….Which of the following would you put your money on?

3 models of the same car, all have the same engine

A.) 61k miles, 53 plate but with better spec, but I'd have to drive 190 miles to see it. £8500 in silver

B.) 68k miles, 04 plate, poorer spec, but better colour (imo), far closer to me. £8500 in metallic grey.

C.) 43k miles, 53 plate, same spec as B. but same colour as A, same distance as B, £9000 again in silver.

I'm all kinds of confused :-/

It really depends on the car. If it's a BMW or Merc, people will want one with leather and an autobox, making a big difference to the resale value, so you want that one. If it's a toss up between a couple of Focuses and one has Cruise and a 12 speaker stereo and the other doesn't, then it matters much less.

Surely you've made enough money off n-dubz to get a new car anyway?

Shirley service history is a factor also.

How important is Grey compared to Silver?

If colour is more important than spec then B

Is it worth putting up with the poorer spec?

If you don't really care about the extra spec then it is C

Else it is A

I went through something similar last year. I wanted the spec with the panoramic roof and cruise control, but kept trying to convince myself to go without. I'm glad I didn't, so I'd go with the spec (but then I'm too trusting that all the mechanical and important bits are equally good)

Alright – It's a BMW Z4 3.0L. They're all manual gearboxes as it's the sort of car that i'd not really want an auto in.

[edit] They all have full BMW service history. A. has just had its class 2 inspection done within the month, B needs an oil service in 8000 miles and C, needs a class 1 inspection in 10000 miles.

Go with the spec not the colour would be my recommendation unless the spec extras are stuff you would never use.

I'd go and look at the latter 2 and see what condition they are really in, along with what service history and paperwork exists for them. I'd ask the first one about paperwork and history, but if neither of the closer ones suited on close inspection, go and look at the longer one.

The spec on the first one includes professional satellite navigation and bluetooth.

Bluetooth would be nice to have, but built in sat navs are a waste of time in my view. The updates cost a mint, and they're rarely as good as standalone like tomtom.

Ultimately, I'd go on condition and history if the spec isn't swaying you that much.

For each one, try to imagine how you'd feel if you phoned up the seller and he said "it's sold".

The one you'd feel most gutted about is the one to buy.

B or C. I would never do a 400mile round trip just to see a car I might buy

If colour is not an issue and all else is equal then i'd go for the lower mileage example

C. has just been sold, not too fussed, it was over my budget anyway and would've required haggling.

Is anyone of them the Nicky Clarke Special edition?

I doubt that a 3.0L straight six with 240+bhp and RWD can really be considered a hairdressers car….

The Z4 is far too butch to be a HD car…..besides which, I'm buying it for the wife. 😛

An MX5 is more fun to drive + comes with indicators as standard 🙂

FunkyDunc – Member
An MX5 is more fun to drive + comes with indicators as standard

Ahh, but I already drive a BMW so this indicators thing is just something that other people do. It confuses me….. it really does. 😉

I'd go with the one that had the features I wanted in a colour I liked at a price I could afford. Any reasonably old second hand car will go wrong at some point, so how it "feels" will help you understand how it's been treated if you're mechanically minded and you know they have FSH, so I'd err on the side of cheaper and expect a few bills.

Servicing costs on BMWs are very high. Tyres are expensive, and regularly eaten. Factor that in and you'll be fine with any of them, I'm sure. The engines have been around for donkeys years.

An MX5 is more fun to drive +

Hard to quantify that, isn't it? Having done a few rally training days, all the cars I used were fun to drive, but by far the least fun was the BMW RWD, the "closest to home" and the one I was most comfy and fast in was the scooby sti, but the most fun was probably the 1.4 peugeot 106!

Going to see car B this evening.

Daffy – really depends on what that "poorer" spec is. BMWs are pretty spec sensitive in terms of selling on but some "must haves" are a waste of time IMO.

I'd favour car B and must add that it's a damn fine car with sweet engine. Met grey is SO much nicer than silver for a Z4.

Oh and ignore the BM bashers here – they all drive crapped out Focuses and Mondeos 😆 😉

Servicing costs aren't too bad IMO. Yes my 335d service just cost over £400 but then I got four services (they split them now – oil service, brake service, etc) done at once.

BMs do eat tyres but then so does any powerful RWD/fun car. I'm getting around 8k miles from my rears – OUCH! Worth it though.

built in sat navs are a waste of time in my view. The updates cost a mint, and they're rarely as good as standalone like tomtom.

