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It’s taken me far too long to get this thread up so time to introduce the new crown jewel in my garage. I had an amazing 3 years with the E92 M3 (http://www.backroads.ie/forums/showt...lpine-White-M3) it was a very special car to own and by the end of last summer I completed it as a project. I believe I made it the best version of itself without deviating too far from stock. At that point I assumed I would then enjoy it for the next few years as I had spent a considerable amount on it….. until Peter-E36 messaged me on here and convinced me to part with it! I hope Peter has many happy miles with it as I did.
I didn’t have a new car lined up but it was a Nissan R35 GTR that I was hoping to go for next. However, after endless research a number of things put me off the GTR and I then started looking at BMW M4s. The accessible aftermarket configurability of the M4 really sucked me in, I will go into this later in more detail but basically an M4 is a blank canvas that can be endlessly tweaked if you are a bit of a geek.
My criteria was:
I had enquired about 4 separate cars for sale in the UK but all sold within the enquiry stage. It seems the earlier cars with medium-high spec sell very quickly, this was in January so things may be different now. I’d almost given up when a private sale 2014 Yas Marina Blue M4 with 32,000 miles went up for sale in the North – I messaged the seller for the VIN to get a list of the spec and the option list returned was massive I couldn’t believe it, far beyond any of the other cars I’d found. So long story short I got a lift up north and did the deal. The seller was a proper enthusiast and the car was in great condition.
Here it is the next morning after I picked it up (I've better pics for the later updates):
The spec is very impressive, I found the UK options list for 2014 so here is a breakdown of the non-standard M4 options along with the cost.
M Double Clutch Transmission with Drive Logic £2,645
Sun protection glass £266
Sliding front armrest £140
Icon Adaptive LED headlights £1600
High beam assist £150
Surround view £500
TV function £925
M-heads-up display £925
Harman Kardon sound system £675
Internet £96
Speed limit display £220
Advanced parking package (reversing assist camera, park assist) £545
Active security package (Dynamic safety, lane change warning, driving assistant) £955
Individual interior trim piano black £375
Full merino leather upholstery £2915
There’s a lot of options here and when compared against the 2014 options list it is actually most of the list. The above comes to £12,932. The TV function in particular is pretty excessive, it appears to support Saor view – I can pick up all the usual Irish channels. Good maybe if you’re stuck in the car waiting for someone? The full merino leather is a beautiful option adding leather to the dash, instrument cluster and the upper door-cards.
Anyway that is the intro. I have lots more to come and have already completed a number of pre-lockdown enhancements including a full detail.
I didn’t have a new car lined up but it was a Nissan R35 GTR that I was hoping to go for next. However, after endless research a number of things put me off the GTR and I then started looking at BMW M4s. The accessible aftermarket configurability of the M4 really sucked me in, I will go into this later in more detail but basically an M4 is a blank canvas that can be endlessly tweaked if you are a bit of a geek.
My criteria was:
- It had to be Yas Marina Blue – I love this colour!
- It had to be an early car as I don’t see the value in the adjustments made on the later cars due to the configurability of this platform which I will focus on later.
- I didn’t care about warranty as it can feel a bit like a noose around your neck wondering what reason BMW will reject a warranty request.
- There are a lot of options available on this generation. A lot of M4s for sale have low-medium specs most missing one of the few must haves. Icon Adaptive LED headlights, HUD, surround parking cameras and the Harman Kardon sound system were absolute must haves for me – only 4 items from the large options list available for the M4 but actually quite a difficult combo to easily find.
I had enquired about 4 separate cars for sale in the UK but all sold within the enquiry stage. It seems the earlier cars with medium-high spec sell very quickly, this was in January so things may be different now. I’d almost given up when a private sale 2014 Yas Marina Blue M4 with 32,000 miles went up for sale in the North – I messaged the seller for the VIN to get a list of the spec and the option list returned was massive I couldn’t believe it, far beyond any of the other cars I’d found. So long story short I got a lift up north and did the deal. The seller was a proper enthusiast and the car was in great condition.
Here it is the next morning after I picked it up (I've better pics for the later updates):
The spec is very impressive, I found the UK options list for 2014 so here is a breakdown of the non-standard M4 options along with the cost.
M Double Clutch Transmission with Drive Logic £2,645
Sun protection glass £266
Sliding front armrest £140
Icon Adaptive LED headlights £1600
High beam assist £150
Surround view £500
TV function £925
M-heads-up display £925
Harman Kardon sound system £675
Internet £96
Speed limit display £220
Advanced parking package (reversing assist camera, park assist) £545
Active security package (Dynamic safety, lane change warning, driving assistant) £955
Individual interior trim piano black £375
Full merino leather upholstery £2915
There’s a lot of options here and when compared against the 2014 options list it is actually most of the list. The above comes to £12,932. The TV function in particular is pretty excessive, it appears to support Saor view – I can pick up all the usual Irish channels. Good maybe if you’re stuck in the car waiting for someone? The full merino leather is a beautiful option adding leather to the dash, instrument cluster and the upper door-cards.
Anyway that is the intro. I have lots more to come and have already completed a number of pre-lockdown enhancements including a full detail.
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