Early Z4 3.0 - pros and cons?
Discussion
Getting itchy feet at the moment and toying with reducing the fleet a bit - change the TVR for a Z4 so it's a bit more useable every day.
Anyway, I've always liked the look of the original Z4 and the performance of the 3.0 manual seems pretty brisk.
I'd love to hear about ownership experiences, etc. I understand the roof motors go out to lunch - any way to reduce the chance of this happening?
Budget would be 5-6k, maybe a touch more at a pinch. Not worried about colour but would prefer to avoid silver unless it had a red interior or something interesting. Must be the 3.0, must be manual.
Not too sure what the spec levels were - ideally I'd want heated leather, cruise, climate, xenons (decent audio/bluetooth if possible?). Not too worried by high mileage but 80k seems about right.
So according to the classifieds I seem to be in the right ballpark - what are the chances of getting the spec I want? Not many ads mention xenons but I am sick of cars with rubbish headlights!
Anyway, I've always liked the look of the original Z4 and the performance of the 3.0 manual seems pretty brisk.
I'd love to hear about ownership experiences, etc. I understand the roof motors go out to lunch - any way to reduce the chance of this happening?
Budget would be 5-6k, maybe a touch more at a pinch. Not worried about colour but would prefer to avoid silver unless it had a red interior or something interesting. Must be the 3.0, must be manual.
Not too sure what the spec levels were - ideally I'd want heated leather, cruise, climate, xenons (decent audio/bluetooth if possible?). Not too worried by high mileage but 80k seems about right.
So according to the classifieds I seem to be in the right ballpark - what are the chances of getting the spec I want? Not many ads mention xenons but I am sick of cars with rubbish headlights!
I think 0-60 in under 6 will be more than adequate for me and 6k+ is already stretching the budget TBH. Have I read a few things about the N52 and reliability problems or is that a newer engine? I assume the 3.0i is the M54.
Can anybody talk me through the specs? What's common, what's rare? Will xenon lights be hard to get? Is cruise really as easy as a £60 stalk from the dealer? Sports seats vs standard seats?
Thanks for info so far!
Can anybody talk me through the specs? What's common, what's rare? Will xenon lights be hard to get? Is cruise really as easy as a £60 stalk from the dealer? Sports seats vs standard seats?
Thanks for info so far!
Thanks guys, some really useful info here.
Re: the gearbox, the TVR's 'box is a bit recalcitrant but it adds to the "manly" feel I think
Don't mind a mechanical "bits of metal moving" feel to it. Always found my old MX-5's gearbox notchy 
I found a buyers' guide in an old Practical Performance Car Magazine and it mentions the hot steering problem - apparently it was a warranty fix from BMW so would a lot of cars have had this done? Could you reproduce it on a test drive by whacking the heater up to full?
Re: the gearbox, the TVR's 'box is a bit recalcitrant but it adds to the "manly" feel I think
Don't mind a mechanical "bits of metal moving" feel to it. Always found my old MX-5's gearbox notchy I found a buyers' guide in an old Practical Performance Car Magazine and it mentions the hot steering problem - apparently it was a warranty fix from BMW so would a lot of cars have had this done? Could you reproduce it on a test drive by whacking the heater up to full?
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