I've just bought a Z4 M Coupe and I'm bloody loving it!
Discussion
After what seems like an interminable quest to find a decent 911 Carrera I got fed up with looking at the seemingly tatty, unloved, tired, many-ownered, overpriced, and dubious-historied cars that appear to dominate the sub-£30k end of the market.
Almost on a whim I decided to try a Z4 M Coupe today and what can I say - it was absolutely fantastic and exactly what I want in a car. What an underrated gem of a vehicle! It makes 993s seem slow and agricultural, and 996s soulless and uninvolving. Such pace, character and exuberance!
The supposed flaws (harsh/bouncy ride and jerky throttle response) were conspicuous only by their absence in my opinion. I drove the car on a variety of roads including the usual s
tty UK B-roads and motorways and the ride quality seemed fine (standard 18" wheels). It's not a Lexus, it's a sports car for goodness sake! It’s certainly no worse than my run flat-shod 130i. I didn't experience any jerkiness when accelerating, even with the sport button pushed.
I should be collecting the car at the weekend. It is a 2006 car with c.25k miles in silver with black leather, with satnav and Bluetooth. I am very much looking forward to it.
Anyway I have a couple of questions for existing owners.
1) What does the sport button actually do?
2) Can you recommend a decent exhaust system to improve on that already fantastic noise, and is it worth doing so?
Thanks in advance.
Almost on a whim I decided to try a Z4 M Coupe today and what can I say - it was absolutely fantastic and exactly what I want in a car. What an underrated gem of a vehicle! It makes 993s seem slow and agricultural, and 996s soulless and uninvolving. Such pace, character and exuberance!
The supposed flaws (harsh/bouncy ride and jerky throttle response) were conspicuous only by their absence in my opinion. I drove the car on a variety of roads including the usual s
tty UK B-roads and motorways and the ride quality seemed fine (standard 18" wheels). It's not a Lexus, it's a sports car for goodness sake! It’s certainly no worse than my run flat-shod 130i. I didn't experience any jerkiness when accelerating, even with the sport button pushed.I should be collecting the car at the weekend. It is a 2006 car with c.25k miles in silver with black leather, with satnav and Bluetooth. I am very much looking forward to it.
Anyway I have a couple of questions for existing owners.
1) What does the sport button actually do?
2) Can you recommend a decent exhaust system to improve on that already fantastic noise, and is it worth doing so?
Thanks in advance.
Sport button just makes the throttle 'and supposedly steering' sharper. Made the car feel more powerful when giving it full beans on a b road and your on and off the throttle a lot.
Don't buy an exhaust. I know its a bit quiet but the performance exhausts out there ruin the tune of the engine and lose you power as well as sounding nowhere near as nice as the original just to be louder. I drove mine really hard for 5000miles and after that the standard exhaust was a LOT louder and more bassy than when I bought it. You just need to wear the baffles in (or out
Lastly enjoy. It is a truly great car but be aware I've driven many a car and nothing has ever caught me out quite like the Z4MC! They fool you with excellent poise but do have a nasty side and can bite very hard if you drive hard and dont keep alert.
Don't buy an exhaust. I know its a bit quiet but the performance exhausts out there ruin the tune of the engine and lose you power as well as sounding nowhere near as nice as the original just to be louder. I drove mine really hard for 5000miles and after that the standard exhaust was a LOT louder and more bassy than when I bought it. You just need to wear the baffles in (or out
Lastly enjoy. It is a truly great car but be aware I've driven many a car and nothing has ever caught me out quite like the Z4MC! They fool you with excellent poise but do have a nasty side and can bite very hard if you drive hard and dont keep alert.
go to www.z4-forum.com for all your questions to be answered in a specific ///m section, on the exhaust go for it, why not make an amzing car just that little bit more exotic, lots of us have over on the z4 forum with huge weight losses and proven dyno gains!! and the sound from the s54 at 7900 is to die for!!
Congrats on the purchase mate. Lovely cars arent they? Love mine to bits.
Now to your questions, as Niffty951 said the Sport button makes the throttle hyper sensitive but it does not alter the steering assistance at all. On the rest of the Z4 models it alters both the throttle sensitivity and power steering assistance but the M has a regular hydraulic rack which does not change Sport mode or not.
Also many have said it does not alter anything else other than the throttle pedal sensitivity but i swear when i have mine on the exhaust pops and crackles a LOT more than usual. Perhaps it's because of the pedal's more aggressive mapping but still on mine it does and actually i've had friends try the car to see if it's not all in my head and they confirmed it. Weird.
