Could the assembled company , or even HJ himself please comment
on the wisdom of buying a BMW Z3?
Say 5 years old; 1.9 engine and 50,000 miles; FSH. Price £8000.
I get a feeling that over a couple of years and another 25000 miles
it could still depreciate quite heavily as well as potential wear and tear
running costs.
A member of my family thinks it is a good deal !
Please help!!
Meldrew
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 17/10/2007 at 22:41
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The 1.9 engine is best avoided. A mate has the 2.8 engine in his 2000 model and loves it. Suggest going for that engine instead? Should be well within budget. Early models had dashboards which look dated. 2000 on (?) models are better in that respect. He gets 30-34mpg. .
Edited by bostin on 17/10/2007 at 20:45
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You wont be finding any 5 year old 1.9 Z3's, they are mostly much older. Infact, you won't be finding many 5 year old Z3's of any specification as they are very rare. Most are 1996-2001.
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Infact you won't be finding many 5 year old Z3's of any specification as they are very rare. Most are 1996-2001.
Let's assume six years old then as my arithmetic is not too good
at the end of the day!
Meldrew
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The 1.9 is the runt of the range, but its not a bad engine really, just not that rapid, but nor is a 1.6 MX-5, but thats still a nice car and so is the 1.9 Z3.
As is nearly always the case, people covet the bigger engines, so this should make the smaller engined ones bargins, but so long as depreciation is sorted. By this time, the bulk of it will be over.
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I've been looking at these myself with a view to getting a 'fun' second car. Like the OP I have been tracking the depreciation and reckon that with patience and the will to travel there are some really good private examples. I suspect that the MX5 will always win in terms of cost of ownership though and probably driveability and for that reason can't make up my mind between the two - but the marque is nevertheless very appealing and somehow doesn't carry the same 'swagger' as other sporty BMWs. As for the 1.9 vs 2.8 I guess that comes down to affordability and running costs - do you really need that extra mmmph? probably not, but the smiles to be had from feeling the surge in the small of the back are hard to put a value on.
Please let us know how you get
Duncan.
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Please let us know how you get
Duncan,
This could take some time to resolve.
I'm not sure my daughter is speaking to me at the moment!
The last one we looked at was an absolute dog. It had a FSH for 48000 miles but felt like twice as many when driven.
My wife has a 3 Series BMW of same age and it still drives like new so I expect anything else by the same make to feel the same.
A very sticky throttle pedal/cable did not help either.
Meldrew
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 18/10/2007 at 20:31
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Personally, id go for a 318 convertible in pref to the Z3. Much classier car in image terms and I doubt its any slower than a Z3 is normal driving. May also be a bit cheaper.
Worth taking the dughter to rive both back to back as when testing cars with women, ive found getting them behind the wheel makes a huge difference to opinions. The 318 Conv has I think, a better driving enviroment and more space.
Just a thought.
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A colleague swapped an MG for one. The MG had done nearly 100,000 trouble free miles, despite having a K series. At 54,000 his BMW has just had a new CHG, caused by overheating following a thermostat failure (the garage suspect this is due to coolant changes being neglected, despite a full BMW SH). This has been quickly followed by an electric window failure which will be expensive to repair.
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What about the 2.2 engine? Wouldn't that be a better compromise between the 1.9 and 2.8?
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Hi. I had one a couple of years back. Only had it 3 months before I traded it for a clio V6 sport. Wow, what a difference. I found the Z3 downright uncomfortable,fairly slow, and gave me back ache. Graham.
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All your replies much appreciated. I would agree with the suggestion of 3 Series convertible but comparatively pricey.
Problem solved by buying a three year old MX5 1.8 Euphonic from a main dealer. Immaculate condition and Mazda warranty. Cost (me!) a shade more but good for piece of mind. I'm insured to drive it too.
Thanks again all.
Meldrew
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 23/10/2007 at 01:49
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