Discussion
the_engineer said:
Any chance of elaborating on this? Yours is pretty much exactly like what I'd be looking to buy 
Fuel is what you would expect, you can get up to 30mpg on a run but i average around 22 for mixed driving. Servicing can be expensive depending on where you take it, engine i believe to be pretty bulletproof and caused me no problems so far. Road tax and insurance can be high. Other consubables such as brakes and tyres are no more expensice than Porsche if anything sligtly cheaper. Owned a Z4M Roadster, fantastic car. Found running costs not too bad, averaged 23mpg, with 30mpg on the motorway. The engine sound with the roof down through B roads puts a smile on your face. I was quoted £1,200 for service from 3 BMW main dealers, but rang another who stated (what they called 'older cars' - this was a 2006) discount on parts and labour, and offered the same service for £500. This involved adjustments of the tappets, so you have to leave it with them the night before (none of the £1,200 charged garages knew this). Oh the only thing that was slightly expensive were brake discs at £600, but this is to be expected. So service costs aren't ridiculous, running costs are maybe a bit pricey if your using it as a daily drive, but for purchase cost vs performance they make a great buy imho.
So most of the people on this list want to have their cake and eat it... A Z4 and a Z4M in the same sentence? Please...
FYI, I have done 47k in my Z4MC since April 2007. The running cost are appropriate for a car which would do 0-60 in 4.6sec and lap the Ring in 8:12...
And seriously, the £460 tax band used as an excuse? I wonder if you lived in Germany or for that matter anywhere else in Europe, what would then be the excuse?
FYI, I have done 47k in my Z4MC since April 2007. The running cost are appropriate for a car which would do 0-60 in 4.6sec and lap the Ring in 8:12...
And seriously, the £460 tax band used as an excuse? I wonder if you lived in Germany or for that matter anywhere else in Europe, what would then be the excuse?
I've put over 20k miles on mine in the last 15 months, using it as a daily commuter. Mix of dual carriageways, single lane A and B roads and i've averaged 25.6mpg on shell vpower (high octane fuel is a must - it is very noticeable when the knock sensor comes in, maybe 10% down on power over 5krpm)
The only costs so far have been - oil service & brake fluid about £300 at a dealer, plus some tyres at about £200-240 a corner. Am now also on the BMW warranty, which is about £70/month.
Massively under-rated cars IMO, but they do take a while before you "get" them - i reckon i did 3,000 miles in mine before i really understood what it was capable of..... which i being bloody quick on the twisties.... quicker than most people think
(the gt3 was wet, others are all dry iirc)
edit to add: i disagree with prior comments about the 3.0i/3.0si being a better choice - i tested them back-to-back when making my choice and the cars are like night and day - the M is a lot faster, makes a much better noise, and the M diff + suspension gubbins makes a huge difference to the balance of the car. Well worth the extra cash IMO.
The worst thing is what to do next - they are such a massive bargain it's really hard to make the next move.... you can spend twice as much and still not go any faster.
The only costs so far have been - oil service & brake fluid about £300 at a dealer, plus some tyres at about £200-240 a corner. Am now also on the BMW warranty, which is about £70/month.
Massively under-rated cars IMO, but they do take a while before you "get" them - i reckon i did 3,000 miles in mine before i really understood what it was capable of..... which i being bloody quick on the twisties.... quicker than most people think
(the gt3 was wet, others are all dry iirc)
edit to add: i disagree with prior comments about the 3.0i/3.0si being a better choice - i tested them back-to-back when making my choice and the cars are like night and day - the M is a lot faster, makes a much better noise, and the M diff + suspension gubbins makes a huge difference to the balance of the car. Well worth the extra cash IMO.
The worst thing is what to do next - they are such a massive bargain it's really hard to make the next move.... you can spend twice as much and still not go any faster.
Edited by pilchardthecat on Monday 26th December 20:28
I haven't had my Z4M for that long so can't really comment on running costs. As a weekend toy I get a constant 23mpg, never seen 30! Looking back through the service history, the inspection 1 service was about £1,200 from BMW with new discs and pads and a few other niggles fixed. . I think an oil service would be about £350ish maybe. I think inspection 2 is supposed to be about £1,000 plus anything else that might need doing.
