Hey guys, I'm still considering a Z4 come springtime. I've wanted one for-ever, since they came out in 2003. With a budget near $40k (but definitely not over), I would be looking at used/CPO.
A few questions:
1) Has anyone had any experience buying from an enthusiast dealership by the name of Diamond Motorworks in Illinois? Their prices seem great and they are plenty fine with taking any car in for a PPI at a place of your choice. I do not believe their prices are negotiable.
www.diamondmotorworks.com
I'm looking at the red '11 30i for $32,800 (I may have posted about that one a few months ago), which seems like a great price, but the car is not CPO since Diamond is not a BMW dealer. Does anyone have experience with this dealership (it's 500 miles from home for me), or, what are your thoughts buying a non-CPO car? Would I be better off just buying from a BMW dealer that took the car in on trade and saw no reason to reject it and send it to auction? Whenever I see a nice car at a non-BMW dealer, I always wonder how it ended up in an auction instead of on a BMW dealer's lot (granted a lot of time people just plain switch brands and the new dealer (say a guy traded it in on a new Ford Explorer) doesn't want the car on their lot so runs it through auction) and then I get skeptical, wondering if my skepticism is justified?
2) Anything to avoid on '11+ Z4s? Any models that have particular issues or that should be avoided? I know 135i owners are prone to $7k turbo replacements, are 35i E89 owners subject to the same? I know the 296 wheels should be avoided due to cracks, what else? Any reason to get a 28i instead of a 30i? Or should a '12 28i be avoided since it was the first year of the 2.0?
I know it's lots of questions, but I'd hate to shell out $30k-$40k for a car and find out it had been hit or get stuck with massive repair bills.