[MadBullogna]

Heya folks. Been lurking here for a bit & finally joined, and what better first post than ask for thoughts, lol.

Spouse & I have been looking at adding a second vehicle, (I WFH, so we’ve been just fine with our ‘21 Acura RDX), and we both agreed we wanted something different if we bite the bullet. I’ve never owned a euro car before, just never ventured to this side, /shrug. That is, until we started looking at adding a two-seater to the garage. And low & behold, we discovered the beauty of the Z4!

We’ve met with & been thinking of ordering from our local dealer, especially once the manual option is opened up, (though I shudder the thought of teaching my husband to drive stick in a car at this level, hah). However, I’m also keeping an eye on the used market to help the logic side of my brain a bit happier about the typical initial depreciation of any car once you drive off the lot.

Located a ‘23 M40i, PB ext, Blk Vernasca int, Premium, Driving Assist, Ext Shadowline & Active CC packages, along with Wireless Charging (meh, lol) at a BMW dealer out of state….The only things it’s missing that we’d prefer if ordering would be different rims (it’s got the 800M Cerium, we’d go black), and the HK audio, though we were also leaning towards Thundernight paint too.

Specced out new on the web (granted it’s for a ‘24 now) = $74,045 (inc D&H). This one is listed at $62,991. Here’s the kicker. Mileage is 879. Yes, 879 lol. Carfax shows sold in May ‘23, sold back to same dealer Nov ‘23. It is NOT being offered as CPO, but I believe the reason (and where my minor concern lays) is it was registered as ‘Commercial’. My mind wants to believe it was some exec’s car from his employer as a perk, (my father used to always have various Co cars for 6-12 months at a time when he was an exec too), and I’d still benefit from the almost 3.5 years & 49k mile remaining factory warranty. (I’m assuming I could still extend at some point even not as the original owner too?)

Appreciate any thoughts on if this is a potential decent deal, or if something stands out where I should be more cautious.

Unrelated - Horseman, your YouTube of going from your S30i to the M40i helped us greatly, haha. Hello from tad north of y’all!

[RigaTony1982]

I mean, that’s an awesome price assuming everything checks out. Wheels would be easy enough to swap out too if it bothered you enough.

HK on this car seems to be controversial. Some people (myself included) like it, others don’t feel it’s worth the upgrade. @Horseman owned a car with both stereo’s and seems to prefer the base system.

[MisanoblueZ4]

Congratulations on the upcoming purchase! lol

Couple notes, rims are $$$$. You may be able to find someone willing to trade with you.

This may not be a CPO just due to being so new and having so much of the original warranty left…the added cost of CPO designation may not be worth it. On the other hand the selling dealer finance guy would likely try to upsell an extension of warranty or service at the time of sale.

[Horseman]

If my videos helps even ONE person to make an informed decision, then the goal is met, so this is fantastic news! Thank you for the feedback.

Honestly, the deal actually sounds quite good. Of course, there's always that, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. I'd check out the CarFax, make sure it all checks out, give it a good test drive, listen for things, do a good function check (i.e. top, lights, brakes, different drive modes, windows, listen to the engine with the hood open ... all that good stuff)

Portimao Blue is such a fantastic color, and honestly so is Thundernight. One thing to note is do not go in with any regrets. That was one thing I did with my 30i, as much as I loved that car, it just wasn't exactly what I wanted.

Sounds like a fantastic spec and definitely not a deal to sleep on. Similarly, the first time I went shopping for a Z4 I found one at a CarMax with 4,000 miles on it for a similar price, but at the time it was just outside of what we were willing to spend.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by Horseman

Honestly, the deal actually sounds quite good. Of course, there's always that, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. I'd check out the CarFax, make sure it all checks out, give it a good test drive, listen for things, do a good function check (i.e. top, lights, brakes, different drive modes, windows, listen to the engine with the hood open ... all that good stuff)

“Too good to be true” is rule #1 when buying a used car. My daughter-in-law purchased a car from Carmax and the report they showed her said the car was clean and never in an accident. She took the car to her local mechanic, he took a quick look at the car and immediately told her that the car had definitely been in an accident which had never been reported to Carfax. She immediately brought the car back under their return policy and received a refund.

You never know for sure so you should always have a good shop you trust check out a used car for any hidden issues.

