Discuss factors for MR purchase

[DaleWA]

Hi all,
I'm shopping for a M roadster to replace my 04 3.0. What factors in the car's history would you consider most important?
For example, better to have enough miles to have had Insp 1 under the maintenance plan or super low miles and out of the plan period?
Do multiple owners matter much? Obviously a 1 owner is the best, but should you ignore one with 3-4 if it has a good service history?
How about one that was a dealer demo for it's first year?

Never had experience with an M, just trying to evaluate how to weigh these factors.

Thanks!

[SD ///M4]

The 2006 Z4 M Roadster that I recently bought was a dealer demo car for it's first year and had 98 miles when sold to it's original and only owner. Hopefully those first 98 miles were gentle miles, but what can you do, they don't make these cars anymore and they didn't make many of them to begin with. It had it's 1200 mile inspection at 1186 miles just less than a year after its in-service date.

I bought the car from a BMW dealer (not CPO, too old already). I was able to locate the original owner here on ZPost so I've been able to get some of the car's history.

I kind of lucked out as the car only had 31,800 miles on it when I bought it because the original owner rode his motorcycle a lot and it's in very good condition. Unfortunately, he was a little lax having his free annual low-mileage oil changes and the first one was at 10,804 miles about a year and five months later. His next low-mileage oil change was at 17,769 miles about a year and two months later. After that it was out of warranty and he said that he would get the oil changed by a BMW tech who would do it at the dealer on the weekend off the books. He said that the last oil change was November 2011 but there's no official record of any oil changes after 17,769 miles, although the oil looked clan. I've also asked him if the Nov 2011 oil change included Inspection I, particularly the valve adjustment, but he hasn't responded yet to this question. If I don't hear back from him I'm probably going to go ahead and have the valve adjustment done by a BMW mechanic who's a friend of mine. I can do the rest myself. Unfortunately, this is going to cost around $600-800. If I had to guess I'd say that he didn't have a full Inspection I and I don't want to chance it.

The original owner said that he didn't autocross or track the car and he seemed to be more into the appearance of the car. He put H&R springs on it and 19" wheels and tires on the car only about a month after he bought it because he liked the way they looked. Unfortunately, the rears rubbed the fender liners and wore through the outer side of the left rear fender liner but this is relatively inexpensive and easy to fix. The good part is that the wheels are in like-new condition.

If you buy from an individual make sure that you get all of the service records. If you know someone at a BMW dealer they can also run a Warranty Vehicle Inquiry and get the service history. If you buy from a dealer make sure they run one for you. Of course you'll want to get a CarFax too.

Have a PPI before you buy the car. This is what revealed the rear fender liner damage on my car. Make sure there are no leaks from the engine, transmission, or the differential. Make sure there is no evidence of repainting with overspray, or painted bolts or screws, and that the color matches.

I looked at an almost identical car, same year, same color combo but without the extended leather and it had twice the mileage, curb rash on all four wheels, a broken right cup holder, the leather was a little worn, and the plastic near the left thumb rest on the steering wheel was worn through the black coating. She wanted about $5,000 less but I was willing to pay more to get a relatively low mileage car in much better overall shape but she did have Inspection II done under warranty because she had an extended 6-year warranty.

Since you have a 2004 you probably want a 2007 or 2008 which may still be under warranty. If it's a choice between low mileage and enough mileage to be past Inspection I I'd take the low mileage because if it's still under warranty, depending on the mileage, you may still get Inspection I done under warranty. If it's a one owner car and they didn't buy the extended warranty then unless it's from a BMW dealer and CPOed, chances are it's going to be out of warranty. If the original owner traded it in and the dealer CPOed it and a second owner bought it, it may still have the CPO warranty.

One thing to shy away from would be an out-of-warranty car that is within a year of Inspection II because that will be costly.

I'm far from an expert and in fact this is only the second used car I've ever bought (the first one was in 1969), so there are probably many more people with a lot more experience buying used BMWs, but this is what I learned from my recent experience. Fortunately, so far, this has been a much better experience than the previous one!

[mshanno1]

Is this going to be a weekend car or a daily driver?

[GammaZeta]

What SD Z4MR said...

[DaleWA]

Some good advice SD Z4MR. I almost flew down and checked out the one you bought, but wasn't to the point of pulling the trigger one one.

This will be a nice day daily driver, 12 mile commute during Seattle's good weather period - April to Oct. Winters it spends in the garage.

I really want to find one with extended leather but the only one I see right now has the right miles (36K), but was a demo for a year and is now on the third owner. Ex leather is pretty rare, so I'm tempted to check this one out, but having been through 3 owners kind of puts me off. I am willing to wait but I don't want to miss what might be a good deal!

[SD ///M4]

Originally Posted by dwabmw

Some good advice SD Z4MR. I almost flew down and checked out the one you bought, but wasn't to the point of pulling the trigger one one.

This will be a nice day daily driver, 12 mile commute during Seattle's good weather period - April to Oct. Winters it spends in the garage.

I really want to find one with extended leather but the only one I see right now has the right miles (36K), but was a demo for a year and is now on the third owner. Ex leather is pretty rare, so I'm tempted to check this one out, but having been through 3 owners kind of puts me off. I am willing to wait but I don't want to miss what might be a good deal!

Thanks!

I certainly wouldn't have paid the $2,700 for the Extended Leather option if I bought it new, but it is a nice option to have and gives the interior a much richer appearance than the plastic that it covers. It wouldn't have been a deal breaker if it didn't have it though, as this is the first one I've seen that had it.