The ad for today’s BMW Z4 M Coupe presents the car as mechanically sound (and supercharged), but aesthetically challenged, suffering from hail damage. Let’s see if the divots also put a damper on the price.
In certain societies, being stout is a declaration of affluence. The we looked at yesterday was certainly a chonky boi. At a $34,900 asking, it also demanded a bit of affluence for its purchase. Per the results of the voting, most of you must have thought a diet was in order, seeing as the Hummer came in with a stunning 98 percent No Dice loss.
Do y’all remember the show, Mythbusters? One of the seminal episodes focused on whether the dimpled surface effect that supposedly makes golf balls cut through the air more effectively could be applied to cars. Amazingly, the test seemed to prove that it could.
Today’s has similar if less scientifically controlled dimpling all over its bodywork. That’s the result of hail, something the seller says happened when the prior owner had parked the car outdoors while having garage work done. From the seller’s explanation, the resultant dings and dents from the Texas-sized hail wasn’t an issue. The seller seems to have been down with it too. Perhaps, like Jamie and Adam’s test, these imperfections will, in fact, make the car go faster.
Even if the dents don’t, then the that has been bolted to the coupe’s S54 DOHC inline six most certainly will. From the factory, the 3.2-liter six was rated at 330 horsepower and 265 lb-ft of torque. According to the seller, this blown edition makes close to 500 horses at the wheels.
A good number of S54 pain points have also been addressed along with the supercharger, so overall it’s less likely for the engine to be a grenade. Along with the hot mill, this M Coupe sports the ZF six-speed manual and a few more standard M3 pieces under the skin than does its M Roadster cousin.
As noted, the pewter paint is marred by dents on all the horizontal surfaces. A lot of those could be addressed by a paintless dent removal service, but the cost of that could add up quickly, especially if access to the dents demands the removal of the parts underneath. On the plus side, the car looks nice otherwise, with reasonably clear headlamp lenses and a nice set of Style 224 alloys.
Everything looks to have held up well in the cabin too. The leather on the sport buckets, steering wheel and shifter all appear in perfectly serviceable shape. And, while the car initially appears old school, lacking any sort of infotainment screen, it’s from an era when such things were hidden behind a pop-up on the top of the dash.
The car comes with just 78,000 miles on the clock, a clean title, and the boast of over $26,000 having gone into its maintenance and upgrades. That, of course, includes the supercharger installation. New, that costs around nine grand in parts alone.
A note to prospective buyers — VF Engineering warns on its site that the supercharger kit applied to this car is not emissions-compliant and is intended for track use or for shits and giggles. The current tags and inspection this car is claimed to have means that the company’s warning may be less important in some places than in others.
With all that in mind, let’s now get down to this E86’s $36,000 price tag. That gets what’s described as a turn-key car with plenty of ponies and two original keys! Is that deal for an aesthetically-flawed but mechanically sound supercharged M Coupe? Or do the dents ding that price?
You decide!
Dallas, Texas, , or go if the ad disappears.
H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!
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