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Should I keep my car and fix it up?

T

TechBoyJK

Lifer
I'm trying to decide if I want to keep my car, pay it off, and hold on to it and have it be my "fun" car for the next 10 years, or sell it, get a nice sedan or something, and buy a nicer fun car in a few years (maybe a vette or something).

Granted, a new vette would run me close to $80k, so it would be cheaper just to keep my car and just upgrade it.

I'm thinking turbo, exhaust, chip, suspension, brakes, etc.

It's a 2004 bmw z4. I love the car, it's fun. I just turned over 70,000 miles though, and I'll probably hit 100k before I do anything to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA6w49BlShc
 
If it's not paid off I'd keep it until it's paid off. Once it's paid for it's your call, keep it or trade it in. I wouldn't keep it as a project car, in the long run it will probably cost you more than buying an $80k corvette when you factor in depreciation, upgrades will have almost no impact on resale value.
 
well if I fixed it up, it would be to just drive the hell out of it, probably until I run it into the ground or crash it. I'm thinking I could do a lot to the car to make it a 4.0 second 0-60 car for less than $25k.
 
TechBoyJK said:
well if I fixed it up, it would be to just drive the hell out of it, probably until I run it into the ground or crash it. I'm thinking I could do a lot to the car to make it a 4.0 second 0-60 car for less than $25k.
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Or you could buy a 4.0s car for less than that. 😀

If you like the car, keep it. I wouldn't mod it for power as that will just make it less reliable. Instead I'd spend money on HPDEs. Way more satisfying than imo.
 
Sounds like someone has been burned too many times at the stop light?

If all you want is easy power and 0-60 times, you're better off selling that car and buying a used car more suited to that purpose. C5 Z06, 03/04 Cobra, or similiar car in the $20-25k range and running around with 500+ RWHP.

To make a Z4 do that is going to cost a lot more, destroy the driveability of it, and still not keep up with the big dogs when it comes to stop lights and highway merges.

That said if you think you can take a high performance and/or modified car and drive it into the ground, you're better off doing nothing.
 
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Just keep the car. Remember that you won't get back what ever you spent on upgrading the car if you decide to sell it after. In the meantime, a chip, exhaust, and cold air intake wouldn't be bad.
 
BMW's are $$$ to mod, especially for extra power.

I don't even know what cars are a good performance/$ value in the UK. A Mini maybe? 😛

Seriously though, your Z4 isn't designed to be a high performance machine. The motor won't take to forced induction well since it is likely higher compression & doesn't have any forged internals. I don't know what the transmission gearing is like on that car, but if it's economy oriented you're going to be hurt by that period. Then even if you get the power out of it, you're going to be limited by how much tire you can run.

If you want to enjoy the car until you're ready to sell it, put some really good tires & lightweight rims on it. They will make a HUGE difference and can be easily sold separately when you're done. I'm talking like Bridgestone Potenza RE-11's.
 
You could even go for a Z4M certified for way less than that. I've seen some in the lower 30's high 20's. But you really need to pay off your current ride and save up a nice down payment before considering jumping into another loan.
 
Bl0cks said:
Just keep the car. Remember that you won't get back what ever you spent on upgrading the car if you decide to sell it after. In the meantime, a chip, exhaust, and cold air intake wouldn't be bad.
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All waste of money that could go towards paying off the car. I don't get the mod mentality some have with financed cars. Use the mod money to pay off the car faster. Once it's paid off, go at it and mod away. Worst is when I see people modding leased car. It's not even your car. It's borrowed.

7 yr old car and it's still not paid off. Granted he did buy used but I bet he's still upside down or have very little equity. You have to be willing to pay to play when you do performance mods. If you don't have the money to pay off the car, you don't have the money to repair it when things break. And things will break when you start heavy mods.
 
fbrdphreak said:
BMW's are $$$ to mod, especially for extra power.

I don't even know what cars are a good performance/$ value in the UK. A Mini maybe? 😛

Seriously though, your Z4 isn't designed to be a high performance machine. The motor won't take to forced induction well since it is likely higher compression & doesn't have any forged internals. I don't know what the transmission gearing is like on that car, but if it's economy oriented you're going to be hurt by that period. Then even if you get the power out of it, you're going to be limited by how much tire you can run.

If you want to enjoy the car until you're ready to sell it, put some really good tires & lightweight rims on it. They will make a HUGE difference and can be easily sold separately when you're done. I'm talking like Bridgestone Potenza RE-11's.
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96-99 MR2 Turbo? I'm not sure how long they had them over there, but I know it was past '95 (unlike the US, unfortunately).
 
If you like it, pay it off and keep it indefinitely. When you look at the total amount you spent versus the time you had it, the number will make a lot more sense than it does today. If you trade cars now or soon, you're likely to just lose a lot of money and keep spending too much.
 
sdifox said:
Techboy is from UK?

Wait don't you have trouble paying for new tyres?
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Not really.. It's just that I don't want to spend the money for new tires if I don't have to. Especially when I want to buy a nice set.

I wouldn't mod the car until AFTER it's paid off, honestly. And I was thinking some basic things.. exhaust, turbo, etc. but also suspension and braking. not really for straight line racing, but just to make it more fun and handle even better.

I don't know.. I'll just wait and see.
 
yea i would not mod that z4 untill its paid off. then figure out whats good for it. i'm almost done paying off my g35. i'm debating myself what do it. But it will be cheaper to do small mods that can be sold for close to what i paid for later down the road. like a set of USED coilovers. you might loose $200 if you wanted to sell them down the road. blower/ Turbo kit most likely will loose about half or more. a chip is stuck with the car. brakes can be sold for same as well.
 
TechBoyJK said:
Not really.. It's just that I don't want to spend the money for new tires if I don't have to. Especially when I want to buy a nice set.

I wouldn't mod the car until AFTER it's paid off, honestly. And I was thinking some basic things.. exhaust, turbo, etc. but also suspension and braking. not really for straight line racing, but just to make it more fun and handle even better.

I don't know.. I'll just wait and see.
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lol adding a turbo to a car should never be considered basic.
 
fbrdphreak said:
BMW's are $$$ to mod, especially for extra power.

I don't even know what cars are a good performance/$ value in the UK. A Mini maybe? 😛

Seriously though, your Z4 isn't designed to be a high performance machine. The motor won't take to forced induction well since it is likely higher compression & doesn't have any forged internals. I don't know what the transmission gearing is like on that car, but if it's economy oriented you're going to be hurt by that period. Then even if you get the power out of it, you're going to be limited by how much tire you can run.

If you want to enjoy the car until you're ready to sell it, put some really good tires & lightweight rims on it. They will make a HUGE difference and can be easily sold separately when you're done. I'm talking like Bridgestone Potenza RE-11's.
Click to expand...

PricklyPete said:
I'm pretty sure he's not. I believe he's made some posts about the St. Louis area...so I think that is where he is from.
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That is what I understood but fbrdphreak threw me off.
 
Sorry, I confused him with someone else who has posted about his BMW from time to time and is in the UK.

And mega +1 on adding a turbo to a car NOT being basic. On most naturally aspirated motors, it is a flat out waste. So are an intake and exhaust on most of the smaller displacement engines, at least if we're talking $/HP.

If you want to stop dicking around with performance, get a C5 Z06 for low 20's or C6 for low 30's and call it a day. BMW is NOT synonymous with performance value.
 
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