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Archive for June, 2011

Market Update – June 24, 2011

June 24th, 2011 2 comments

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

Currently Listed: 54
S52: 39
S54: 15
Average Asking Price: $24,128.94
S52: $20,892.14
S54: $31,355.33

Most Popular Sales Listings

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

2001 Steel Gray over Black in Los Angeles, CA

2001 Steel Gray over Black
Los Angeles, CA - $17,000

2002 Steel Gray over Black in Albany, NY

2002 Steel Gray over Black
Albany, NY - $16,000

2000 Alpine White over Estoril Blue in Naperville, IL

2000 Alpine White over Estoril Blue
Naperville, IL - $24,888

2001 Laguna Seca Blue over Laguna Seca Blue in Fremont, CA

2001 Laguna Seca over Laguna Seca
Fremont, CA - $27,900

Best Deals

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

2000 Cosmos Black over Black in San Jose, CA

2000 Cosmos Black over Black
San Jose, CA - $17,500

2000 Titanium Silver over Black in Minneapolis, MN

2000 Titanium Silver over Black
Minneapolis, MN - $17,000

1999 Imola Red over Black in Washington, DC

1999 Imola Red over Black
Washington, DC - $22,000

2000 Dakar Yellow over Black in Nassau County, NY

2000 Dakar Yellow over Black
Nassau County, NY - $22,500

Sold This Week

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

Categories: Market Updates Tags:

Coupe Radar

June 20th, 2011 4 comments

M Coupe in Amsterdam
As far as 6th senses go, Coupe Radar is far from the most useful. I’m pretty confident in saying there has not been a Z3 or M Coupe in my field of vision the past 10 years that I did not spot and gawk at if possible. They could be a half mile in front of me on the interstate, a brief glimpse of a roof over a concrete barrier or the tailpipes peeking out from under a garage door. It’s a shape that is not easily mistaken so false positives are rare.

The most recent example was not even in person. I was flipping quickly through some of my dad’s photos from Amsterdam in 2007 admiring the canals, architecture and flowers when my Coupe Radar pinged. There it was behind bright flowers and multi-colored boats, just across the canal and out of focus, an M Coupe! It appears to be cosmos black which would make it an S50-engined car in Europe. It also has M Contour wheels off of an E36 M3. They look fine from the profile, but I bet in person the rears would just look goofy with such a high offset and would sit over an inch inside the fender. In any case, what are the chances of randomly taking a photo that unintentionally includes an M Coupe halfway around the world (and being my dad)?

Over the years, and with a little education, one can further develop their coupe radar to encompass S52 vs S54 engine, model year and a good sense of upgrades in a single glance. Here’s the series of thoughts my mind goes through each time I come across an M Coupe in the wild (assuming the spotted coupe is stock-ish). I would have put it in flowchart form for you, but it got a little over-complicated :).

  • M Coupe in AmsterdamColor:
    • If arctic silver, 1999 (S52) (hard to describe the difference between arctic and titanium silver but it is apparent)
    • If boston green, 1999 (S52) (a little lighter and a hint of teal compared to oxford green)
    • If oxford green, probably a 2000, but there are a couple 2001s and 2002s
    • If evergreen, 1999-2000 (S52)
    • If dakar yellow, 1999-2000 (S52)
    • If laguna seca blue, 2001-2002 (S54)
    • If steel gray, 2001-2002 (S54) (although there are a couple special-ordered S52s)
    • If phoenix yellow, 2001-2002 (S54)
    • If cosmos black, 1999-2000 (S52) (also hard to describe the difference between cosmos and black sapphire)
    • If black sapphire, 2001-2002 (S54)
    • If titanium silver, 2000-2002
  • Wheels: chrome shadow or hypersilver roadstars
    • If chrome shadow (darker), 2001-2002 (S54)
    • If hypersilver, 1999-2000 (S52)
  • Headlights: chrome rings around the high and low beams
    • If yes, 2000-2002
    • If no, 1999 (S52)
  • Front Kidney Grills: Chrome or black slats
    • If chrome, 2000-2002
    • If black, 1999 (S52)
  • Badges: harder to spot in motion but pretty apparent on a parked coupe
    • If flat, 1999-2000 (S52)
    • If curved, 2001-2002 (S54)

It’s a tough skill to master as opportunities to practice are so few and far between. I probably see 2-3/year that aren’t conveniently parked at my house. But study up, so you’ll be ready the next time your Coupe Radar pings. Or come to Dorkfest on August 27th where there will be 50+ coupes on which to hone your skills.

