Any Z3 owners/fans

Any Z3 owners/fans

Author
Discussion

beak

Original Poster:

162 posts

200 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
quotequote all
Had a Z3 2.8 on a dyno, put out 200.1 hp... a good 7 over stock.. and this is an old car!

any idea what previous owners might have done to her to get that result? current owner only put an induction kit on..

http://www.lemons365.co.uk/challenge-4-rolling-roa...


daveofedinburgh

556 posts

118 months

Sunday 2nd November 2014
quotequote all
Z3 owner here.

Shame that these cars are so unloved, totally overlooked/ underrated imho.

I came to mine earlier this year when looking for a cheap, 2-seater convertible for some summer recreation.

Have previously owned afew mk1 MX5s, fancied something different and a Z3 popped up at the right price.

Mine is a 2000 facelift 2.0 (M52) with the Getrag manual box. Bought with 105K miles and a ton of service history for £1750. Lovely sound from the 6 cylinder engine, full electric leather, fantastic condition and just a thoroughly pleasant surprise.

Had to be a facelift for me, pre-facelift narrow-bodied cars look a bit plain in comparison. Facelifts also bring a range of 6 cylinder engines, I personally wanted to avoid the 1.9 4, even after having enjoyed the engine in my E36 318is. If I hadn't been looking at strictly sub £2K cars, a 2.8 would have been right up there on my list. Where else at this price point can you get a 2-seater roadster with this kind of soundtrack and power?

Aside from being cheap to buy, they're cheap to keep running too. Easy as running an E36 really.

They will never have a large fanbase due to the effette, hairdresser image they unfortunately have. You rarely see a facelift on the road, but when you do they look great and have aged well. Despite the less than sporty reputation they have, I'd wager that most PHers would be pleasantly surprised by a blast in one down a good strip of tarmac. They even cruise well, and as stated can make pretty respectable power with little expenditure.

I'd have another next summer, 2.8 with an M50 manifold please.