M market watch

[Beedub]

arhhhh jesus guys ... come on.... just different opinions man, we dont need to tackle every single one we dont agree with.. sometimes you gotta just accept we have different views on stuff, otherwise everything becomes a battle. i actually said this to my Ex GF lol... its exhausting just bickering all the time.

we all seem moody as f**k today, think I'm going to call it a day and visit back tomorrow.

[JAD]

arhhhh jesus guys ... come on.... just different opinions man, we dont need to tackle every single one we dont agree with.. sometimes you gotta just accept we have different views on stuff, otherwise everything becomes a battle. i actually said this to my Ex GF lol... its exhausting just bickering all the time.

we all seem moody as f**k today, think I'm going to call it a day and visit back tomorrow.

Completely hear you on bickering and I mean no disrespect to Tom. I guess I could be very rightly brought up for being hypocritical, moaning about his moaning! I'll bid you a good weekend, Tom and leave it there.

[srhutch]

It's a difficult one. To a buyer service history is all you can go on the difference between a good and bad car.

You could be good with a spanner, an ex BMW master technician, and engineer or Joe blogs. But a stamp with a reputable establishments name on it means something to 90% of buyers.

I have to be honest I wouldn't buy a car that's been self serviced doesn't matter what it is. Mostly because my mechanical knowledge is lacking and I would trust the garage to do the job and have comeback if it's not.

And tbh the thoughts of others shouldnt put you off your ownership.

Everyone has an opinion and that's the point of the forum I get flamed for my views all the time it doesn't bother me they won't change my mind!

Problem is even having work done at a garage has no guarantee. TomTVR had inspection 1 carried out and 2,500 mile later cam follower failure which landed him for a bill of nearly £3k.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=86533&hilit=followers

Service history is one thing, but if your really worried about what might happen, you'll need a warranty, which will tie you in for servicing of course.

[john-e89]

Fat purses only need apply...

Vehicle Description

Z4 M ROADSTER

INTERLAGOS BLUE

7700 MILES FROM NEW

FULL BMW MAIN DEALER SERVICE HISTORY

SUPPLIED AND SERVICED BY THE SAME MAIN DEALER

NEVER DRIVEN ON A WET ROAD

THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY ? YES .

FOR THE COLLECTOR WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO ? YES .

£35K....

Damn iPad won't let me copy and paste the pics. Anyway it's on Pistonheads.

[stujeffrey]

Wow....I took a break from the forum for a few weeks due to busy work and enjoying the M in the few spring days we had. Just had PSS fitted all round and 4 wheel laser alignment ready for the spring/summer days!

Prices have gone a bit crazy haven't they! Apart from the old 127k grunter thats been hanging on AT for months you cant buy a decent Coupe for less than £20k it would seem. I wanted to get a Roady for the summer....but even those seem to have gone up a few grand in recent months.

[ocrx8]

It sure is raucous in here today!

A brief mention in this week's Autocar.

[srhutch]

Fat purses only need apply...

Vehicle Description

Z4 M ROADSTER

INTERLAGOS BLUE

7700 MILES FROM NEW

FULL BMW MAIN DEALER SERVICE HISTORY

SUPPLIED AND SERVICED BY THE SAME MAIN DEALER

NEVER DRIVEN ON A WET ROAD

THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY ? YES .

FOR THE COLLECTOR WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO ? YES .

£35K....

Damn iPad won't let me copy and paste the pics. Anyway it's on Pistonheads.

Here you go.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/ ... 06/6977806

[john-e89]

Cheers Mr Hutch.

On the face of it it seems silly money, which of course it is for a car, however, 35k is what you would have paid for this 2nd hand with the mileage back in the day, so, if you want a Z4M that is virtually new this makes sense. Use it, don't worry about it losing value, did anyone worry about that when all the M's were bought in the first place? No, they were bought and used, hence 17k cars are available now. They've all been new and lost value, as any car, this is no different. It'd be a shame to mothball as a museum piece.

Only imo obviously.

[TomK]

It's a difficult one. To a buyer service history is all you can go on the difference between a good and bad car.

