Buying advice pls

[oatz]

Hi all,

I'm toying with the idea of buying an M coupe and just wanted your advise on a couple of questions please?

I am thinking of going for an S54 as I don't fancy the ongoing hassle associated with the S50's Vanos probs and also don't want to have to keep having to buy an extended warranty at a rip off price - all comments on this train of thought would b greatly appreciated.

Also, does anyone have a full options list please?

What kind of price should I be paying for an S54 with circa 35k on the clock?

Plus apart from the usual, are there any other issues I need to look out for?

Many thanks in advance :D

[vaninblack]

I wouldn't restrict your choice to an S54 just because of vanos worries. There may be reasons to favour an S54 over an S50, just as there may be reasons to favour taking out a warranty over self-insuring, but the vanos should not be the single overriding concern.

I was paranoid about the vanos before buying my S50 but have since spoken to some specialists who reckon the whole S50 vanos thing has been blown out of proportion. I think I'll probably worry less about the vanos than my new a/c components - expensive and vulnerable!

It's no bad thing having S50 vanos paranoia anyway because you will find yourself treating the car extra nicely when cold and probably save yourself other problems!

My advice - don't toy with the idea, buy one - S50, S54, whatever - they are great! But make sure the a/c really does work!

[spunkym]

If you are set on an S54, have you considered the roadster, there is one for sale over on the roadster forum for around £17K http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9275Considerably cheaper than the coupe and virtually the same car (albeit with less space in the boot!)

[Dare2Fail]

Without hijacking the thread, or going waaaay off topic, I think the general consensus is that the Roadster is far from the same car with a smaller boot. The polite expression I have heard for it's handling is 'compromised'.

[BEN]

the roadster is poo!!

cant compare the two, very rolly poley!

[Manic]

the roadster is poo!!

cant compare the two, very rolly poley!

LOL! Well put! :lol:

[oatz]

If you are set on an S54, have you considered the roadster, there is one for sale over on the roadster forum for around £17K http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9275Considerably cheaper than the coupe and virtually the same car (albeit with less space in the boot!)

Thanks for the heads-up but its M coupe all the way not keen on the hairdresser look of the roadster and skitish handling but thanks nevertheless.
:)

[Lee]

the majority of the people who go for the coupe version of the Z3 M have different requirements than the roadster guys....I would say more enthusiastic about a hardcore driving car.

the roadster is a nice car but rated in a different way, the resale values tell a true story

[sday12]

Here here! :o

Whilst it share the same DNA there is something 'blow dry' about the roadster.


The amount of people that tell me 'I like that....but I don't like the roadster.' :lol:

[spunkym]

LOL - thought that might get a reaction :lol:

I don't really see the point in commentting on the looks - if this was posted on the roadster forum you would get a completely oppoosite reaction. It's completely down to individual tastes. If it's not your bag that's fine.

What I would say though is the handling of the S54 roadster is leagues ahead of the S50. I'm guessing that the 'skitish' handling comments from oatz are not from experience as my S54 is one of the best handling cars I've ever owned, and that includes the VX220 turbo! In combination with the excellent DSC you have a very confidence inspiring car even in the wet.

I stand by my guns, the S54 coupe is not worth the £3 - £4K price premium over the S54 roadster. In my humble oppinion of course :wink:

[exdos]

Spunkym,

This site is specifically for Z3 M Coupes.

We've recently had the MC versus MR price differential discussion on the zroadster.net forum where there is a specific section for both MRs and MCs. Both of us have already made our views known on there. Can we please keep matters relating to MRs on the zroadster.net forum? It's tedious having the same debate on 2 different forums with the same participants using both forums.

You are welcome to share and contribute knowledge on here which relates to both platforms but please lets keep the focus of this forum to matters relating to M Coupes.

[r80ter]

so if a new person came here asking for advice between say a coupe and a roadster they would get "this a coupe forum" please visit zroadster?

ok it is pretty obvious by the name of the site, but with so many similarities between the two models some people may find this site before find zroadster.net

Will talk of the Z4 Coupe be stopped as it clearly states in the URL that this is a Z3coupe site?

[Broccers]

The thread title says 'thinking of buying' so help the guy out and stop the bickering !

[r80ter]

The thread title says 'thinking of buying' so help the guy out and stop the bickering !

sorry dude, i was asking a legitimate question following on from the post above mine.

only advice I can give Oatz is get the best model you can afford, the S54 seems to be the weapon of choice, but if the budget can not stretch you will not be dissapointed with an S50 varient.

[RichG]

I know is an old thread, but thought my question logically sits here.

I am giving serious consideration to buying an MC. My question concerns the practicality of using the car to cover 15-20k miles per annum. Is an MC a practical daily commuter? It strikes me that, given size of the engine and that the majority of the commute is along the A14, the engine & suspension is hardly likely to be overstressed, particularly if regularly serviced and well maintained.

