Considering buying 2007 Z4 M

I am going to look at a 2007 Z4 M later this week. It has about 12k miles on it and is being sold at a used car lot (non BMW) for about $33k. From the Carfax, it was leased 10/2007 in California and owner put 2428 miles on it, then sold at auction 10/2009. I am assuming it was returned from lease and sold. Car was purchased 3/2010 and registered in Wisconsin. It is now for sale in basically the same city.

Should I be worried at all about the auction sale or is this normal?

I have been on this site and another one for a number of months (but just registered today). I have done normal searches on things to look for and am somewhat educated on it. I would prefer to have a 1 owner car and buy from this owner but with the number of leases and the car getting older it seems more difficult.

It is being sold in a pretty small town (happens to be home office for my company and I am making it part of office trip), but not sure how to find someone to inspect it that knows more about what to look for than I do (no BMW dealer anywhere close). Any ideas?

For the amount of miles it seams like a reasonable deal. Opinions?

Can the Vanos issues be inspected? I don't fully understand what they are or how likely it is to have a problem.

It sounds like a great find to me. Have it inspected and make sure it hasn't had any serious paint work. The original owner really wasted their cash on that lease. I thought I was bad with 8k miles over 3yrs on a S2K lease.

I just went through the same thing. I bought a 2007 Z4M Roadster with 10,000 miles last Thursday in Dulles, VA and drove it home to Cincinnati. First owner bought it (for $61,400) and owned it for 3 years. Then it went to auction and a dealer "owned" it for a year. I had a friend that worked at a BMW dealership and he pulled the records for it. That was very valuable when paired with the carfax. I don't see any issues with the auction.

I didn't have an inspection done. Thought about it. SHould have. But I didn't. Car doesn't have any warranty left due to time and it is not Certified Pre-Owned. I thought about an extended warranty. Dealer offered 3 years / 36,000 miles for $2,600. I passed. I read enough on here to convince me to bet that something won't happen vs. betting that something will (knocking on wood).

I used the BMW CPO checklist to do my inspection. Seemed to cover everything I needed it to. Only issue I found was the valance had a rub mark on the bottom, no owner's manual, no M Mobility kit and only 1 key. I was punch drunk from the test drive and didn't care so much.

I paid $33,400. I think that is OK. Not great. Not bad. $33,000 as a CPO would have been great. But once I saw the car and drove it, I had to buy it. Glad I negotiated over the phone before I flew out to see it (highly recommend you do this).

Did't know anything about vanos. Now I do and I can notice the clackety clack at 3,000 rpm. Is what it is at this point.

I cannot overemphasize the value of completing price negotiations to the maximum extent possible prior to seeing and driving the car. Unless you have stronger constitution than the average Joe.

Enjoy the drive home

Tom

I wouldn't be concerned about the auction. When I bought my Z4M I got it from a dealer. With a little effort I found that the original owner appeared to have traded it in, it was auctioned and then came to the dealer I bought it from with a few more miles than when it was traded in.

Many of these cars are 'second' cars, driven mostly on the weekend and usually in nice weather. Northern cars should be looked at carefully because of all the chemicals which are scattered on the roads in winter, but these cars are generally garaged during the winter. Personally, I think 33 is a very good price. Something else to remember as well: The BMW 6 cylinder engine is virtually bullet proof. If you know a good mechanic, and keep on top of things, they will last forever. The worst enemy of a BMW is going to be another careless driver, probably on a phone, in a parking lot, and often female. Enjoy the car....they are stunning creations.

jake

Thanks for the feedback. I had e-mailed the dealer on Sunday night to set up a time to see the car and they replied back that it just sold. Since it is still on Autotrader and their website I wonder when it actually sold. They could have saved me some time by quickly taking it down.

Good news is the "talk" with the wife has gone through, we will be building a 1 car garage behind our house (old neighborhood with little space) and we have the money to pay for it.

I would prefer less than 35k miles, within about 500 miles of Cincinnati (or the Southeast as it is part of my sales territory), good condition with no issues. Prefer not red or black but would consider them.

David, there are Tons of Z4M roadsters with low mileage out there. I've been researching them just in case my wife wants to buy me another Z. PM me and I'll send you the ones I would buy / know about (and i'm really picky). There is one in Maryland, red, 17.5k miles, private seller, $34.5k. One in Champaign, IL, dealer. You may have to fly out and drive it home like I did with mine. Good luck with your searching.