Now exhausts, me and Beedub both have the US made RPI GT exhaust on ours but let me tell you it's definitely not for the faint of heart. It's absurdly loud. At first i was a bit disappointed, with it drowning out the engine note and all, but i'm liking it more and more by the day. You can read my early review and see pictures over on www.z4-forum.com/forum in the M Specific section.
There are also a few other options available like Eisenmann and Supersprint but they do cost considerably more. For more info of almost anything you want to ask you should drop by www.z4-forum.com/forum. Everyone's friendly and will try to help you with whatever you need.
Enjoy your beasty mate and post pictures as soon as possible.
Now to your questions, as Niffty951 said the Sport button makes the throttle hyper sensitive but it does not alter the steering assistance at all. On the rest of the Z4 models it alters both the throttle sensitivity and power steering assistance but the M has a regular hydraulic rack which does not change Sport mode or not.
Also many have said it does not alter anything else other than the throttle pedal sensitivity but i swear when i have mine on the exhaust pops and crackles a LOT more than usual. Perhaps it's because of the pedal's more aggressive mapping but still on mine it does and actually i've had friends try the car to see if it's not all in my head and they confirmed it. Weird.
Now exhausts, me and Beedub both have the US made RPI GT exhaust on ours but let me tell you it's definitely not for the faint of heart. It's absurdly loud. At first i was a bit disappointed, with it drowning out the engine note and all, but i'm liking it more and more by the day. You can read my early review and see pictures over on www.z4-forum.com/forum in the M Specific section.
There are also a few other options available like Eisenmann and Supersprint but they do cost considerably more. For more info of almost anything you want to ask you should drop by www.z4-forum.com/forum. Everyone's friendly and will try to help you with whatever you need.
Enjoy your beasty mate and post pictures as soon as possible.
Sport button is junk. Just makes the throttle sharper. Horrible to drive with the sport button pressed.
Exhaust - my recommendation would be Remus back boxes. Well made, good value, easy to fit and subtly improved sound without threatening track day noise levels.
My only gripe is the bouncy ride/damping on bumpy roads. I am hoping the Nitron suspension that I'm buying myself for Christmas will cure that.
I've owned my car for 2 years now and plan on keeping it for at least another 2 years.
Exhaust - my recommendation would be Remus back boxes. Well made, good value, easy to fit and subtly improved sound without threatening track day noise levels.
My only gripe is the bouncy ride/damping on bumpy roads. I am hoping the Nitron suspension that I'm buying myself for Christmas will cure that.
I've owned my car for 2 years now and plan on keeping it for at least another 2 years.
R1_NUR said:
Sport button is junk. Just makes the throttle sharper. Horrible to drive with the sport button pressed.
Exhaust - my recommendation would be Remus back boxes. Well made, good value, easy to fit and subtly improved sound without threatening track day noise levels.
My only gripe is the bouncy ride/damping on bumpy roads. I am hoping the Nitron suspension that I'm buying myself for Christmas will cure that.
I've owned my car for 2 years now and plan on keeping it for at least another 2 years.
I sincerely hope there is a cure for this, otherwise my tenure with the Zed will be short lived.Exhaust - my recommendation would be Remus back boxes. Well made, good value, easy to fit and subtly improved sound without threatening track day noise levels.
My only gripe is the bouncy ride/damping on bumpy roads. I am hoping the Nitron suspension that I'm buying myself for Christmas will cure that.
I've owned my car for 2 years now and plan on keeping it for at least another 2 years.
OP, congrats and enjoy your car.
Sport button may well increase exhaust fuel pops on over run because it is still fuelling the car on a trailing throttle. If you read the manual it actually says the car may well accelerate without throttle application. It does nothing else but ruin the drive in my opinion, you`ll find crisper acceleration from lower rpm without it.
Enjoy your new car, I`ve had mine just over a month now and find myself driving past my house just for the sake of driving that little bit longer. I`d leave the exhaust as is, but that`s just my me. The "sport" button should be the button to disengage the DSC, so much more predictable (in the dry) without it.
Enjoy your new car, I`ve had mine just over a month now and find myself driving past my house just for the sake of driving that little bit longer. I`d leave the exhaust as is, but that`s just my me. The "sport" button should be the button to disengage the DSC, so much more predictable (in the dry) without it.
^^ 3.0 sounds better and rides better though! Truly I was jealous.. only reason I could never make the swap was the lack of handling agression and sideways nature! (see 5th gear Z4 3.0 vs M coupe review)
> can't find the vid sorry. Just been looking.