I don't think running costs are all that high really when compared to other sports cars. Inspection 2 doesn't come up until around 40,000 miles and oil services shouldn't be too pricey. VED is a bummer but not much you can do about that!
I love mine. It's an occasion to drive. I wouldn't suit as a daily driver, but as a weekend toy it's very special. Just has something about it, very well built, solid, doesn't creak or rattle, sounds amazing and pulls relentlessly way up to very high rpm. It's a dream to drive on sweeping bends on a good quiet road. However, as a daily driver or in traffic, the gearbox is stiff, the clutch is very heavy, the throttle is very sensitive, the bonnet is very long, all means its a bit difficult to drive in traffic. I hated driving it found London recently! I'm thrilled to bits with mine though and pleased I chose it over the others I was looking at - SLK 55 AMG, Tuscan, Boxster S Sport, etc.
I don't think running costs are all that high really when compared to other sports cars. Inspection 2 doesn't come up until around 40,000 miles and oil services shouldn't be too pricey. VED is a bummer but not much you can do about that!
I love mine. It's an occasion to drive. I wouldn't suit as a daily driver, but as a weekend toy it's very special. Just has something about it, very well built, solid, doesn't creak or rattle, sounds amazing and pulls relentlessly way up to very high rpm. It's a dream to drive on sweeping bends on a good quiet road. However, as a daily driver or in traffic, the gearbox is stiff, the clutch is very heavy, the throttle is very sensitive, the bonnet is very long, all means its a bit difficult to drive in traffic. I hated driving it found London recently! I'm thrilled to bits with mine though and pleased I chose it over the others I was looking at - SLK 55 AMG, Tuscan, Boxster S Sport, etc.
the_engineer said:
It would be good if you could do a running cost update when you've had it a bit longer.
I'm considering one, but do about 12,000 miles a year....insane??
The running costs for mine are here http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showcar.asp?car...I'm considering one, but do about 12,000 miles a year....insane??
the_engineer said:
It would be good if you could do a running cost update when you've had it a bit longer.
I'm considering one, but do about 12,000 miles a year....insane??
I ran mine for a couple of years as a business user and found it immensely rewarding, regularly returning 22mpg on long runs (mainly motorway) totaling 34k over the time I had it. Admittedly, I wasn't worried about fuel consumption as I had a company fuel card but it was totally reliable, apart from a broken O2 sensor early on, and had that engine which was fun to use especially in rag top mode. Mine was one of the loose ones, with 360bhp and had some memorable drives in it. One car I regret letting go.I'm considering one, but do about 12,000 miles a year....insane??
These cars are so cheap because they have a reputation of being expensive to own and will cripple you in repair costs if they go wrong. They've earned this reputation because there are lots of armchair would be owners that trawl the net and put together a worst case scenario and put that forward as a typical ownership experience.
I drive one as quickly as road conditions allow most of the time. Mine has now done 32k miles and other than servicing and consumables has had no reason to see the repair shop. It returns on average about 10% poorer fuel consumption than my previous 3.0si but I drive this car more quickly.
The one area that is eye watering if you are used to conventional servicing costs is BMW servicing on these cars but that doesn't come around that often so is not too bad.
My car is now worth about £17k max. I've got about £30k budget to add to this to change and there is nothing else in that price bracket that I want to own.
I drive one as quickly as road conditions allow most of the time. Mine has now done 32k miles and other than servicing and consumables has had no reason to see the repair shop. It returns on average about 10% poorer fuel consumption than my previous 3.0si but I drive this car more quickly.
The one area that is eye watering if you are used to conventional servicing costs is BMW servicing on these cars but that doesn't come around that often so is not too bad.
My car is now worth about £17k max. I've got about £30k budget to add to this to change and there is nothing else in that price bracket that I want to own.
Agree with what has been said above had mine for over 3 years and it has been good as gold just a new battery from the cold snap last year and a window regulator. It was criticised for being a bit too hard for driving on the road but can't say I agree.