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags: ,

Market Update – June 17, 2011

June 17th, 2011 Comments off

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

Currently Listed: 54
S52: 37
S54: 17
Average Asking Price: $23,893.35
S52: $20,753.58
S54: $30.077.94

Most Popular Sales Listings

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

2001 Steel Gray over Black in Los Angeles, CA

2001 Steel Gray over Black
Los Angeles, CA - $17,000

2002 Steel Gray over Black in Sierra Madre, CA

2002 Steel Gray over Black
Sierra Madre, CA - $18,995

2002 Steel Gray over Black in Albany, NY

2002 Steel Gray over Black
Albany, NY - $16,000

2000 Imola Red over Imola Red in Greensboro, NC

2000 Imola Red over Imola Red
Greensboro, NC - $16,000

Best Deals

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

2000 Titanium Silver over Estoril Blue in Claremont, CA

2000 Titanium Silver over Estoril
Claremont, CA - $13,000

2000 Titanium Silver over Black in Minneapolis, MN

2000 Titanium Silver over Black
Minneapolis, MN - $17,000

1999 Imola Red over Black in Washington, DC

1999 Imola Red over Black
Washington, DC - $25,000

2001 Laguna Seca Blue over Laguna Seca Blue in Fremont, CA

2001 Laguna Seca over Laguna Seca
Fremont, CA - $27,900

Sold This Week

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

Categories: Market Updates Tags:

What’s with Kelley Blue Book? – Part 2

June 14th, 2011 4 comments

Exactly a year ago yesterday, I wrote an article detailing how poorly pricing guides value the M Coupe compared to their true market value. Recently, JT, an M Coupe owner from California, used a contact of his at KBB to re-evaluate the true market value of the M Coupe (Bimmerforums thread). I thought I’d re-run all the same cars I used last year, and see what each of the guides now say they are worth.

2002 M Coupe - 7,000 miles

2002 M Coupe - 7,000 miles

2002 M Coupe

7,000 miles
Condition: Excellent
Private Party

Asking Price: $49,500
Kelley Blue Book: $26,010, $16,820 (2010) +55%
NADA: $22,937, $25,025 (2010)
Edmunds TMV:$20,693, $22,141 (2010)

2000 M Coupe, 13,505 miles

2000 M Coupe - 13,505 miles

2000 M Coupe

13,505 Miles
Condition: Excellent
Dealer Retail

Asking Price: $23,800
Kelley Blue Book: $24,220, $16,280 (2010) +49%
NADA: $18,687, $20,400 (2010)
Edmunds TMV: $13,682, $15,186 (2010)

2000 M Coupe - 67,142 miles

2000 M Coupe - 67,142 miles

2000 M Coupe

67,142 Miles
Condition: Good
Private Party

Asking Price: $17,000
Kelley Blue Book: $16,895, $10,880 (2010) +55%
NADA: $17,000, $14,325 (2010)
Edmunds TMV: $9,986, $11,635 (2010)

1999 M Coupe - 56,980 miles

1999 M Coupe - 56,980 miles

1999 M Coupe

56,980 Miles
Condition: Excellent
Private Party

Asking Price: $19,850
Kelley Blue Book: $17,895, $10,710 (2010) +67%
NADA: $16.625, $13,800 (2010)
Edmunds TMV: $9,655, $10,758 (2010)

1999 M Coupe - 118,000 miles

1999 M Coupe - 118,000 miles

1999 M Coupe

118,000 Miles
Condition: Good
Private Party

Asking Price: $15,900
Kelley Blue Book: $11,495, $6,960 (2010) +65%
NADA: $13,550, $10,625 (2010)
Edmunds TMV: $5,567, $8,020 (2010)

