Hi guys - first time here. Wanted to get some opinions. If this thread belongs somewhere else let me know!
I've never owned a BMW before. In fact, I wasn't really into them very much until I took a ride in my friends E8X 128i convertible a couple years ago. I loved that thing. Unfortunately she loved it too much to let me drive it, so I had to enjoy it from the passenger seat (or the back - in one case - when me, her, and another friend went on a road trip...at least the top was down!). Not only was that my first time in a BMW, it was my first time in a convertible. I've always been one to put the windows down instead of switch on the AC, just for the fact that I love the open-air, wind-in-my-face feeling. But this was something else. It was amazing.
I'm sold. Ok, now just to wait till I can afford something like that.
As a college student, currently with a humble, dependable, just-fast-enough Hyundai Sonata, I wanted more. I wanted driving to be fun again.
So a few months ago I started to look into BMWs and various other convertibles/performance cars. Knowing that this would be my next car, which I'm currently thinking about buying myself as a graduation present in 2021 w/some financing, and that I'd keep the car I currently have (as nothing's wrong with it, it runs great, and it's very practical), I had to keep the price and maintenance costs within reason. I decided on around ~$10k. You can find German cars that are 10ish years old for decently cheap, but I've found that they can be a nightmare to maintain. Even my friend with the 1 would always comment on various things going wrong with hers. Ruled out Mercedes as I've never heard great things about their dependability. The A5/S5 looked promising until I read about some issues past 80k. I looked at a few Japanese manufacturers - Lexus and Infiniti in particular, finding that Lexus didn't make any decent convertibles. ISF looked interesting but I heard the ride is very harsh. I did look at the G37 a little though.
Then I came across the Z4. I saw the test drive of the new G29 in Car and Driver and it looked pretty promising, so I looked into the older Z4 models a bit. Damn, is the E85 stunning! I love the looks and everything about it. And it happens to be in my price range (seen several E85s on Autotrader, Truecar, Carfax for >$10k). I briefly looked at the E89, but it didn't get nearly as much love, and I like the E85 design a bit better anyway. The big question at this point is the maintenance costs. A quick google search led me here, where I found numerous threads praising this car's (and it's N52/M54 engine's) reliability, one even saying their Z was over 200k miles!
Also, the abundance of DIY tutorials/posts was amazing. I'm pretty handy with a wrench and have fixed many things on my Sonata before, as well as done routine things like oil changes. I also love the detailed coding instructions. I'm thinking...have I found the perfect car?
Anyway, to get to the point:
Currently I plan to get an E85 Z4 roadster, probably the 3.0si, when I graduate in 2021. I would get the M but it commands a premium in price, consumables, and upkeep when the 3.0si would be more than amazing for me. I'm just wondering a few things:
1) I've read about the top motor issue and several posts about caring for the top. What else goes wrong with it besides the pump/motor and occasional pinched wires? So far it seems to me to be a fairly robust system besides those issues, and I wouldn't have to worry about a catastrophic failure like the G37's hardtop.
(It apparently has no safeguards against items being in the trunk, has
no way to manually operate, and requires the switch to be held down the entire time it operates...which if you slip your hand off for even a second, it will get stuck midway and require you visit a dealer to fix it. One user put his top down perfectly normally one day, something went wrong, the back window smashed, and the entire top cost $12k to replace - they had to make an insurance claim!)
2) Any major engine issues with the 3.0si? I've read that the water pump issues were fixed with this model, and the VANOS/camshaft timing looks to be an M-only thing to worry about. Can you use regular oil in it, or what oil is recommended, and is it much more expensive than typical oil? I've got ramps but no jacks - would I need jacks to change the oil? I've read about some steering column issues with the non-M models. Has this been fixed for the 06-08 models as well?
3) How is the trunk space? Obviously it's going to be pretty small, it's a roadster. Would me and a friend be able to fit enough for a lightly packed weekend trip?
4) Insurance costs? I'm not getting an M or coupe, which are the rarest of the Zs, the car's not new, and it apparently has a pretty good track record, so I'd assume it would be fairly manageable.
5) As with every car there is going to be some stuff I'm not able to fix my own. Currently I'm not in a very metropolitan area (the nearest BMW dealer is 40ish miles from me) but I'm going to end up in the DC/NOVA area. Does anyone know a good indy shop around there? How much can I expect to pay for things like shocks/struts, rotors?
6) I plan to drive it fairly often. At least a few times every week. Living in an apartment, however, I may have to deal with outside parking. Is a garage a must for a Z4? Will it suffer from leaks on a rainy day? I hope that's not the case as I want to be able to use the car fairly often.
7) Bluetooth/aux support? How difficult is that to add to the stock head unit? Does it have call functionality?
8) What is a good mileage to look at? Is ~80k ok or should I go with less? Will I be able to keep this car for a while...upwards of 5 years or so?
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What do you guys think? Is a Z4 a good idea for me?