Advice on purchasing COE cars (Z4)

[Mockngbrd]

26yr old with 80k-85k cash is very huat liao imo

Edited January 25, 2022 by Mockngbrd

[Throttle2]

5 minutes ago, Mockngbrd said:

26yr old with 80k-85k cash is very huat liao imo

He didnt say he has, he only say he is targetting coe car of that price.

thats why i estimate he will down$30k which is his life savings

[Mockngbrd]

5 minutes ago, Throttle2 said:

He didnt say he has, he only say he is targetting coe car of that price.

thats why i estimate he will down$30k which is his life savings

Ok la, 26yr old 30k cash also is also very huat. 

[Ganwb79]

13 hours ago, Roborovskii said:

Money is one concern. For a 2-seater, make sure it's always a 2nd car. If you get an older one, also make sure it has been regularly serviced for the past 2 years, with papers to prove. Else your car will spend more time at the workshop than on the roads (yes sometimes parts have to wait and it can sit for weeks). If such an unfortunate thing happens, you'd prolly get sick of it and start to wonder how much more stuff will keep falling apart. 😑

I second that. The 2 seater COE car is for the occasional flash and fun. Keep a more practical car around as your daily driver. 

[Voodooman]

25 minutes ago, Mockngbrd said:

Ok la, 26yr old 30k cash also is also very huat. 

My first car in SG was a 8 years old Toyota. Paid full cash, $18k but i was older than 26 years old.

Very tough for young people these days after introduction of all the vehicle taxes and COE. Really must pay through the nose just to own a car.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Voodooman

[Hamburger]

2 seater is really mafan unless it's a 2nd or 3rd car. 

I would luv to have a BMW cabriolet which looks pretty handsome. 

But my ultimate choice would be a Saab cabriolet. 

[Mkl22]

42 minutes ago, Comage said:

Yes lesson learnt for me - when taking over a used car, simply get all the possible wear and tear components and do a 1 x replacement with 1 downtime incurred. 

But need to ignore the workshop guy and insist to change out the part - coz sometimes you will see workshops refusing to swap out a part for you simply because they "see nothing wrong with it". 

That’s what I did. But no use. Still break and break. Ha!

[Voodooman]

1 hour ago, Comage said:

I totally understand what you are saying there, in the first 2 months of me buying a COE car, I was at the workshop every week for repairs. 

Dropped the transmission twice within 4 weeks just to get at various rubber seals that had hardened up one after another, causing engine oil leaks. Each transmission drop involved a complete flush of the AT fluid - my workshop guy has suggested retaining the drained out AT fluid and re-pouring it back, but I said screw it, just change fresh AT fluid for me.

The returning visits got really bad such that I started sourcing for the spare parts myself from stockist, and then bringing the part directly for my workshop guy to install so that I minimize downtime for my COE car. 

My first Conti was an 8 years old car, IIRC, howlian lah. Go WS until I shout tolong. Owned it for just 1 year and scraped it early. 

Instead of the car serving me, I was spending time and money on it but no amount of TLC was enough for that bitch. 😂

Need a lot of time, money and patience. I don't know how Mock does it. It must be a hobby to visit WS and fix things up.

[Volvobrick]

5 minutes ago, Hamburger said:

2 seater is really mafan unless it's a 2nd or 3rd car. 

I would luv to have a BMW cabriolet which looks pretty handsome. 

But my ultimate choice would be a Saab cabriolet. 

New 4 series looks quite good.  Still retains the control buttons and not full touch screen.  Not too oversize for local carparks.

 

Old car mai lah!  Unless it is a Quattro or Dino.

 

[Volvobrick]

3 minutes ago, Voodooman said:

My first Conti was an 8 years old car, IIRC, howlian lah. Go WS until I shout tolong. Owned it for just 1 year and scraped it early. 

Instead of the car serving me, I was spending time and money on it but no amount of TLC was enough for that bitch. 😂

Need a lot of time, money and patience. I don't know how Mock does it. It must be a hobby to visit WS and fix things up.

WS boss chio???

[Mkl22]

6 minutes ago, Voodooman said:

My first Conti was an 8 years old car, IIRC, howlian lah. Go WS until I shout tolong. Owned it for just 1 year and scraped it early. 

Instead of the car serving me, I was spending time and money on it but no amount of TLC was enough for that bitch. 😂

Need a lot of time, money and patience. I don't know how Mock does it. It must be a hobby to visit WS and fix things up.

Mine was a 15year old conti. Loved the power. But break and break. Always thought that I would spend and fix it right. But then 3mths later something else will break. Really no end. And me being anal, demanded that I couldn’t accept the flaw, so must fix. Oil leaks and seepages drove me crazy.

Bugbear of old Conti’s are oil leaks and seepages. Valve cover, then rear main seal. Then gearbox rear seal, then gearbox front seal, then crankshaft front seal. Knn no end. Then sooner or later will have power steering leaks, rear diff leaks. Oil cooler leaks. Basically everywhere with a rubber seal will leak. 
then next would be electrical gremlins as the wires and connectors get brittle with age and heat. 

Edited January 25, 2022 by Mkl22

[Throttle2]

40 minutes ago, Mockngbrd said:

Ok la, 26yr old 30k cash also is also very huat. 

Ok lah not very huat

[Optramagnum]

Back to the topic. My advice to TS is use that 85k to get PARF car instead. Since it is your first car, I assume you don't have much knowledge about car maintenance, buying a COE car will give you big headache. Unless you know the previous owner in person. Otherwise, acculmate some experience for first few years first. 