First of all, I need to apologize for everything I’ve said about Kelley Blue Book not doing any research. When the errors in their values were brought to their attention, they stepped up and made the change. For S52 M Coupes, I say they now have their prices pretty close to spot-on including mileage and condition. KBB values on the my sampled M Coupes rose between 49% and 67%. Bravo! There is definitely still some work to be done on the S54 side however. As you can see from the steel gray coupe above, it gets a little credit for being a couple years newer, but none whatsoever  for it’s more exclusive S54 engine. Currently, similar condition and mileage S54 coupes carry about a $5,000-7,000 premium over an S52. This is not yet reflected in KBB prices, but baby steps…

As for NADA and Edmunds, I’d have to say I’m pretty disappointed with Edmund’s “True Market Value”. Edmunds has been my personal go-to car resource for quite some time. There were discussions with them about M Coupe values a while back, but it appears nothing has come of them. They’re the new KBB of the pricing guides. NADA continues to do a decent job with higher prices across the board. Part of that is they don’t publish a private party price, so the prices I posted are for “Clean Retail”. One noticeable change is that the low mileage coupes got far less credit for their mileage than they did last year.

Overall I’m encourage by the direction this is going, and hopefully the other guides will follow KBB’s lead on M Coupe prices. Now to explain to them the difference between an S52 and an S54…

Market Update – June 10, 2011

June 10th, 2011 2 comments

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

Currently Listed: 50
S52: 35
S54: 15
Average Asking Price: $23,568.73
S52: $20,558.06
S54: $29.888.33

Most Popular Sales Listings

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

2001 Steel Gray over Black in Los Angeles, CA

2001 Steel Gray over Black
Los Angeles, CA - $17,000

2002 Steel Gray over Black in Albany, NY

2002 Steel Gray over Black
Albany, NY - $16,000

2000 Imola Red over Imola Red in Greensboro, NC

2000 Imola Red over Imola Red
Greensboro, NC - $16,000

2002 Steel Gray over Black in Sierra Madre, CA

2002 Steel Gray over Black
Sierra Madre, CA - $18,995

Best Deals

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

2000 Titanium Silver over Estoril Blue in Claremont, CA

2000 Titanium Silver over Estoril
Claremont, CA - $13,000

2000 Titanium Silver over Black in Minneapolis, MN

2000 Titanium Silver over Black
Minneapolis, MN - $17,000

1999 Imola Red over Black in Washington, DC

1999 Imola Red over Black
Washington, DC - $25,000

2001 Laguna Seca Blue over Laguna Seca Blue in Fremont, CA

2001 Laguna Seca over Laguna Seca
Fremont, CA - $27,900

Sold This Week

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

Categories: Market Updates Tags:

Market Update – June 3, 2011

June 3rd, 2011 Comments off

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

Currently Listed: 52
S52: 37
S54: 15
Average Asking Price: $23,706.92
S52: $20,826.11
S54: $29.915.00

Most Popular Sales Listings

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

2001 Steel Gray over Black in Los Angeles, CA

2001 Steel Gray over Black
Los Angeles, CA - $17,000

2002 Steel Gray over Black in Albany, NY

2002 Steel Gray over Black
Albany, NY - $16,000

2002 Steel Gray over Dark Gray in Phoenix, AZ

2002 Steel Gray over Dark Gray
Phoenix, AZ - $34,900

2000 Titanium Silver over Black in Boise, ID

2000 Titanium Silver over Black
Boise, ID - $18,500

Best Deals

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

2000 Titanium Silver over Estoril Blue in Claremont, CA

2000 Titanium Silver over Estoril
Claremont, CA - $13,000

2002 Steel Gray over Black in Sierra Madre, CA

2002 Steel Gray over Black
Sierra Madre, CA - $18,995

2000 Titanium Silver over Black in Minneapolis, MN

2000 Titanium Silver over Black
Minneapolis, MN - $17,000

2001 Laguna Seca Blue over Laguna Seca Blue in Fremont, CA

2001 Laguna Seca over Laguna Seca
Fremont, CA - $27,900

Sold This Week

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

Categories: Market Updates Tags: