dumb idea¿

[rusty_sojah]

is buying a 42,000 mile 2016 m4 comp (manual trans & convertible) for $40k a dumb idea?

it is the exact specification I am after but the 42,000 miles is really putting me off. plus at 40k dollars (which i can afford but not sure i should afford) i feel like it might be a dumb idea. i've wanted the m4 comp since i saw it come out, but man if this car doesn't last me at least 4-5 years and hopefully without needing 10k of maintenance i will feel so stooopid. if it were a toyota with known reliability and known high mileage i would feel a little better, you know.

i just sold a 2011 335is (N54) which needed about $6k in maintenance in 3 years (not cool), and I sold it at 40,000 miles for $20k. i loved driving that modded e93 IS and think i will enjoy the m4 comp even more, but just don't want to jump back into another car that will likely cost thousands every year in maintenance.

i can't see myself putting more than 7k miles a year on it so say in 4 years it has 70k miles what will that look/feel like? what will the resale look like on a 2016 m4 comp with 70k miles in 2025?? is it reasonable to hope to be able to sell for 20k?? maybe 15k?? i know no one has a crystal ball, or at least i haven't found one yet... but i like to run off of fairly safe assumptions, and if i can safely assume baring no major freak occurrences that a properly cared for m4 comp won't require boat loads of cash/maintenance for things that only expensive mechanics can do, and i can still hope to get back 15-20k for it in say 4 years time then i feel more comfortable with this choice.

what say the car gurus, and thanks for humoring me?



-b

[swagon]

Only things you have to look out for that aren't typical BMW engine issues (e.g., water pump, valve cover gaskets, oil filter pan & housing gaskets, split coolant tanks) - leaking charge air cooler (sit on top of the engine), there were some 2016 cars recalled for differentials I believe, and that's about it from the top of my head. You'll see the word crank hub mentioned a lot in the engine sections by those that tune their engines.

Make sure car has full dealer history; it should have had spark plugs replaced once as per schedule. Deferred maintenance is great only if you've got a YouTube channel.

If you were put off by N54 maintenance, this S55 is largely based on the N55 which is more reliable than N54/N54Ts - there's quite a lot of high-mileage cars out there by now - but it's still an expensive BMW at the end of the day... Maybe think about getting some kind of warranty.

[TimmyM56]

Personally, I think that price is a bit high for that mileage of an M4, but it's been a while since I looked at the market since I bought my car last year.

I bought my M4 coupe/manual for $37,500 with 48K miles and didn't feel scared at all with the mileage and how it's going to be my daily. The cars are very reliable for a BMW, with people hitting 200K miles on them already. I'm not worried about the crankhub since I'm not tuning it so my concerns are the battery when it dies out in a couple of years and the charge air cooler, two simple DIY fixes I can personally do. Again that's based on the previous owner and how they took care of the car before you.

I don't see the mileage being an issue, but I don't have a crystal ball to know how much my car or yours will be worth in a couple of years. M cars will always have more value than non-M cars so I wouldn't think that would be unreasonable. Convertibles don't hold their value as well as coupes, but since the new model is a soft top instead of your hard top, it might be worth more, but I don't know how treads will be in a couple of years.

I hope that helps.

[BlackF82]

BMW cars are not cheap and M cars are not cheap man. I replaced a rear diff bushing, oil change, diff oil change and balance 4 tires was near $1,500 if I remember correctly. They are fun until they need maintenance or break down.

The pay to play is real.

[bsmf8x]

Originally Posted by BlackF82

BMW cars are not cheap and M cars are not cheap man. I replaced a rear diff bushing, oil change, diff oil change and balance 4 tires was near $1,500 if I remember correctly. They are fun until they need maintenance or break down.

The pay to play is real.

Oil change diff oil & balance should be under $500 .. with OEM fluids at a reputable Indy not sure how much the rear diff bushing costs but unless it's a 1k job you got ripped off.

OP, I have a 2016 m4 and had a valve cover gasket leak at 40k (extremely common at 50k miles ish). Not sure how much that costs if anyone wants to chime in but it was fixed under warranty.

[BlackF82]

Originally Posted by bsmf8x

Oil change diff oil & balance should be under $500 .. with OEM fluids at a reputable Indy not sure how much the rear diff bushing costs but unless it's a 1k job you got ripped off.

OP, I have a 2016 m4 and had a valve cover gasket leak at 40k (extremely common at 50k miles ish). Not sure how much that costs if anyone wants to chime in but it was fixed under warranty.

Oil change, rear diff fluid replace, balance and the bushing were under $500.

Your missing the most important part, labor for the diff bushing replacement, which requires an entire rear subframe to be disassembled.

BMW dealership quoted me 2k just for the rear diff and labor, so idk if I got ripped off is accurate.

[rusty_sojah]

thanks for the reply's. my first z4 and my prev 335is both needed the VCG done and i got to do the 335is VCG with a friend so that was fun to learn and cheap to do, but definitely don't want to do it by myself.

i get the pay to play but for my 335is i didn't anticipate having to redo just about every gasket on the whole damn car.

great points about checking service records and warranty info though.

the plan is to have the m4 in Okinawa Japan and I don't recall there being ANY INDY BMW mechs out there. i mean one guy claimed to be but i am not sure he had even worked on many. there is a bmw stealership out there but as i recall they quoted me hundreds just for a battery replacement. not to mention the 5 or 6 hundred they wanted for plugs/coils to replace that literally took me 20 mins to do.

also did my n54 plugs/coils myself and saved a lot. not sure how easy the plugs are to swap on the m4 though as I have never looked it up yet. prolly need another spark plug socket since bmw likes to change them up with each gen vehicle too.

i can do easy stuff like plugs/coils/intake/CP installs, wheels/tires and raising/lowering coilovers. but not so much diffs and crank hubs...

the plan would be to do coilovers, downpipes/midpipes, intake, and tune (BM3).

[bsmf8x]

Originally Posted by BlackF82

Oil change, rear diff fluid replace, balance and the bushing were under $500.

Your missing the most important part, labor for the diff bushing replacement, which requires an entire rear subframe to be disassembled.

BMW dealership quoted me 2k just for the rear diff and labor, so idk if I got ripped off is accurate.

Never mind I said unless the rear diff bushing a 1k job, which it was.