1998 BMW M Roadster Convertible Dinan Stage 1

1998 BMW M Roadster & Coupe Description

ROADTRIP!
That's exactly what I used this car for, EPIC cross-country road trips down two-lane roads, through national parks in the USA and CANADA! Nothing better than cruising up the Road to the Sun with the top down, taking in all that there is to see.
Just to make certain you know what this is, this car is an M Roadster... NOT a Z3... this is the first year that BMW made them and there were only about 1300 of them made. Z3s are AMAZING but this thing is a BEAST compared to a top end Z3. Z3s are built in South Carolina. The M had it's entire power train built in Germany and then shipped to South Carolina for finishing.
Look carefully and you can see that the M is WAY beefier than the Z3, it's wider, it sits 1 1/2 inch lower than a Z3 and has bigger tires. That's just what you can see. Differences you can't see immediately are the suspension tweaking which is also amazing. The tire travel is MASSIVE! The first time I tried to jack this thing up to take off the tire I kept jacking and jacking and jacking and the wheel was still on the ground! This thing keeps it's feet on the ground when a Z3 would be airborne! Add to that the limited slip differential and powering through a corner is a breeze... that is if you don't mind being slammed up against the door from all the G forces. And you can really feel the limited slip differential in the turns!
I have taken this car cross-country TWICE. It's been to San Diego, San Francisco, Yuma, El Paso, Portland, Edmonton, Death Valley, Yosemite, Glacier National Park, Banff, the Columbia river, Saskatchewan, Kit Carson Pass... I could go on forever.
And when not on a road trip it was garaged and rarely driven locally.
What I'm trying to say is this is a great car for a road trip!
I LOVE THIS CAR!But... I'm moving to the desert of New Mexico and a Ford F250 4X4 7.3 liter Diesel extended cab with a tow package makes more sense on all those dirt roads! (I will consider a trade if you have one of those!)
I have loved this car since 2007 and it has a story.I bought it with 44,000 miles from a Miami DEA agent who bought it from the original owner, a prominent Miami architect. The M roadster by itself is a beast compared to a Z3 but this is no standard M Roadster. The architect put on the Dinan performance package (a chip with more horsepower and NO top end limiter!), the Dinan front stabilizer bar (rock solid turns) and the K&R performance intake package. In fact, early in it's life the architect was at a light and hit the gas a little bit too hard and skinned up the nose BUT you can't tell it because the damage was light and the repair was professional. It also has an oil pressure gage mounted to the windshield post.
I have always wanted to take this thing to a track and find the top end. Probably around 150mph. The M is built for performance... it's built with sufficient cooling and massive brakes so that you can drive it on the track at top speed all day long with the radio playing... NoWorries!
I'll tell a story on myself here. I have run it for 15-20 minutes at 110mph (that's as fast as I wanted to go at the time) with the top down while cruising on a long, straight, two lane road in a wheat field. About 10 minutes into the trip I looked at the tachometer. It was running pretty high... call it 4500-5000 rpm. HMMMmmmm... I thought to myself. HMMMMmmm... At 110 mph with the tach that high there wasn't enough "room" in the engine to hit 150 mph before hitting the redline on the tach. HMMmmmm... OH! That's the problem. I shifted from 4th into 5th continued my run.
One additional note to the 110 mph cruise. Turns out that if you hit a grouse at 110 mph they vaporize. No feathers, no spot on the road... nothing! As it was I came over a low rise and out comes an unsuspecting grouse... minding it's own business... and then POOF! no more grouse. I looked in my rear view mirror and there were no feathers. I checked under the hood... nothing. A year later when I had the car up on a ramp I did find a 1 inch in diameter hole in the grill at about where the grouse would have hit... but no grouse.
In the 56,000+ miles I have had this car there have been very few repairs needed.-The first year I had it I replaced the convertible top rear window-Approximately 20,000 miles ago it coded and I used the Bavarian Autosport Oil Service Light Reset Tool with Engine Fault Code Reader (which comes with the car if you buy it, $100+ to buy) to discover that one of the exhaust sensors needed replacing.-About 10,000 miles ago it coded and I couldn't determine where the fault lay so I took it into a repair shop to find out that a mouse had nibbled a wire above the gas tank causing the fault. I then put mouse poison in my garage... I'd never seen a mouse but, well, there you go... I paid the shop to repair the wire and while they were in there replace the rear struts (they were showing early signs of leakage.) --About 45,000 miles ago the safety restraint system (airbags plus other stuff) faulted. I bought the Bavarian Autosport Safety restraint fault code reader/reset (that also comes with the ca, again $100+ to buy) and discovered a wiring connector under the driver's seat had come loose. Pushed it back together and secured it and... no more problem!-The instrument cluster lights went out recently and replacing the headlamp switch fixed that.-About 20,000 miles ago the clutch started feeling "spongy," replacing the hydraulic clutch hose with a stainless steel clutch hose solved that.
That, I think, is a pretty solid trouble free 56,000 miles if you ask me!
In addition to the things listed above I have also replaced, for preventative reasons, the following:The fuel injectors (about 5,000 miles ago)All the serpentine belt idler pulleys and the belt(about 5,000 miles ago)The water pump (about 10,000 miles ago), replaced with a stainless steel pump.Brake pads (about 20,000 miles ago)
Also with the car you get:-The official Bentley BMW repair manual, some 1100+ pages of goodness (worth about $90).-All the original air box parts that were removed when the K&N performance intake was installed.-Wheel locks-The stainless steel brake lines (worth about $100) that are not needed yet.-Two sets of BMW carpet floor mats-The convertible top cover beauty cover-All 3 keys (2 regular and 1 valet key)-A german made oil filter for the next oil change
BUY THIS THING AND TAKE A ROAD TRIP!Build on it's already impressive story.(or drive it around and impress your friends!)
You will never forget it.
PSThe A/C is cold, the seats are heated, the convertible top is hydraulic, the radio has a cd player, the car comes with an XM radio receiver and a behind-the-seat wind screen.
PRICE:$12,000 CASH ONLY (or a ford f250 7.3 liter 4x4 extended cab with tow package!);-)