Finally ready to buy another BMW

[yura]

Taking a look at an '03 M3 tomorrow. From the ad it sounds very clean.

[yura]

Car looked nice, made a deal, did a PPI, turns out it needs $2k of work. Ugh.

[yura]

At this rate, pretty soon I'll buy a civic and call it quits.

[Katu]

Car looked nice, made a deal, did a PPI, turns out it needs $2k of work. Ugh.

$2k of work for serious issues? To get it caught up with maintenance that doesn't sound that bad, we are talking about a 10 year old performance car. You will be hard pressed to find a car with all maintenance up to date unless it's an enthusiast's car, if so expect to pay a premium.

[yura]

$2k of work for serious issues? To get it caught up with maintenance that doesn't sound that bad, we are talking about a 10 year old performance car. You will be hard pressed to find a car with all maintenance up to date unless it's an enthusiast's car, if so expect to pay a premium.

Oil leaking from the pan.
Battery warning light coming on - alternator has hammer marks on it and needs to be replaced.
Tons of error codes. VANOS errors. Errors reporting mis-fire on each cylinder. Likely all related to the poor alternator and low voltage it's putting out.
Tires are gone.
Brake pads are some cheap no-name crap.
Aftermarket headers and no cat - raspy noise when accelerating.
Rear shock mounts and shocks need replacement.
Advertised as no accident, but rear quarter panels and bumper have been painted.
One of the bi-xenon headlight bulbs is going out and needs replacement (ie. paying for both).

Lots more work than regular maintenance. For one of the highest-priced and lowest-mileage local M3s, I expected better. My ZHP was in 10x better condition at twice the mileage. Wish I never sold it.

[danewilson77]

Wish I never sold it.

If I had a nickel for every time.....

HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA

[Katu]

Oil leaking from the pan.
Battery warning light coming on - alternator has hammer marks on it and needs to be replaced.
Tons of error codes. VANOS errors. Errors reporting mis-fire on each cylinder. Likely all related to the poor alternator and low voltage it's putting out.
Tires are gone.
Brake pads are some cheap no-name crap.
Aftermarket headers and no cat - raspy noise when accelerating.
Rear shock mounts and shocks need replacement.
Advertised as no accident, but rear quarter panels and bumper have been painted.
One of the bi-xenon headlight bulbs is going out and needs replacement (ie. paying for both).

Lots more work than regular maintenance. For one of the highest-priced and lowest-mileage local M3s, I expected better. My ZHP was in 10x better condition at twice the mileage. Wish I never sold it.

Ya I would walk away from that too!

[Avetiso]

Would you have purchased if you could haggle the price considering those faults?

[yura]

Would you have purchased if you could haggle the price considering those faults?

If he'd dropped $2k in price, yes, I would have taken the car and gotten it fixed up. I had the bank draft in my pocket and ready to go. I offered that to him - he refused. He suggested the same price, but his own mechanic (the one that ok'ed this car to begin with) would have replaced the oil pan gasket and alternator (with god knows what) - not going to fly.

I've been checking CL all evening - the dealer updated all of their ads and brought the price up on this car by $2k (to their original asking price of $24888). This morning they had this car listed at $22888, and I had negotiated it down to $23k out the door (including 12% taxes, fees, etc.) before I did the PPI on it.

[Katu]

I shell out about $1400/yr for both the ///M and ZHP (full coverage insurance w/ a $250 deductable). I'm at work at the moment so when I get home I'll dig up the specifics of how much the ///M runs but I can say it's worth it for me to have both of these cars. Since getting my ZHP, I pretty much put less than 5k miles/yr on the ///M and do pretty much all the driving with my ZHP. So far this year, I have only put on 1,400 miles on the ///M and that was for the 2013 reunion meet at Dane's.

Not sure if I'm answering any questions here....just catching up since my name was brought into this thread

$1400/yr so about $117/month. I guess I was just wondering if both cars are covered the same (which it seems like they are), how much of that is the ZHP and how much is the M3? With so many variables for car insurance, the same driver insuring ZHP & M3 would give me a better idea of the insurance difference.

Somewhat unrelated but I'm currently paying $147/month or $1764/yr for the wife and I to insure both the ZHP and her 2012 Mazda 3. The Mazda 3 is $81/month and the ZHP is $65/month for identical insurance.

Thanks!