You could be good with a spanner, an ex BMW master technician, and engineer or Joe blogs. But a stamp with a reputable establishments name on it means something to 90% of buyers.

I have to be honest I wouldn't buy a car that's been self serviced doesn't matter what it is. Mostly because my mechanical knowledge is lacking and I would trust the garage to do the job and have comeback if it's not.

And tbh the thoughts of others shouldnt put you off your ownership.

Everyone has an opinion and that's the point of the forum I get flamed for my views all the time it doesn't bother me they won't change my mind!

Problem is even having work done at a garage has no guarantee. TomTVR had inspection 1 carried out and 2,500 mile later cam follower failure which landed him for a bill of nearly £3k.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=86533&hilit=followers

Service history is one thing, but if your really worried about what might happen, you'll need a warranty, which will tie you in for servicing of course.

I think there's a lot of valid points here, everyone want s the best for their cars of that I'm fairly certain, the argument seems to be revolving around what the perceived opinion of a prospective buyer would be. That in itself is fairly tricky as it really depends on what type of punter is looking at these kinds of cars now. My guess is it's not the kind of person who want s a new boxster with full warranty etc, most people are aware that these are getting on for old cars now and living with the caveats that that inherently presents.
I'd agree that most likely the majority (at the moment) will perhaps be somewhat misinformed and look for full BMWSH for instance as a priority when looking for a car. Now it's well known by most people who run BMWs of this age and specialty that a BMW service is not necessarily a good one, and consequently a few years ago what might have seemed to be a 'blot' in the service book by having a specialist do the service rather than BMW, may now in the present be considered to be a bonus, and I believe that attitude will become more prevalent as the age of the cars increase.
My point being that these cars are more than likely over the next few years bought by enthusiasts. As a purchaser in that mindset I would far rather speak to the last owner of the car and hear the good and the bad, get a feel for him, understand how he has treated the car in his ownership, than go to a 2 bit dealer who has shoved on some crappy tyres as in the ad above, and it's a got full (worthless) warranty.
Details about whether a service interval was missed by a year or a couple of thousand miles five or whatever years ago, quite frankly I think at this age it's bordering on irrelevancy.... unless you have some super low mile minter and don't use it, and want to speculate, well then you might take a different opinion. Thing is we're not talking about some rare ferrari or something here, it's a 3 series in a frock, they're never going to make or lose a fortune.

FWIW: Dave and I recently did the shimming on my car, and I'm pretty certain and the shop who did it agree (one of the best specialists in the S54 in the Uk apparently) that they did it incorrectly when rebuilding the engine with my schrick cams. Now, I was a bit pissed off, but no lasting damage, everyone makes mistakes etc. etc. I still take it to them to do the services and get the stamps because I agree that without these you will be limiting your resale market, but I'm taking a leaf out of Beedubs book and doing the valve clearances myself (the only even remotely complicated thing about an inspection service) and getting stamps. Doing it yourself imo is the only way to be really sure it's been done properly. Many thanks to Dave for holding my hand through this, we spent so so long measuring/checking/measuring/checking!! No way would a garage under time constraints do such a thorough job.

On the positive side the car felt 'a lot' faster after the shimming at Daves. So much so, I took it back to my tuner's who did the original map on my car. I made 362 before, it ran 381 yesterday, second highest S54 they've had (must get some headers one day... ). They also commented how sweet the engine was sounding, none of the S54 'ticking'. I was pretty pleased as it's a pretty accurate figure from a mustang dyno, and about 20hp and 20lbs/ft everywhere over last time. They were doing a Hurricane before that should have made 610 (factory) and pulled 600 on theirs.

At least I'm happy, even if everyone else is grumpy

[ChrisT70]

I'm a prospective buyers I suppose so for what it's worth I wouldn't buy a car personally that had been self serviced over a long period of time. I would contemplate one with a good indy service history etc, and I'd not be worried if someone obviously knowledgeable had done their own valve clearances etc if they could show me specifically how they did it and demonstrate some good engineering knowledge and skills.
Comparing with the porsche world, try selling a 993 with gaps in history or self serviced, even if you are Edd China (joking) you have devalued your car to the average collector by a noticeable amount. Good respected indy history isn't an issue however .