[SpeedyATL]

No, I don't think the deal is too good to be true. That's pretty much what the story was with mine when I bought it 10 months ago - a '22 M40 with 2.5k miles and I paid $62.5 back when the market was a bit hotter.

No disrespect to anyone here, but in my search I found the blue cars to be comparatively plentiful and often the lowest price. Read into that what you will.

If you like the car, go for it. If something's not perfect, wait. The car market is changing fast, but note that as spring rolls around, you might face an uptick in demand/price for nice examples with low miles.

[Balr14]

I'd buy it for that amount. As for the wheels, they all look good on a Z4. The only reason I would replace the wheels are to get some that are much lighter. If you are concerned about the stereo, you are probably buying the wrong car.

[MisanoblueZ4]

Originally Posted by SpeedyATL

No, I don't think the deal is too good to be true. That's pretty much what the story was with mine when I bought it 10 months ago - a '22 M40 with 2.5k miles and I paid $62.5 back when the market was a bit hotter.

No disrespect to anyone here, but in my search I found the blue cars to be comparatively plentiful and often the lowest price. Read into that what you will.

If you like the car, go for it. If something's not perfect, wait. The car market is changing fast, but note that as spring rolls around, you might face an uptick in demand/price for nice examples with low miles.

I totally disagree with the color comment as it was absolutely not the case when looking for a used Z4 in this past September.

So I just did a 500 mile search on cars.com with all used 2019+Z4’s regardless of trim.

Here is the breakdown:
19 black, 19 white, 10 silver, 8 red, 7 Grey(matte finish), 7 Blue, 1 purple.

Blue is tied for 2 least common color with matte grey.

Top 10 lowest cost Z4’s used: 4 black, 2 silver, 2 red, 2 white.

No feelings, just facts. As of 1/5/24.

For the OP she is looking at one of the rarer colors on a Z4. Shouldn’t surprise anyone the most common colors are White/Black/Silver.

[RigaTony1982]

Unless you have some really crazy, off the wall color I don't think it has much of an impact.

IMO, I prefer the colors to the black/white/gray that everything seems to be.

[Horseman]

Going to BMWUSA and look up used Z4 and you see alot of gray/black/white, not so much the other colors (at least not as much).

Portimao Blue, Misano Blue and ... forgot the other blue name are much harder to find, especially the latter.

I see the one that the OP was looking at too.

[RigaTony1982]

Originally Posted by Horseman

Going to BMWUSA and look up used Z4 and you see alot of gray/black/white, not so much the other colors (at least not as much).

Portimao Blue, Misano Blue and ... forgot the other blue name are much harder to find, especially the latter.

I see the one that the OP was looking at too.

Yeah, doesn't surprise me. Most people just buy off dealer lots and dealers tend to stock stuff in those "safe colors." Creates this circle where everything else is tough to find unless it's an order.

[Wynnsiensheng]

Originally Posted by MisanoblueZ4

I totally disagree with the color comment as it was absolutely not the case when looking for a used Z4 in this past September.

So I just did a 500 mile search on cars.com with all used 2019+Z4’s regardless of trim.

Here is the breakdown:
19 black, 19 white, 10 silver, 8 red, 7 Grey(matte finish), 7 Blue, 1 purple.

Blue is tied for 2 least common color with matte grey.

Top 10 lowest cost Z4’s used: 4 black, 2 silver, 2 red, 2 white.

No feelings, just facts. As of 1/5/24.

For the OP she is looking at one of the rarer colors on a Z4. Shouldn’t surprise anyone the most common colors are White/Black/Silver.

Isn’t it tied 3rd least popular color? No SSG at all? 😁

Sorry, it’s nit picking and in any case SSG is new to this year I believe, so of course there aren’t many pre owned on the market. The point you are making with regard to blue is well made. 🙏

[MisanoblueZ4]

Originally Posted by Wynnsiensheng

Isn’t it tied 3rd least popular color? No SSG at all? 😁

Sorry, it’s nit picking and in any case SSG is new to this year I believe, so of course there aren’t many pre owned on the market. The point you are making with regard to blue is well made. 🙏

Cars.com color filter at work, they lump in some of the sub colors together ie: Mianso and Portimao are just (blue)…..SSG/SS is (silver) etc.
But yes breaking down the sub colors would make certain ones even harder to find in comparison to Black/White

Anyways off topic lol

[MadBullogna]

E; screw it, we talked into the night, then reached out to our local dealer this morning. On their list, third in line as they receive their allocations, no deposit until claiming and submitting. Works for us (now comes the wait to sign off on a build sheet, followed by production & delivery. Oh well, plenty of time to read up & plan adventures).