Mine has been vastly improved with a few choice mods. I love driving it and it will be a very hard car to replace.
Mine has been vastly improved with a few choice mods. I love driving it and it will be a very hard car to replace.
I've done around 43K miles in mine - its at 65.3K mile now - daily drive - full history in my profile .
Echo all comments from actual owners who've done serious miles.
As a daily car I have full BMW warranty and breakdown for piece of mind - pay by DD to keep renewal down (especially for M above 60k miles).
Say I got optimistic £14K for mine that is loss of £8.5K for nigh on 3.5 years daily M driving. You'd loose that on pretty much anything that isn't already flatlined on depreciation curve. The big hit the Z4Ms took was in first two years - mine was a nominal £48K to the new owner; I got it at just shy of 2.5 years old for £22.5K - just before people realised what a bargin they'd become and there was some price stabilisation/holding in 2009.
Echo all comments from actual owners who've done serious miles.
As a daily car I have full BMW warranty and breakdown for piece of mind - pay by DD to keep renewal down (especially for M above 60k miles).
Say I got optimistic £14K for mine that is loss of £8.5K for nigh on 3.5 years daily M driving. You'd loose that on pretty much anything that isn't already flatlined on depreciation curve. The big hit the Z4Ms took was in first two years - mine was a nominal £48K to the new owner; I got it at just shy of 2.5 years old for £22.5K - just before people realised what a bargin they'd become and there was some price stabilisation/holding in 2009.
cragswinter said:
The same as a megane?! I don't know why but I thought it would be quicker?
Agree - the Megane is on track rubber though and the Z4MC is on ContiSports, which were dreadful when they came out in 2000 (on the E46 M3) and even worse when put as factory fit on the Z.Strap a set of Pilot Cups and the Z4MC is easily a very high 7min car...
Cheburator mk2 said:
Agree - the Megane is on track rubber though and the Z4MC is on ContiSports, which were dreadful when they came out in 2000 (on the E46 M3) and even worse when put as factory fit on the Z.
Strap a set of Pilot Cups and the Z4MC is easily a very high 7min car...
I'd actually agree with you if it did have the right tyres & geo, but the megane trophy was on bridgestones for its record run.Strap a set of Pilot Cups and the Z4MC is easily a very high 7min car...
The r26.r was on track 888's but it only managed a 8:17, though this perhaps just shows how good the trophy is & not how poor the M is.
I put 40k on mine, managed to get 34mpg on a good run, took it round the alps and the ring... Fantastic all rounder and didn't have a single problem with it, and servicing was only a couple of hundred a year, which is cheap for the performance..
Tax and tyres were probably the biggest costs, but overall it was an absolute performance bargain..
Tax and tyres were probably the biggest costs, but overall it was an absolute performance bargain..
I would say that the arse has fallen out of the non efficient market full stop. My 6 cylinder e90 M Sport with low miles with very good spec was difficult to pass on anywhere other than through the BMW AUC system, nobody wanted to know.
I think my Z4M was decent value but no better than a 987 Boxster S that was my alternative option.
The problem with this type of car is everybody would like to have one but the market for people who are actually prepared to buy one is quite small when it comes to parting with the cash.
I think my Z4M was decent value but no better than a 987 Boxster S that was my alternative option.
The problem with this type of car is everybody would like to have one but the market for people who are actually prepared to buy one is quite small when it comes to parting with the cash.
I soooo very nearly went for one of these only a few weeks ago whilst looking for a new weekend plaything.. For the limited mileage I'd do I could stomach most of the running costs, but the VED was the straw which broke the camels back in the end.
For the fun/£ factor I decided that an Elise was a great alternative and so ended up buying a 111r
I still think there's a z4m itch for me to scratch in the future though, maybe when I opt out of the company car scheme in a couple of years...
For the fun/£ factor I decided that an Elise was a great alternative and so ended up buying a 111r
I still think there's a z4m itch for me to scratch in the future though, maybe when I opt out of the company car scheme in a couple of years...
mmm-five said:
Interesting - the biggest 'cost' is depreciation, something that will be minimal now, I think. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff