if the seller allowed so many service items to get so bad that they became MOT advisories, how slack have they been in general maintenance and looking after in in general. I'd never dream of selling a car with anything needing doing especially a service and brakes. As others have said, plenty out there,find a mint one that's been loved and cherished.It'll be cheaper in the long run.

+1


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Bing]

Right got back from my test drive and spent about 2 hours checking the car. Just a couple more questions, i checked the oil and the red stick was about 1/2 inch inside the barrel and i could push it down about an inch further. It didn't pop right out, is this correct? The rev counter was smooth when accelerating but judder a little when going down before it settled. Is this a sign of a problem? I accelerated from 35ish in 6th gear and it pulled really smoothly.

Think this could be the one for me

I don't think the red stick you're referring to is the oil - isn't it the coolant ? If so the red stick should stick some of the way out, so that the end 'knob' pokes out the end, and the knob further down is a little below the top. That needs topping up if I'm right. Not sure why the revs would judder going down, sorry.

+1 on what bigshurv says - head not heart.

We've all been where you are, and I jumped... It's cost me about £700 to put right things I should have had the dealer sort

 

[Stuart Truman]

Personally I'd walk well away from this car. A lot ofstuff is needing to be done, I suggest why the seller has put it up for sale. Budget a grand to get it in tip top condition. Think along the lines of, if the seller allowed so many service items to get so bad that they became MOT advisories, how slack have they been in general maintenance and looking after in in general. I'd never dream of selling a car with anything needing doing especially a service and brakes. As others have said, plenty out there,find a mint one that's been loved and cherished.It'll be cheaper in the long run.

+2


Tapatalking...

 

[jswillia]

Think you guys are right, plenty more Z's about....the search continues!

 

[Jembo]

Don't expect the bargains to remain for too long...

My Nephew was chatting to a friend in he trade who said over the last 6 weeks traders were paying a fair bit over book price to put Zed 3&4's on their forecourts... seems stock is drying up

 

[Sunnyme]

Personally I'd walk well away from this car. A lot of stuff is needing to be done, I suggest why the seller has put it up for sale. Budget a grand to get it in tip top condition. Think along the lines of, if the seller allowed so many service items to get so bad that they became MOT advisories, how slack have they been in general maintenance and looking after in in general. I'd never dream of selling a car with anything needing doing especially a service and brakes. As others have said, plenty out there,find a mint one that's been loved and cherished.It'll be cheaper in the long run.

I don't agree. I see things like this as a chance to take advantage on price. I have just brought a z4 for a silly cheap price. That needs a service 1 in 1.5k, new roof motor and washer bottle leaking, Front pads need doing and rear disks. I know some would of walked away.
Most cars you get need something doing. I know I will get everything done straight away. The Mot was done at a main garage on mine. I know some garages that would of passed it with no advisories. The car I got had a full service history, lady owner that took it bmw to sort every job out. She only brought 2 back tyres at almost £500 weeks prior. Basically to get the work done at bmw would cost a lot so some people opt to sell and cut there losses. My car was a great buy to sell car but I will keep it a while as I do like it. Probably not the most practical as I have 2 dogs but I can use other peoples cars.
Before getting the z4 I had looked at a hell of a lot of mazda rx-8's. I test droves ones that were misfiring at 27k on the clock! I also looked at scoobies, TT's and alot of higher spec cars. My in initial spec was something approx 200+bhp, under 10 years and under 5k. I viewed some right states and you would be shocked at what is out there car wise. I had people try selling me cat d's (I did the checks), then there was cars that had none recorded damage (worse in my eyes). I even had a garage is sutton up the price by £500 on a car when I said I would have it. Car hunting is a hard experience but you need to have clear spec and what would be acceptable from the word go.