M Roadster Buyers Guide

This week’s overview of what’s happened in the M Coupe market.

Currently Listed: 164 S52: 137 S54: 27

Average Asking Price: $16,283.30 S52: $14,811.71 S54: $23,288.54

Most Popular Sales Listings

These are the cars that have been viewed most often this week:

Best Deals

These are what I think are the best deals still available that are not already on the most popular list.

Sold This Week

Here are the cars that appear to have gone to lucky new owners this week.

• 2000 Titanium Silver over Black
  List Price: $11,992 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2000
  List Price: $12,000 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 1999 Alpine White over Imola Red
  List Price: $16,500 – Sold Price: $15,300
• 1998 Estoril Blue over Estoril Blue
  List Price: $11,101.01 – Sold Price: $11,101.01
• 2000 Titanium Silver over Black
  List Price: $14,990 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 1999 Boston Green over Dark Gray
  List Price: $15,000 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2000 Imola Red over Black
  List Price: $25,900 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 1998 Imola Red over Imola Red
  List Price: $19,991 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2001 Alpine White over Dark Beige
  List Price: $18,995 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 1998 Arctic Silver over Black
  List Price: $12,399 – Sold Price: $11,000
• 1998 Arctic Silver over Black
  List Price: $12,750 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2000 Cosmos Black over Dark Gray
  List Price: $11,500 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2002 Laguna Seca Blue over Laguna Seca Blue
  List Price: $17,999 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 1998 Estoril Blue over Estoril Blue
  List Price: $13,750 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 1999 Arctic Silver over Black
  List Price: $13,450 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2000 Titanium Silver over Estoril Blue
  List Price: $19,817 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2001 Black Sapphire over Imola Red
  List Price: $15,900 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2002 Titanium Silver over Dark Gray
  List Price: $26,900 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 1999 Dakar Yellow over Black
  List Price: $16,950 – Sold Price: Unknown
• 2000 Imola Red over Imola Red
  List Price: $18,995 – Sold Price: Unknown

Hey everyone! I’m happy to announce we’ve finally launched the Roady version of the MCBG! This site will cover all you need to know about the 1998-2002 BMW Z3 M Roadster.  Still under development are several sections that will help you answer questions about your new (or soon to be) purchase.  Jon, the owner of MCBG and myself, are hopeless addicts of the E36/7/8 body Ms, and collectively have over 15 years experience scouring the internet for information, anecdotal information, trends, and most importantly getting our knuckles bloody on our cars! For now, enjoy the sale listings and let me do the searching for you!  Please feel free to email me with any questions at all!

I spent quite a few years compiling a list of sites that would hopefully cover nearly all currently listed M Coupes for sale. Fortunately, they all also apply to M Roadsters. Here it is in the order I see most potential:

My Favorite

These are the sites I visit most frequently as they tend to have the most turnover and overall listings.

• AutoTrader
  Most of the people serious about selling their cars will post them on AutoTrader. Asking prices are generally a little bit on the high side. All the new listings are marked as such so it’s easy to find the changes.
• Google Craigslist Search – Bing Craigslist Search
  If you’re going to find a “steal”, it will probably be on Craigslist. It also has the least informative listings and more potential for scams. Because Craiglook got shut down, I wrote a query for Google and Bing to search all Craigslist for me. The downside is that it sometimes links to expired or removed listings.
• Ebay Motors
  Obviously the most turnover of cars and pretty good prices.

Forum Classifieds

Classified sections of car forums are one of the best places to look for a coupe for a number of reasons. Forum members tend to me more knowledgeable about their car and its maintenance requirements, they obviously have a passion for the car so it will probably be better taken care of than most, and other forum members will be familiar with the car to give second and third opinions about it. They are also sorted by activity date so the most recent listings will be on top.

• Bimmerforums Main Classifieds
  You have to wade through a lot of 3-series and roadsters, but most of the best cars are listed here. I’ve tried a few different variations of searches to try and filter the listings but haven’t found anything that consistently gives me the results I want.
• Bimmerforums Z Classifieds
  This section is meant primarily for parts, but some people post their cars here as well. Often times they are moved to the main classifieds, but to get the right roadster you have to find them before anyone else does.
• Bimmerfest
  Unfortunately Bimmerfest does not categorize their classifieds at all so you need to wade through all the BMW listings.
• Roadfly
  Roadfly usually has a pretty nice selection but seems to be priced higher than other sites. They also seem to charge for images so very few of the listings include photos.
• BMW CCA
  M Roadster listings are usually sparse and prices generally much higher, but there have been exceptions over the years. Often times listings are not listed elsewhere though.

Other Classified Sites

These sites’ listings are generally covered by one of the above sites, but not always.

