Had my first CSL test drive today...

[Hazy]

Originally Posted by Chris

Yours does look very nice, btw. I've just never spent more than about £5k privately

LOL, I was exactly the same when I brought it, but after seeing all the tat the dealers were trying to sell, with the full BMW warranty, it was a no brainer really.

[E46ACS]

Originally Posted by jonv

IMO if they come with some sort of warranty, this has to be better than a private sale.

I disagree. Most dealers don't know very much at all (if anything) about the CSL now. Buying private you get to speak to the current owner, and get a feel for how they have treated the car, how it has been cared for etc. You pay a premium for buying form a dealer without getting that background. A BMW Warranty is key, which you can add to the car now anyway.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by E46ACS

A BMW Warranty is key, which you can add to the car now anyway.

Do you mean you can extend the warranty if it's still got one, or you can get one put on even if it hasn't?

[DazBlackCSL]

Yep you can now add a BM warranty on if you buy one without it

[Chris]

Originally Posted by DazBlackCSL

Yep you can now add a BM warranty on if you buy one without it

Really? Whoa, that changes thing a little then!

Is that a new thing? You couldn't do that a few years ago when I had BM's. Do you have to get BMW to check the car over or anything like that?

[AlexGTT]

Providing it has a BMWFSH.

[cslsuperfan]

Chris,

Nick Johnson is a genuine csl enthusiast who happens to deal in them.
He generally stocks 3 to 5 examples so just going over to see the number of csl's in one place is almost unique in the UK.
His test drives are spot on as he lives in oxfordshire which has an abundance of leafy A roads to tear up. You do however pay a premium for nick's cars as he has to make a living.
Nonetheless i bought a 10K 04 SG from him in 2007 and the whole experience was most pleasant.

As other forum members have stated on this thread buying from a forum member can give you a "genuine history" to the car.

[E46ACS]

As long as the car has a full service history, it doesn't have to be BMW, you can extend or add one.

This was changed last year.

I added a BMW warranty to mine earlier this year.

All the details can be found here:

http://www.cslregister.com/forum/sho...light=warranty

[Hazy]

Originally Posted by E46ACS

I disagree. Most dealers don't know very much at all (if anything) about the CSL now. Buying private you get to speak to the current owner, and get a feel for how they have treated the car, how it has been cared for etc. You pay a premium for buying form a dealer without getting that background. A BMW Warranty is key, which you can add to the car now anyway.

Originally Posted by Chris

Do you mean you can extend the warranty if it's still got one, or you can get one put on even if it hasn't?

Originally Posted by DazBlackCSL

Yep you can now add a BM warranty on if you buy one without it

The service history has to be spot on, including the running in service. They will sell you one without checking the BMWSH, but as soon as you come to make a claim it will get chucked out. I nearly founfd this out the hard way, I nearly brought a car that even though it had done hardly any miles in a three year period, had missing the service every two year rule and BMW wouldnt touch it... this cut alot of cars out when I was looking, its incredible the amount of owners who missed the crucial running in sevice, one car I viewed didnt have it done till 3500 miles or so...

Originally Posted by cslsuperfan

Chris,

Nick Johnson is a genuine csl enthusiast who happens to deal in them.

yeah, course he is He trades cars he has brought in cheaply and knows nothing about from his house for a profit, no proper premises or backup. And I guarantee he will describe all of his cars as little or no track miles......

[englebert]

For me, using him is pointless when you can now take advantage of the relaxed BMW warranty. It has opened the market up somewhat now.