[Lites]

Not sure if this is allowed, I'll delete this post if not. Been a follower of this thread since I started looking for my Z4MR and now it's up for sale in the for sale section, here - viewtopic.php?f=41&t=95117

Thought I'd pop it onto the market watch, before I put it onto the "normal" sites after this weekend..

The Pertinent details for this thread being a 2006 Z4MR, 68k miles, FSH - most recent service an Insp 2, 2500miles ago, Running in service done at 1297 miles. £15k.

[srhutch]

I'm a prospective buyers I suppose so for what it's worth I wouldn't buy a car personally that had been self serviced over a long period of time. I would contemplate one with a good indy service history etc, and I'd not be worried if someone obviously knowledgeable had done their own valve clearances etc if they could show me specifically how they did it and demonstrate some good engineering knowledge and skills.
Comparing with the porsche world, try selling a 993 with gaps in history or self serviced, even if you are Edd China (joking) you have devalued your car to the average collector by a noticeable amount. Good respected indy history isn't an issue however .

Valve clearances are the hardest part of a service to do. So if you are happy to buy a car where somebody can prove they are competent to go this, why would the other service items worry you.

[original guvnor]

I think the age of these cars is irrelevant. It's their value that matters. These aren't 5k beaters. They are expensive for 10 year old BMW's - they're pushing £25k in Coupe guise with low miles. If I buy a car costing that much I want it to have either a BMW history or a well known and respected Indy doing the work. Sure if you like getting your hands dirty then it may not bother you but you lessen the prospective market by doing that and harm the value too. So what you save in labour costs maybe going out the back door on diminution in value.

Mine is a relatively low miler (not super low). It has full BMW history and is still under BMW warranty. Yes I know the warranty is an expensive insurance blah blah blah. Heard it all before and that's for a different thread anyway. In the last couple of years it's value has probably increased by nearly £5k and doesn't show signs of stopping at the moment. At the rate it's increased I freely admit I'm using it less because if it does rise significantly it makes getting in to what I would like next much more affordable in the short term. So preserving a strong history is important. It doesn't have to be BMW. I don't really the buy the 'Indy is better than BMW' argument (or vice versa). I've heard praise and criticism from different Forum users of the same garage whether that is a BMW dealer or a "respected" Indy. What really matters is the individual who services the car and what sort of job you believe they do. I've been pleased with the servicing of my car on the whole but I could be equally pleased with a good specialist too. What I want to see though is a regular schedule of maintenance strictly in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations from a reputable garage (who has a professional reputation to preserve) as well as a stack of receipts with no gaps so I can browse the history of the car. A car that can offer that will always be worth more than one that can't.

[ChrisT70]

I'm a prospective buyers I suppose so for what it's worth I wouldn't buy a car personally that had been self serviced over a long period of time. I would contemplate one with a good indy service history etc, and I'd not be worried if someone obviously knowledgeable had done their own valve clearances etc if they could show me specifically how they did it and demonstrate some good engineering knowledge and skills.
Comparing with the porsche world, try selling a 993 with gaps in history or self serviced, even if you are Edd China (joking) you have devalued your car to the average collector by a noticeable amount. Good respected indy history isn't an issue however .

Valve clearances are the hardest part of a service to do. So if you are happy to buy a car where somebody can prove they are competent to go this, why would the other service items worry you.

No id rather not buy one that's been home serviced however if someone who obviously knew what they were doing had done a valve clearance set up it wouldn't be so bad, realistically I wouldn't go view self serviced cars unless they were cheap, because come resale time in a few years it won't be worth as much, simple as that I'm afraid

[mr wilks]

realistically I wouldn't go view self serviced cars unless they were cheap, because come resale time in a few years it won't be worth as much, simple as that I'm afraid

Succinct , to the point & wraps up the debate in a sentence for me
We are going round in circles with this one as its a dedicated owners forum with enthusiastic owners but down the line those talented (perhaps) individuals who have tampered are simply names in the history & the fact they may have known what they were doing will carry zero weight imo in fact more likely to impede future sales & future values which of course may be of little significance to the owner who carried out the work .