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Bidding closes Wednesday afternoon on one of the more interesting modern-roadster values we have seen in a while: a 2012 BMW Z4 sDrive35is M Sport offered at no reserve on Hagerty Marketplace. It is the top-of-the-range, twin-turbocharged version of the E89 Z4, finished in Black Sapphire over black Dakota leather with 91,700 miles, a clean CARFAX report, and a clean Michigan title in the current owner's name. The hammer is scheduled to fall Wednesday, August 19 at 2:25 p.m. EDT. Photos courtesy of Hagerty Marketplace.
The sDrive35is Was Always the Enthusiast's Z4
The E89 generation dropped the previous Z4's split coupe-and-convertible personality in favor of a single body style: a two-seat roadster with a power-folding aluminum hardtop that turns it into a proper coupe in roughly 20 seconds. Buyers could work their way up from the four-cylinder sDrive28i to the sDrive35i, but the sDrive35is was the halo car, and it is the only one that really moves the needle for enthusiasts today.
The difference is not badge dressing. The sDrive35is received a hotter tune of BMW's N54 twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, good for 335 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque, with an overboost function that briefly lifts peak twist to 369 lb-ft. It came standard with the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, Adaptive M Suspension, a sport exhaust with a genuinely rowdy exhale, model-specific M aerodynamics, and unique interior trim. Sixty miles per hour arrives in roughly four and a half seconds, which is still quick enough to embarrass plenty of cars wearing far more expensive badges.
The shape has aged well, too. Where the earlier Z4 split opinion with its flame-surfaced creases, the E89 is cleaner and longer-hooded, and the retractable hardtop gives it a resolved silhouette roof-up that almost no other folding-metal convertible manages.
What This Particular Car Brings
This is a well-documented, honestly presented driver rather than a museum piece, which is exactly why the no-reserve format works in a buyer's favor here. Highlights from the listing include:
- 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six paired with the seven-speed DCT
- 19-inch alloy wheels replaced in June 2023
- Left rear wheel bearing and front brake wear sensor replaced in April 2023
- Pirelli P Zero 255/30R19 tires installed in 2023
- Bi-xenon headlights, adaptive brake lights, and dual-zone automatic climate control
- Eight-way power heated seats with driver memory and an M multifunction wheel with shift paddles
- Clean CARFAX report, owner's manuals, service receipts, and BMW floor mats
The seller is upfront about the imperfections as well. There are paint chips and a dent on the driver's side rear fender documented in the photos, plus interior wear consistent with 91,700 miles, and a Kenwood head unit has replaced the factory stereo. None of that is hard to live with on a car in this price band, and all of it is visible across the listing's 118 photos and seven videos. The CARFAX shows registration history in California, Iowa, Arizona, and Michigan, with the current owner taking delivery in October 2019.
Where the Market Is Heading
Here is the part worth paying attention to. The E89 Z4 does not yet have its own entry in the Hagerty Valuation Tools price guide. BMW's Z1, Z3, and Z8 all do. The E89 is still parked in that gray zone between used car and collectible, and historically that is the cheapest moment to buy anything.
The Z3 is the cautionary tale for anyone who waited. Hagerty's price guide now tracks it from 1996 through 2002, and the six-cylinder and M-powered cars in particular have gone from disposable used BMWs to genuinely appreciating assets. Our BMW Z3 buying guide walks through how that happened, and you can see the result in the money that preserved examples like this 2002 BMW M Roadster now command. The Z8 traveled the same road, only faster and with more zeroes on the end. And at the top of the family tree sits the 1959 BMW 507, the car that established once and for all that BMW roadsters eventually get taken very seriously.
The wider sDrive35is market is already well ahead of this bid. Auction and dealer data compiled by CLASSIC.COM puts the E89 sDrive35is market benchmark near $30,300, with an average sale price around $29,000, and low-mileage M Sport cars have recently traded between roughly $38,000 and $48,900. Higher-mileage examples naturally sell for a fraction of that, but at $9,250 this car is still bidding below where tired, undocumented sDrive35is roadsters usually land.
If you want to sanity-check that math yourself, the Hagerty valuation tools are free to browse and let you compare condition-based values across BMW's entire roadster bloodline. It is the fastest way to see how sharply the Z3 and Z8 curves bent upward once those cars crossed the 20-year mark. The 2012 Z4 hits that milestone in 2032.
The Case for Bidding
Modern-classic buying is usually about finding the last version of something before the formula changed, and the E89 Z4 is exactly that. It is BMW's final folding-hardtop roadster, fitted with the last of the N54 twin-turbo sixes, in the highest-output trim the model ever received. The G29 that replaced it reverted to a fabric top and shares its bones with the Toyota Supra. There will not be another one of these.
Add a no-reserve format, a documented service history, and a seller willing to put 118 photos and seven videos of the car in front of the entire internet, and this is an easy one to make a case for. The auction runs on Hagerty Marketplace through Wednesday, August 19 at 2:25 p.m. EDT.
