taking the 'M' car plunge!

[caferaca]

Hello Gents,

I'm new to the forum. I don't have a MC yet, but am firmly in the market for one. After a owning just about every model of BMW out there, I'm seriously thinking about taking the plunge on my first 'M' car! I do have a few reservations though. Mainly because I've covered 100,000's of miles in standard beemers, with really no problems at all.. Reliability has been, well unbelievable, especially with the st8 6's I've owned.

Whatever I buy next has to put up with a mundane 150 mile round trip to the in the week, and obviously a bit of fun at the weekends. 8,000 - 10,000 miles a year probably. although I do appreciate these cars take a little more looking after, I don't want to start spending £1,000's a year just it keeping on the road outside of buying consumables. Realistically are you taking your life in your hands buying an M coupe (or any 'M' car for that matter) without a comprehensive warranty? a blown engine or a knackered Vanos would break my heart! and they're the only problems I've heard so far.. Are these rare occurrences, or is failure just a matter of time for every car??

I'm sure as soon as I get a test drive in one, I won't care about any of the above...

thanks for all your help..
rick

[spellman]

Hello Rick
I think you'll find most people on here agree that the MC is a reliable everyday car. Mine is a 99 and i bought it about 10 months ago with 31k on the clock. Ive done 10k in my ownership with no problems at all. I think the key is waiting for the oil temperature to get up to about 70 degrees before going above 3k, then take it easy until up to full temp - about 95 degrees- (The Coupe has an oil temp gauge) and obviously changing the oil and servicing when required - aside from anything else this will keep your re-sale values up. Im personally not a fan of any dealer for servicing as I think their labour charges are ridiculous and the service is often far from personal. If you know a good garage that you can trust and talk to/get advice from then thats probably the way to go.
Im lucky as I have a great garage near me who specialise in historic race cars so have decades of experience. I had a service 2 in January which was 450 including MOT and rolling road tune, 7k mile later Ive just had an oil change with filter and fluid checks/general look over for 150. Next service will be in about 7k again and Im guessing a service 1 is 300ish. With your mileage I guess look at 500 a year servicing. Tyres arent too bad either, i just had two Pliot Sports on the rear for 280 the pair - I needed them done quickly so Im sure there are better deals elsewhere. I think brakes all round inc disks are about 400.

I work abroad a lot so the car will often not be driven for a couple of weeks but it always starts and drives faultlessly. All this said and done you still get about 220 miles on a 40 litre tank - so probably 24mpg??

Needless to say they are bloody fast but you cant just turn in at any speed and think it will all be ok. The S50 (pre2000) has no traction control which means in the wet it can be very lively. In the rain a few weeks ago mine was wheel spinning from 3rd to 4th on the M1 - Probably because i needed knew tyres! - but still youve got to treat it with respect. Having said that once you get used to the way the car handles and feels it is very rewarding. Like you Ive owned a lot of sporty cars and Id say the Coupe is a fairly raw and traditional car. More E Type Jag meets Cobra.

Good luck with the car, theres loads of people who know everything youd every need to know on the site. If you're serious about buying one then I might be tempted to get rid of mine, PM me if you're interested. I go through patches of wanting to sell to buy another car - Noble, DB7 etc etc but then get back in the Coupe and just cant imagine not driving it. Im sure when you own one you'll see what all the fuss is about.
Happy Motoring

[Trundler]

Ref the fuel consumption - i have just got 275miles out of a tank ...
yes i probably could have driven it harder!! :D

[ragerover]

Ref the fuel consumption - i have just got 275miles out of a tank ...
yes i probably could have driven it harder!! :D

EH were you going down hill in neutral i get 195 -200 driving average
and have had less than 150 on a good day out :D

love the car im sure you will

[caferaca]

cheers for the replies. Had a look at other posts as well. I think I've gotta have one..!

Not that i could probably stretch that far, but out of interest, any tried the Z4 coupe? any better?