High owner M car

High owner M car

Author
Discussion

CSLmarson

Original Poster:

216 posts

202 months

Sunday 30th April 2023
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Hi all
Would an 120k mile, 11 owner 1999 car put you off buying It if it had been well looked after and serviced regularly????

Edited by CSLmarson on Sunday 30th April 19:49

VeeTenM

681 posts

121 months

Sunday 30th April 2023
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no

JD2329

489 posts

175 months

Thursday 4th May 2023
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I would prefer an example with less owners.
An owner’s driving style can be key to how a car feels - how carefully they have warmed it up, how often it’s been kerbed etc. The former point being especially relevant on an M car where higher revs on a cold engine can have a detrimental effect on rod bearings.
The more owners, the higher likelihood it has not been treated with the care it deserves.
I would try and establish whether it has actually had that many owners and not just been transferred from a company to private individual on a few occasions.

survivalist

5,865 posts

197 months

Thursday 4th May 2023
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Would depend on the model for me. Some models are ones that people want to own, but are expensive to run and/or impractical, so people tend to move them on after they’ve enjoyed the experience for a bit.

On stuff like the E36/46/39 I’d me more worried about rust than anything else.

Steve Barrett

328 posts

145 months

Thursday 4th May 2023
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24 year old car condition is more important than anything...... 11 decent owners who garaged the car and looked after it like a new born baby or 1 owner who used it every day to pop 1/2 mile down the road to get a paper and left it out in all weathers. These old BMs suffer from the dreaded tin worm so a solid car imo is far more important

Mr Tidy

24,313 posts

134 months

Thursday 4th May 2023
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I bought a 2006 one in 2019 that had 7 former keepers, so it didn't put me off!

Condition, history (and price) were more important to me.

andyman_2006

732 posts

197 months

Friday 5th May 2023
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As others have said condition, history, mileage, price, all more important.

My 2002 E46 M3 had 3 owners in 3 years when it was new, I’ve had it since 2008, and I’m the 5th owner.

As we know (look at new cars now) people change cars often, also some cars are registered by a dealer (demo) some cars stay in the same family father, son, daughter etc, adds owners in the logbook but same family.

You see it now with mclarens quite young cars within 4/5 owners, almost changing each year.

I’d rather have multiple owners who are enthusiasts than one owner who isn’t.

Once a car gets to a certain age, like a classic car number of owners starts to become sort of irrelevant, it’s not often anyone buying a 50 year old Etype cares about if it’s had 5 or 11 owners, it’s more about what condition and what maintenance or in the jag case restoration work!

The online MOT history is also a very useful tool, and you can often tell owner changes by service book (changes from having lots of regular services at the same place, to missing a few or having a non specialist or main agent)

In an ideal world we all want a 1 owner car, full main dealer or specialist history every year, in mint condition at this age those cars are like unicorns, and likely priced accordingly ..

Best of luck.

CSLmarson

Original Poster:

216 posts

202 months

Friday 5th May 2023
quotequote all
Thanks for all your helpful comments,
I pulled the trigger last night
2 full service books and every receipt for all the work done on it over the years. It’s absolutely immaculate inside and out and has been clearly loved.


andyman_2006

732 posts

197 months

Friday 5th May 2023
quotequote all
CSLmarson said:
Thanks for all your helpful comments,
I pulled the trigger last night
2 full service books and every receipt for all the work done on it over the years. It’s absolutely immaculate inside and out and has been clearly loved.

Looks really nice, well done, don’t think your original post mentioned it was a Z3MC! To be fair, that didn’t matter principle same whatever the car.

Always fancied one of those, in Imola red or Dakar yellow.

You should be very happy with that! Enjoy the summer driving it! driving

Chunkychucky

6,083 posts

176 months

Friday 5th May 2023
quotequote all
CSLmarson said:
Thanks for all your helpful comments,
I pulled the trigger last night
2 full service books and every receipt for all the work done on it over the years. It’s absolutely immaculate inside and out and has been clearly loved.

'GAN', was that registered by BMW GB/BMW UK (whatever the f**k they're called now) when new? Had an E36 M3 with the same suffix and that had been ordered/delivered to them, had the option of 'Press Preparation' on the spec sheet, still no idea what it was.

Lovely looking car, hope you enjoy it!

CSLmarson

Original Poster:

216 posts

202 months

Friday 5th May 2023
quotequote all
Yea was a press car along with the PH brave pill a while back!
Seems very well cared for though so looking forward to getting to know it.
Cheers

VeeTenM

681 posts

121 months

Friday 5th May 2023
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E-bmw

9,971 posts

159 months

Saturday 6th May 2023
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Well done, looks nice.

Too late now but my 2p would be that M cars are a thing that many aspire to & covet and only when they own one do they realise that the costs involved & the opportunity to lose their licence override the ownership experience and feel the need to move on early, so they can have high ownership numbers.

Mr Tidy

24,313 posts

134 months

Saturday 6th May 2023
quotequote all
CSLmarson said:
Thanks for all your helpful comments,
I pulled the trigger last night
2 full service books and every receipt for all the work done on it over the years. It’s absolutely immaculate inside and out and has been clearly been loved.
That looks fantastic - congratulations. thumbup