I am only interested in coupes.

I am going to look at two local ones today. They seam a little high priced but when I figure in costs to fly somewhere to look at a car, possibly have to fly back, drive back if things go well, hotel, etc this adds to the cost also. It also makes it easier to get it checked out. Probably worth at least $1k to not have to deal with.

I bought my Audi in Jacksonville (from Cincinnati) and it wasn't the easiest thing to do. Was worth it, but burned a long weekend and had a number os costs.

Hoping for the best.

How difficult would it be to switch out or cover wood interior?

You can swap trim easily. But usually there isn't much used trim sets on the market (because everyone hates the wood and prefers the aluminum or cf).

I bought my Coupe in Texas (from Cleveland) and it was a hassle IMO. The salesman was fantastic, the shipping though was not.

Good luck searching! Sign up on ohiobimmers.com

I see you're from Cinci

I am considering other cars, far enough away that I would probably ship it. Who do you recommend shipping it with?

David - Here's my story. I'm in TX. I found my Z4 M coupe on Autotrader by a non-BMW California dealer. After they sent more pics (get lots) many discussions with the salesman, I flew out to see it. I did not negotiate price beforehand because I did not want to be cornered into a price I did not feel was right for the car when seeing it. I'm meticulous about taking care of my cars and most aren't as I would expect & want them to be. And I was prepared to go home without the car. Z4 M Coupes are rare (1815 produced), so you may have to take some time to find the right one. And you might have to pay more than you want because they are getting harder & harder to find. I ended up paying a little over 33K for a late production 2008. I was pretty lucky as they'd had the car a while, and it's inservice date left me with over 8 months of warranty. Mine was also a lease that was then auctioned by the BMW dealer. I didn't want to drive it back & add the miles, so I shipped. I used Western Auto Transport. We'd used them to ship our '67 Vette from Florida and I'm pretty sure they use closed trucks exclusively. The dealer's shipper was going to charge me the same for open! No way, not my M car. Also, if you find a CA car, immediately take out the extra gray thick woven air filter and you'll gain quite a bit of power. Hope that helps! Good luck! I searched off & on for a couple of years. You'll know when you find it.

By the way Crewdog-watch what you say. I'm a gal and an avid BMW M owner/driver. Have probably owned M cars longer than you've been driving.

When I had a look at the Z4 M Roadster that I found on sale (and eventually bought) the first thing that I inspected were the brake disks. If there are signs of excessive wear on them (for the mileage of the car in question, anyway), it means this car has been driven either HARD or ONCOMPETENT. Especially if you notice uneven wear of the disks (which, in the one-piston BMW brakes means they were operated with rare but STRONG pushes), this is a telltale sign of sporty driving.

Thank you for the information LuvMyMCoupe. Since I travel from Ontario to FL with my job and can generally arange a trip for about a week out this would be my first choice if I have to travel (company can pay for most of the trip). I agree about it being worth more to get the perfect car for you but at the same time, a car that is a little over priced and requires travel and shipping can quickly turn a $34k car into a $37k car (flight, hotel, rental car, shipping cost), especially if I make a trip or two without buying it. I did buy my current daily driver in Jacksonville (live in Cincinnati) so I am ok with doing it if the car and price are right. I am also willing to pay $33k for the color combonation you have for a car in good condition.

Not sure I agree about the brakes. I don't have a problem with a good condition, well maintained car that has seen some track days. I took my last car to the track and it is hard on the brakes but I don't see it hurting the car (especially how hard I am willing to push it). My current car has 126k miles on the original brakes but I don't know what that means except I drive a lot of highway miles.

David, the brakes condition plus the car mileage tell how the car has been driven. Low mileage high brake wear means the car has either been driven a lot in urban areas (expect wear on the clutch, too) or has been driven hard, sporty style - tracks, for instance. The latter means the engine has been pushed hard, too. If there is uneven wear on the brakes, this may tell they have been overheated at least once (especially true in one-cylinder brakes which BMW's are). So yeah, brakes tell a lot about the car in general.
No wonder you have gone so long on one set of brakes (guess pads + disks) - highway driving is very mild on brakes. Mine are almost below specs (1.6 mm total wear of the disks) already at 26,000 miles