Quote:
Originally Posted by pyshin
What is the asking price?
Is it private party or dealer?
Does it have a clean title?
What states has it been owned in?
What is the condition of the exterior/interior/undercarriage?
Do they have any other maintenance records (ie. Inspection I/II, oil analyses, etc.)?
Does it have aftermarket parts? If so are they including the stock parts?
Just a few questions to start
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As mentioned in my original post, I found the PERFECT example (Black exterior, red interior, carbon trim) which is what piqued my interest in the first place. Enthusiast owned and obsessed over, guy had a 2" thick pile of receipts and obviously took extremely good care of the car. Unfortunately I wasn't quite convinced of the idea yet and it sold to another party a few days later.
Realizing my mistake, I told myself I wouldn't consider another z4m unless another black exterior with red interior example popped up, and sure enough this one did. Pretty different situation though. Coming from a dealer asking $21k. Paint is in good condition but has a few rock chips on the front end and a bit of scuffing on the front lip, 8/10. Interior is clean but the windows rattle when you close the door, and the piece above the middle storage compartment is loose and possibly broken, 8/10. It's a CA car from the Bay Area, but it came as a trade-in with no maintenance history, which definitely erks me. Only history they have is what they can see on Carfax. Car is fully stock except for painted wheels.
When I went to test drive it last weekend the first thing I brought up was rod bearings and vanos, and the salesman indicated he had no record of either being replace/maintained, but then went on about how it's not an issue blah blah. He was actually quite knowledgeable of S54s and seemed to specialize in selling e46 M3s and I hadn't done much research into it at the time, so I just dropped it.
I've since done my research and it sounds like they're both definitely still issues I should be concerned about. I messaged them back going into details of why it was a concern and said I'd consider at $18k, but they're unwilling to move on the price and suggested that if I'm worried I should buy a warranty... Riiiiiiight.
Anyways, at this point it's highly unlikely I'm buying this actual car, but I do question when/if I'll run into this combination again, and if I should be taking the VANOS and rod bearing issue as seriously as I am.