• Cars.com
  Not a whole lot or turnover of cars and most are listed elsewhere. There are unique listings sometimes though and new ones are marked as “Newly Listed”.
• Carmax.com
  They rarely have an M, but have had a couple in the past for great prices.
• Vehix.com
  Basically worthless…but you never know.
• AOL Autos
  Most the times the listings are duplicates of above sites, but not always.
• Trovit Cars
  This site collects listings from a bunch of other sites. It’s not always accurate though and there are quite a few duplicates. It does include Automobile Magazine classifieds which do not pop up often but for some reason always seem to have great prices.
• Oodle
  Similar to Trovit but sometimes has different cars. Sorry, but it looks like you have to search from Fort Collins, CO. I couldn’t figure out how to generalize my location.
• Ebay Classifieds / Kijiji.com
  Local classifieds backed by Ebay has started having M Roadsters once in a while

Canadian Sites

I’ve heard of quite a few coupes going back and forth across the border, so it must be doable. If you’re willing to expand your search further, or if you’re from Canada, here you go.

• AutoTrader.ca
  This is the Canadian AutoTrader. It doesn’t seem as stable or consistent as the one I’m used to.
• Craigslist.ca by Google
  A Google search of the Canadian Craigslist
• Kijiji.ca by Google
  A Google search of the Canadian equivalent of Craigslist

So there it is, all my secrets and a few years worth of accumulation. If you have any sites to add to the list or need help customizing a search more specifically to you, please post in the comments.

These are the production numbers for each M Roadster color combination produced for North America in order of commonality.

Total Production: 10,501

1998: 2,763
1999: 1,836
2000: 4,338
2001: 921
2002: 643

Estoril Blue (2,078)

Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (1,719)
Black Nappa (321)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (33)
Dark Beige Oregon (3)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (2)

Cosmos Black (1,936)

Black Nappa (1,165)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (561)
Imola Red & Black Nappa( 186)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (18)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (5)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (1)

Imola Red (1,760)

Imola Red & Black Nappa (961)
Black Nappa (725)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (56)
Dark Beige Oregon (18)

Titanium Silver Metallic (1,562)

Black Nappa (1,134)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (183)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (137)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (105)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (1)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (1)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (1)

Arctic Silver Metallic (1,324)

Black Nappa (742)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (356)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (121)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (100)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (5)

Alpine White (379)

Black Nappa (150)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (84)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (84)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (45)
Dark Beige Oregon (13)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (1)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (1)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (1)

Dakar Yellow II (326)

Black Nappa (291)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (31)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (3)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (1)

Black Sapphire Metallic (249)

Black Nappa (150)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (33)
Dark Beige Oregon (32)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (28)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (4)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (2)

Evergreen (201)

Evergreen & Black Nappa (176)
Black Nappa (22)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (2)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (1)

Steel Gray Metallic (198)

Dark Gray & Black Nappa (108)
Black Nappa (66)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (16)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa 4)
Kiwi & Black Nappa (2)
Dark Beige Oregon (1)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (1)

Oxford Green II Metallic (187)

Black Nappa (101)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (60)
Dark Beige Oregon (26)

Boston Green Metallic (133)

Black Nappa (75)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (57)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (1)

Laguna Seca Blue (78)

Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (39)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (29)
Black Nappa (7)
Dark Beige Oregon (2)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (1)

Phoenix Yellow Metallic (39)

Black Nappa (31)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (4)
Kiwi & Black Nappa (2)
Dark Beige Oregon (1)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (1)

Hell Red (6)

Black Nappa (4)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (2)

Special Ordered (45)

Black Nappa (15)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (14)
Special Order (13)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (2)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (1)

Interior Colors

Black Nappa (4,999)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (2,017)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (1,823)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (1,286)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (192)
Dark Beige Oregon (96)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (49)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (22)
Special Order (13)
Kiwi & Black Nappa (4)

Softop Colors

Black (8,515)
Blue (1,636)
Red (309)
Beige (43)

Observations

• As well known as the two-tone interiors are, solid black is far and away the most common interior color (as with the coupes).
• It’s interesting that dark beige interiors ares far more rare on roadsters than coupes, and imola red and estoril blue are far more common.
• There are actually fewer roadsters in my steel gray over red color combination than there are coupes (16 vs 23).
• Estoril blue is the most common exterior color and as with the coupes, phoenix yellow is the most rare (don’t think Hell Red was ever an official option).

In compiling this I noticed a few rather adventurous color combos:

• Evergreen/Kyalami Orange
• Phoenix Yellow/Laguna Seca Blue
• Dakar Yellow II/Evergreen
• Dakar Yellow II/Estoril Blue
• Titanium Silver/Evergreen
• Arctic Silver/Evergreen

If you wonder where I get all my production numbers, they were collected by a Bimmerforums member wildag (www.dreamingwell.com). The original CSV file can be downloaded here. Another forum member has created a more user friendly database interface for the less technically inclined at: www.bmwmdata.com. This set of data includes all North American M Coupes and Roadsters with their production dates and options.

After many, many requests that I do something similar to my M Coupe Buyers Guide for M Roadsters, here it is! I’m the first to admit I know far less about our convertible relatives, but that’s why I’m enlisting help for the maintenance of this site. Because of the number of M Roadsters out there, I’m not sure we’ll be able to track all of the currently available cars. We will show the most interesting and best deals though. This will be a work in progress for a while, but check back as more features and cars are added.