Glancing through adverts it seems, to me, that the majority of cars currently for sale have about 50-65k miles on them. Does this indicate that there is a potential expensive period imminent at 70k+? Or is it that the majority of people buy an MC as a second or weekend car and so miles are low?

Yes I will be racking up the miles, but I'm not really bothered about re-sale value. I tend to keep my cars for quite a time. From reading the forum I know that there is quite a few, long term owners but my perception is that, more recently, people do not keep the cars so long. Would this be because they are very expensive to run, or the cars are unreliable, or does the novelty wear off rapidly?

My current daily driver is a Lotus Excel which, with regular servicing, I've taken from 60k to 120k and has been a delight. Could I reasonable expect to do the same with an MC? Insurance quotes are much the same as the Lotus, as is fuel consumption and I'm used to spend £1000 a year on servicing (my wife thinks this expensive but fails to recognise her car drops loads more each year in depreciation - at least that's my justification for interesting cars!).

Your views and opinion are sought - and somehow I don't think you guys will be backward in coming forwards.

Rich

[Greenbat]

Is an MC a practical daily commuter?

This thread might help.
http://www.z3mcoupe.com/forum/showth...hlight=mileage

It strikes me that, given size of the engine and that the majority of the commute is along the A14, the engine & suspension is hardly likely to be overstressed, particularly if regularly serviced and well maintained.

Correct

Glancing through adverts it seems, to me, that the majority of cars currently for sale have about 50-65k miles on them. Does this indicate that there is a potential expensive period imminent at 70k+?

Not really, only factor I can be think off is that the BMW extended warranty gets a lot more expensive after 60K (£1850 + 250 excess). So maybe people might be selling them to avoid owning a car without warranty.

Or is it that the majority of people buy an MC as a second or weekend car and so miles are low?

Majority have got 2nd cars I think.

Expensive to run? - not cheap to run if you always use a main dealer. Ok if yo use an indie
Unrealiable - don't think so, like any performance car you tend to have minor niggles but would not class it us unreliable
Novelty wear off - Hell no! Still grinning after 19 months

My current daily driver is a Lotus Excel
Haven't seen one for over a year now so as rare as the MC I guess.

Hope this helps

Greenbat

[BEN]

Hi Rich, are you in suffolk?
mine has 170k on it, and is still like new, servicing for me is no issue i use a company in colchester paying £150 for oil service £250 for insp 1, and £300 for an insp 2.
looking at your mileage your looking at 2 services a year, tops £450 say a set of rear tyres £300, and another £300 on other bits, so about the same as your current car.

in terms of what its like to drive i have just done a trip to lemans and it is super comfortable.

if you want to look at one let me know

[manty]

I know is an old thread, but thought my question logically sits here.

I am giving serious consideration to buying an MC. My question concerns the practicality of using the car to cover 15-20k miles per annum. Is an MC a practical daily commuter? It strikes me that, given size of the engine and that the majority of the commute is along the A14, the engine & suspension is hardly likely to be overstressed, particularly if regularly serviced and well maintained.

Glancing through adverts it seems, to me, that the majority of cars currently for sale have about 50-65k miles on them. Does this indicate that there is a potential expensive period imminent at 70k+? Or is it that the majority of people buy an MC as a second or weekend car and so miles are low?

Yes I will be racking up the miles, but I'm not really bothered about re-sale value. I tend to keep my cars for quite a time. From reading the forum I know that there is quite a few, long term owners but my perception is that, more recently, people do not keep the cars so long. Would this be because they are very expensive to run, or the cars are unreliable, or does the novelty wear off rapidly?

My current daily driver is a Lotus Excel which, with regular servicing, I've taken from 60k to 120k and has been a delight. Could I reasonable expect to do the same with an MC? Insurance quotes are much the same as the Lotus, as is fuel consumption and I'm used to spend £1000 a year on servicing (my wife thinks this expensive but fails to recognise her car drops loads more each year in depreciation - at least that's my justification for interesting cars!).

Your views and opinion are sought - and somehow I don't think you guys will be backward in coming forwards.

Rich

I reckon its a no brainer, I dont know of many issues, I love using it for business, and regularly do trips of 300 in a day, economy wise, dont know, needs filling up a lot as around 200 per tank.

Servicing wise, Its a BMW, they do tend to keep going. Bens has 160 odd thousand miles on it ( hope he doesnt mind me saying that) You say you spend around £1000 a year on servicing for around 18k miliage, I reckon the coupe may cost a little more, depends if your using main agent or specialist, and if you have taken tyres etc into that figure.