Thanks to all who commented, greatly appreciated. I think we’re going to mull it over this weekend and do the old school pros/cons list thing.

While I feel it’s a good deal, jumping into something at this price point needs to be right for us. Think ‘we’ (lol) need to determine just how much I’d like having a manual again, if buying at MSRP is worth a new order, and whether we’d truly be happy long-term missing a particular option.

After seeing a couple of posts with more possible info about the manual, I need to reach out to the SA we met with & see where we’d be on the list once the configurator is loaded and they open up orders. (And try to get a better feel for their allocation history to ensure we’d get one, as they don’t appear to handle many, versus looking at Houston & DFW dealers that have small amounts both in-stock & in-transit).

Wish we knew what new colors were going to be too. I think it was the Motor Trend article claiming the MT would get two green options, which I assume would be the frozen splashed all over, and then…. (wouldn’t mind Isle of Man in lieu of going Thundernight, )

Sigh, adulting is a PITA at times, hah.

[Horseman]

Adulting is very very hard especially when it comes to toys.

However, the Pros/Cons listing to help you make an informed decision is crucial IMO. Never a bad idea to sit there and put them to the scales.

MT is fun... but don't get me wrong, we ain't gettin any younger. Impact to knees, ankles and hands are the reason why "I" personally don't go with a manual transmission. NOt fun when every shift of the gears hurt.

Wish you the best of luck during the purchase and the wait. There are plenty of threads here to kind of give you an idea to the wait time. If you're interested I can go dig up my old ones. (I had two as I bought this car twice lol)

[Westside Guy]

The ZF8 transmission is perfectly matched to the M40i. 👍🏻

[MadBullogna]

I don’t mind, and in fact miss, shifting. That said, if I wasn’t planning to stay remote/if this was a daily, I’d likely not care and go for the tried & true aspects of the AT. (My last MT was a used C5 Z06, ‘04 if I recall, so quite some time). This could also just be an early midlife crisis talking,

I’m not too worried about lead time for an allocation nor production/boat ride, surprisingly. Don’t get me wrong, the wait will still suck, but I’ll hit my 45th in Aug, (along with a couple small quarterly bonuses that means I may not have to touch my ESPP), so it’ll get here when it does. But when it does….

[stlcdr]

Originally Posted by Horseman

Adulting is very very hard especially when it comes to toys.

However, the Pros/Cons listing to help you make an informed decision is crucial IMO. ...

If it's a toy, does a pros/cons list apply? 'Because I want it' has a weighting, but how much?

Of course it's a big financial decision, regardless - rich (sic) people don't get and stay rich by buying 'toys'...).

[MadBullogna]

I’d love a toy like this! Lol. For our particular case, it’s a mixture of fun, but also for a second vehicle in the household after several years of dropping down to one. (I wfh normal 8-5, but spouse works second shift, so I’m kinda fubar’d if I’d like to run an errand, etc without planning). But….why not have a ‘toy’ that’s also practical, that’s my motto, hehe.

(One day I’ll consider us ‘rich’, one day….not, lol.)

[MisanoblueZ4]

Originally Posted by MadBullogna

I’d love a toy like this! Lol. For our particular case, it’s a mixture of fun, but also for a second vehicle in the household after several years of dropping down to one. (I wfh normal 8-5, but spouse works second shift, so I’m kinda fubar’d if I’d like to run an errand, etc without planning). But….why not have a ‘toy’ that’s also practical, that’s my motto, hehe.

(One day I’ll consider us ‘rich’, one day….not, lol.)

For a vert roadster the trunk is pretty usable, double the size of say a Miata or F Type. I take it for Costco/grocery runs.
for a 2 door 2 person vert it’s probably one of if not thee most practical on the market.

[Horseman]

Trunk is VERY sizable even compared to some cars. Really impressed with it. Especially since the top doesn't take up any trunk space when down either.

[RigaTony1982]

Originally Posted by Horseman

Trunk is VERY sizable even compared to some cars. Really impressed with it. Especially since the top doesn't take up any trunk space when down either.

I've easily fit two carry on bags plus some other stuff we bought when we went out of town awhile back. Was pleasantly surprised.