[Loki]

40 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

Mine was a 15year old conti. Loved the power. But break and break. Always thought that I would spend and fix it right. But then 3mths later something else will break. Really no end. And me being anal, demanded that I couldn’t accept the flaw, so must fix. Oil leaks and seepages drove me crazy.

Bugbear of old Conti’s are oil leaks and seepages. Valve cover, then rear main seal. Then gearbox rear seal, then gearbox front seal, then crankshaft front seal. Knn no end. Then sooner or later will have power steering leaks, rear diff leaks. Oil cooler leaks. Basically everywhere with a rubber seal will leak. 
then next would be electrical gremlins as the wires and connectors get brittle with age and heat. 

Same here.  I had a 6 year old conti and it was like that.  Gave up n sold it off

[Comage]

2 hours ago, Throttle2 said:

What car was that man!

A Toyota... Haha. I was the 3rd owner, and the vehicle had been used as a PHV before me. 

[Comage]

1 hour ago, Voodooman said:

My first car in SG was a 8 years old Toyota. Paid full cash, $18k but i was older than 26 years old.

Very tough for young people these days after introduction of all the vehicle taxes and COE. Really must pay through the nose just to own a car.

Very easy actually, Boss:

1. Change and use Chinese tyres costing $50 apiece instead of legit rubber that costs $100-$150 apiece. Tada! 

2. Change to red plate. Tada! 

3. If the above fails, tiap a blue label and go out after dinner every day to grab a few fares before turning in for the night! 

Sure can own a car one! 

[Mockngbrd]

1 hour ago, Voodooman said:

My first Conti was an 8 years old car, IIRC, howlian lah. Go WS until I shout tolong. Owned it for just 1 year and scraped it early. 

Instead of the car serving me, I was spending time and money on it but no amount of TLC was enough for that bitch. 😂

Need a lot of time, money and patience. I don't know how Mock does it. It must be a hobby to visit WS and fix things up.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't like going WS also. So most of the time I just leave my car at workshop in the evenings, give him my agar agar budget to work with and tell boss to call me when car is done, I usually won't chase them one. Then I take Bus/MRT/Grab in the meantime. Just buy knowing that things need to be fixed up so when it happens you don't feel much about it. 

tbh, my old BMWs have all been relatively reliable, so I always take what "ppl say" about their "unreliable" BMWs with a pinch of salt. Do they require more maintenance than a regular B&B Japanese/Korean car? Probably, yes. But if you want a car with Camry-like reliability, buy a Camry. If you treat (and drive) a BMW the same as you would a Toyota, don't be surprised if it breaks on you. Toyota (and other B&B) cars are built with a lot of tolerances for abuse by ppl who don't give a shit about cars, BMWs are built with performance and drivability in mind and need to be treated as such vehicles should.

My 318is initially took a while to sort out but after that, all good and I kept it the longest. Still miss that one the most, after all the work put in, it drove super sweeeeet and totally suited how I liked to drive, went through a few suspension variations on that one, Eibach springs with Bilstein shocks, then full Bilstein coilovers, then back to H&R springs with Bilstein shocks. threw in an original BMW LSD for good measure.
I do regret not waiting longer before buying the 318is though cos I could have had the chance to pick up and air-cooled 911 or even an AE86 for not much more $$$ hahahahaha! (This was back in 2009-2010 when no one wanted such old cars)

The E34 "5" was also reliable, only annoying issues I had was with the aircon compressors, replaced it twice during my ownership. Was about to replace the entire prop shaft but the parts never arrived in time before I sold the car off. I also miss driving that one but felt I needed to move on and try other cars.

The other 2 BMWs we had in the household previously, E87 116i and E88 120i Cab both never failed with proper regular maintenance. The 120i was lovely, dropped it on M-tech springs, Koni FSD shocks, 18" BBS Mesh wheels, great drive, just underpowered. Looked nice too IMO. 

My 2002 only 1 time failed to start on me cos of a failed distributor. Otherwise, the car starts every time. But now sitting in workshop in multiple pieces becos hand itchy. 

The only car that I can relate to being a piece of shit is the Alfa 159. Bought and sold fast fast cos I could see what was gonna happen: https://garage36.wordpress.com/2021/04/05/and-so-this-happened/

VW Polo GTi was also bought and sold quickly, could feel the DSG gb giving way. So got rid of it, didn't want to bother with the $$$ involved in fixing up a broken DSG. Otherwise it was a lovely (and surprisingly quick) little thing to drive around. 

The Toyota so far so good. Prob becos it's a Toyota. Lots of fun znng-ing. Now on Tein Coilovers, might throw on a Cusco LSD in future. 

The 944 I never considered it "my" car cos it was bought with the intention to sell it. Took a long time to sort but after that, seemed ok. Just had some problem starting the car again with heat-soak. Need to give it a bit of gas to get it going. Car is currently gone from what I know, through no fault of its own (nor the owner). 

Edited January 25, 2022 by Mockngbrd

[Mustank]

1 hour ago, Mkl22 said:

Mine was a 15year old conti. Loved the power. But break and break. Always thought that I would spend and fix it right. But then 3mths later something else will break. Really no end. And me being anal, demanded that I couldn’t accept the flaw, so must fix. Oil leaks and seepages drove me crazy.

Bugbear of old Conti’s are oil leaks and seepages. Valve cover, then rear main seal. Then gearbox rear seal, then gearbox front seal, then crankshaft front seal. Knn no end. Then sooner or later will have power steering leaks, rear diff leaks. Oil cooler leaks. Basically everywhere with a rubber seal will leak. 
then next would be electrical gremlins as the wires and connectors get brittle with age and heat. 

I think many things in life people prefer average performance with no problem than high performance but alot of problem