Dont know if you have driven one yet? They are much easier to get in and out of than an exige ;-)

[manty]

Hi Rich, are you in suffolk?
mine has 170k on it, and is still like new, servicing for me is no issue i use a company in colchester paying £150 for oil service £250 for insp 1, and £300 for an insp 2.
looking at your mileage your looking at 2 services a year, tops £450 say a set of rear tyres £300, and another £300 on other bits, so about the same as your current car.

in terms of what its like to drive i have just done a trip to lemans and it is super comfortable.

if you want to look at one let me know


Yeah, what he said :-)

[RichG]

Now that's what I wanted to hear/read. Many thanks for your responses.

Of course I should have searched the forum for more details myself. :o Greenbat, many thanks pointing me in the right direction (your link didn't work for me, but once I'd discovered the search function I found lots of usage threads).

Ben, yup, I'm on the Suffolk/Cambridge border, just south of Newmarket. I'm very early days of looking for an MC - in fact I've only ever seen them driving along. I've yet to touch one in the metal so I'd like to take you up on the offer to see your car. I'll PM you to arrange a convenient time & date.

Rich

[ian]

I have done 50K, mainly business miles, in my s54 over the last 18 months - from 30K to 82K.

The car is brill. I had a new 1999 ZM roadster previously - that was very good, but not "brill".

Above said, I had a new vanos and camshaft costing over £4K a few months ago (s54!). Apart from this, regular servicing and tyres cost around £1.5 K per year (say around £35K miles). Average around 25 mpg.

This car will last "forever" if properly serviced. It costs, but the "premium" over a sensible company car is worth paying - in my view. It has to be cheap when compared to other rare performance cars.

When you off set the low depreciation, for me its a no brainer.

Bottom line, car is brill but don't get an abused one and be prepared to maintain it properly.

[coupe fan]

Ian,
well put. BEN's car has done 160k and is like new. Just needs looking after.

[don.juan]

I have done 50K, mainly business miles, in my s54 over the last 18 months - from 30K to 82K.

The car is brill. I had a new 1999 ZM roadster previously - that was very good, but not "brill".

Above said, I had a new vanos and camshaft costing over £4K a few months ago (s54!). Apart from this, regular servicing and tyres cost around £1.5 K per year (say around £35K miles). Average around 25 mpg.

This car will last "forever" if properly serviced. It costs, but the "premium" over a sensible company car is worth paying - in my view. It has to be cheap when compared to other rare performance cars.

When you off set the low depreciation, for me its a no brainer.

Bottom line, car is brill but don't get an abused one and be prepared to maintain it properly.

Hello Ian. Being a recent owner of a S54, could you shed some light on the reason for changing Vanos and Camshaft...what happened?

[ian]

Hello don juan,

Short story is that car went into BMW main dealer to have a tapping noise investigated. Transpired that the camshaft and followers were badly worn, also the vanos control unit had broken - metal bits found in sump. 70K miles on clock.

Car was two months out of BMW warranty - neither the dealer (BMW Wood of Bournemouth) who I had bought the car from a little over 12 months earlier or BMW UK were interested. They said that previous owner must have used high revs from cold - I don't and they had done an Inspection 2 six months earlier (which includes tappet adjustment if out)!

Good news for you and others though is that the mechanics had to unpack many unused specialist tools. This problem is said to be very rare (first s54 M3 head they had taken off seemingly). Just bad luck on me I guess, but car now good for another 100K miles (touch wood!).

Best wishes,
Ian

[russ3ll]

Hello don juan,

Short story is that car went into BMW main dealer to have a tapping noise investigated. Transpired that the camshaft and followers were badly worn, also the vanos control unit had broken - metal bits found in sump. 70K miles on clock.

Car was two months out of BMW warranty - neither the dealer (BMW Wood of Bournemouth) who I had bought the car from a little over 12 months earlier or BMW UK were interested. They said that previous owner must have used high revs from cold - I don't and they had done an Inspection 2 six months earlier (which includes tappet adjustment if out)!

Good news for you and others though is that the mechanics had to unpack many unused specialist tools. This problem is said to be very rare (first s54 M3 head they had taken off seemingly). Just bad luck on me I guess, but car now good for another 100K miles (touch wood!).

Best wishes,
Ian

thats a real kick in bollox...sorry to hear that...take it you didnt extend the warranty?

[ian]

No, didn't extend warranty that came with the car. My philosophy is to self insure - some times it works, sometimes it don't. Depends on your attitude to risk I guess.

[russ3ll]

No, didn't extend warranty that came with the car. My philosophy is to self insure - some times it works, sometimes it don't. Depends on your attitude to risk I guess.

man after my own heart...although I got stung in th epast a day outside of warranty with my porsche...luckily only for circa £1000...but still was a worrying time...but hasnt stopped me self insuring.