> can't find the vid sorry. Just been looking.
Edited by Niffty951 on Tuesday 20th October 09:17
Niffty951 said:
^^ 3.0 sounds better and rides better though! Truly I was jealous.. only reason I could never make the swap was the lack of handling agression and sideways nature! (see 5th gear Z4 3.0 vs M coupe review)
> can't find the vid sorry. Just been looking.
Rubbish.> can't find the vid sorry. Just been looking.
Edited by Niffty951 on Tuesday 20th October 09:17
Niffty951 said:
^^ 3.0 sounds better and rides better though! Truly I was jealous.. only reason I could never make the swap was the lack of handling agression and sideways nature! (see 5th gear Z4 3.0 vs M coupe review)
> can't find the vid sorry. Just been looking.
sounds better > can't find the vid sorry. Just been looking.
Edited by Niffty951 on Tuesday 20th October 09:17
Ok. Listen to this from 1.00min in:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d9KqoxetNg
Then (if the link works?) listen to this clip (if not you know what they sound like):-
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?...
I will conceed that the M sounds more urgent and quite a lot like the 911 GT3 at the high end but the 3.0 sounds more like the original 6 sylinder M's sounded like and just has a lot more character than the digital sound of the 3.2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d9KqoxetNg
Then (if the link works?) listen to this clip (if not you know what they sound like):-
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?...
I will conceed that the M sounds more urgent and quite a lot like the 911 GT3 at the high end but the 3.0 sounds more like the original 6 sylinder M's sounded like and just has a lot more character than the digital sound of the 3.2
I haven't driven (or indeed heard) the Z4 3.0 but since it has the same engine in as my soon-to-be-gone 130i I feel that I may be entitled to comment.
I don't think that there's any way that the 3.0 could be described as sounding better than the 3.2 M engine.
As for the exhaust mod, having read the comments on here and other sites I don't think I'll bother for now. The engine sounded great as it was - I love the metallic edge to the sound from the 3.2 M engine!
Hopefully I'll be getting it Friday. It's a BMW AUC so there should be no hidden nasties.
I don't think that there's any way that the 3.0 could be described as sounding better than the 3.2 M engine.
As for the exhaust mod, having read the comments on here and other sites I don't think I'll bother for now. The engine sounded great as it was - I love the metallic edge to the sound from the 3.2 M engine!
Hopefully I'll be getting it Friday. It's a BMW AUC so there should be no hidden nasties.
You'd think. but they just don't have any note to them. It's all flat and electronic:- this is a good example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyeRNiBuOcQ&NR=...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyeRNiBuOcQ&NR=...
milu said:
Niffty951 said:
^^ 3.0 sounds better and rides better though! Truly I was jealous.. only reason I could never make the swap was the lack of handling agression and sideways nature! (see 5th gear Z4 3.0 vs M coupe review)
> can't find the vid sorry. Just been looking.
sounds better > can't find the vid sorry. Just been looking.
Edited by Niffty951 on Tuesday 20th October 09:17
And I've owned both a 3.0 Z4C and now the Z4MC.
I would also dispute Niffty's claim that the 3.0 rides better.
Edited by wrighty78 on Tuesday 20th October 15:20
Niffty951 said:
You'd think. but they just don't have any note to them. It's all flat and electronic:- this is a good example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyeRNiBuOcQ&NR=...
take your youtube videos and FO.........http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyeRNiBuOcQ&NR=...
Just joking
I'm not slating the Z4M at all. In fact I loved it so much I bought one but I'm afraid I'm going to stick to my guns on the sound and handling. There must be a few honest owners out there who will admit they agree.
I had the Z4mc hop at 120+ and land at a slightly skew angle, it straightened up and carried on without incident but was enough for a brown trouser moment and doing the exact same thing as a passenger in a 3.0 the car took the road with complete confidence and no upset to its balance. I just think the M is a bit too stiff for it's own good in some instances. Much better set up than the 3.0 for cornering on a good surface but not all surfaces are smooth!
I had the Z4mc hop at 120+ and land at a slightly skew angle, it straightened up and carried on without incident but was enough for a brown trouser moment and doing the exact same thing as a passenger in a 3.0 the car took the road with complete confidence and no upset to its balance. I just think the M is a bit too stiff for it's own good in some instances. Much better set up than the 3.0 for cornering on a good surface but not all surfaces are smooth!
Edited by Niffty951 on Tuesday 20th October 15:40
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