I feel the opposite. Built-in satnav is ace, whilst having crap stuck all over your window and wires trailing everywhere in your nice new car is crappy.

Plus they often (depending on the car) have better integration with the rest of your car. Like dead-reckoning so when you lose signal it still knows how fast you are going; VWs have a turn info display up front on the dash between the speedo and rev counter for easy viewing; they mute the stereo when giving directions; they mute the satnav directions when on the phone etc etc.

Toys do it for me. But that doesn't help the OP at all 🙂

Pre 09 Satnav in BMWs – waste of time. After that it got much better.

I hate satnav in cars – we live on a small Island and a map book is plenty. If I get lost (very, very rare) I use my GPS mobile.

Map books are ideal if you can read and drive at the same time. I've only got one pair of eyes tho, so I need them to see the road.

Can't be arsed with stopping all the time to read a map.

I have a strange thing called a memory. I repped all over the UK using a map book and never got lost – just planned the journey and remembered it.

And if Mrs Matt is in the car, she's a decent map reader.

I can also remember things. I don't remember the entire route in one go, unfortunately.

You calling me thick?

My E46 330ci has inbuilt sat nav and while not the best looking, it's NEVER got lost/confused and reroutes in seconds unlike previous TomToms and Navman stuff.

I can also remember things. I don't remember the entire route in one go, unfortunately.

You calling me thick?

Nope but you may not be borderline Aspergers like I think I am. Bizarre brain for remembering odd stuff like phone numbers, reg plates, strange numerical data and the like. I have sort of system for remembering stuff that rarely fails me. Except for when I'm pi55ed. Or for important stuff like remembering people's names.

I do have a tendency towards Aspergers I think, but not to any useful extend like memorising dozens of turnings. However it explains a lot to hear you describe yourself like that 🙂

[hijack]
When we were talking about fuel economy a while back and I said I got 55mpg on a trip out of my Passat, you thought the trip computer might be inaccurate. Well this last tank got a 51.8mpg average, and at the pump (same pump, same station) I calcualted 53mpg!
[/hijack]

Mol – others have noticed it too…

I therefore may be genuinely a bit mental… 😳

Yeah but I like you anyway 🙂

And you're not alone on here…

Okay: Well, Car B was lovely, drove really well had full BMWSH with recent brakes and tyres. The lack of toys does bother me a little though.

I'm going to go and look at a silver one in a local garage to see if I can get away with the colour.

What toys do you need?

I struggle to understand the need for "toys" in cars. A Z4 has loads as standard anyway. I bought a BMW to drive, not fiddle with!

Anyway each to their own – I'd just get the grey one and have fun driving it!

I'd like to have bluetooth and satnav to be honest, rear parking sensors would help the wife too as you can't see anything with the hood up.

Daffy – aren't rear parking sensors standard? They are on the 3 series.

Recent satnav is okay but pre 2009, it's a bit sh1te. Bluetooth can be handy but it's a rareish option.

Surf-Mat – Member
Daffy – aren't rear parking sensors standard? They are on the 3 series.

Weirdly no, I thought it was rather odd too.

Recent satnav is okay but pre 2009, it's a bit sh1te. Bluetooth can be handy but it's a rareish option.

It may not be as "pretty" as the more recent sat nav, but it is VERY handy when you need to find a shortcut as the map is right there on screen next to you. the 2005+ MKIV decoder gives full 3D mapping as well.

BMW satnav also doesn't allow full postcodes to be inputted. Unlike my mobile phone satnav… Loads of early Satnav issues on BMW forums. Improved when it went to a proper HDD format.

Lack of parking sensors on a car with a rather "pert" rear end is a bit daft.

The MkIV decoder allows for 7 digit postcodes to be input into the nav system.

Alright – It's a BMW Z4 3.0L. They're all manual gearboxes as it's the sort of car that i'd not really want an auto in.

tbh its the perfect car for an auto, more tourer than sports…

Also have a look at the prices of the auto versions, 'cos unless you are intending to run it into the ground you need to consider its resale price.

As for extras;
Sat-nav – do you really need it – doesn't your phone also do this
Bluetooth – nice for standard, but a Parrot is less than £200 fitted

Colour though is very important with a HD car, and does the hood colour match/contrast the body colour?

So does my (free on contract) mobile phone without a decoder.

All three cars sound similar.
Don't forget that condition of brakes (ie how lipped are the discs) and condition of tyres will have a big factor on value, but often little on resale cost. If one car needs 4 tyres and discs all round in next 12 months then thats £1000 plus!