Dude... Zinc coated rotors... google it.

Zinc coated rotors won't rust on the edges. Most Euro cars come stock w/ them & many aftermarket "drilled" or "slotted" rotors will be zinc coated. Apparently those rotors have been replaced w/ non-zinc coated rotors.

Google people... Google.

 

Well, I finally have a dealer who might be willing to sell me a Black BMW Z4 3.0 (Manual) with Aluminum trim and 28,000 miles for $16,000... it is a trade-in and not in a BMW dealership.

One thing that worries me about the 2003 model is this reliability rating on the engine:

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Re...e=BMW&model=Z4

Should I take this reported possible defect seriously and look for a later model?
Anything I should check up on in it's service history before making the purchase?

On another note, there is a 2005 BMW Z4 2.5 with 49,000 miles currently offered for $14,500... (automatic) anyone think that's a better deal than the 2003 because it's a later model even if it is a 2.5?

I do prefer an automatic for convenience but it's not a big deal.

 

I wouldn't just take MSN's (computer nerds) word for it... have you checked out any other sites for info on the coil prob? Like ACTUAL BMW sites? dtmpower.net is a goodie. You could also check w/ BMW to see if that problem has been addressed on that car.

 

I use that MSN autos alot, and I do keep running into a ton of cars that have all kinds of reliability issues. So I'm not sure how accurate it is. Every car is bound to have issues at some point. Just like how some models of the same Make, year, and model may fail at 10k miles and others go to 100k with absolutely no issues.

 

280gty... what happened to the orig Z4 you were looking at back in July?

 

The first (2003) Z4 was sold by that dealership... I don't know for how much.

The last (2004) Z4 I looked at with the Orange discs is still available from the private owner... and I think the amount of orange oxidation was more of a photographic issue since he sent me large pics of each wheel and they looked clean.

Problem is that he increased his price from mid $18,000 OBO to mid $19,000, and said he wasn't in a hurry to sell anymore, so I told him I'll do some more shopping... but I suspect he wanted to negotiate down from a higher price.
Value is only going to get lower as time goes by but I might offer him $18,000 maximum if I don't find anything else.

On the defective coils issue on MSN where defective coils needed replacement, the CARFAX for this 2003 Z4 shows only standard checkup, maintenance services, so coils have not been replaced in the past.

I'll need to do more research.

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