Z4M Coupe Throttle Response

[Chapppers]

Hello all,

I was lucky enough to drive a friend's Z4M Coupe at the weekend and whilst it's undoubtedly a good car, I came away with a couple of questions that the owner now is asking too!

Firstly... Throttle response- the throttle pedal itself felt light, too light, as if there was barely any resistance in the spring at all, which made it very hard to modulate at low speed. There also seemed to be a bit of a dead spot in the initial travel, is this usual? Made it exceedingly hard to accurately match revs.

Secondly, it didn't seem particularly ferocious, as if it was running out of steam a bit towards the higher end of the rev spectrum? Shouldn't an M car pull all the way through?

Thanks in advance! Hopefully these are just little niggles we need to drive around but if it sounds like something isn't right it'd be good to know where to look.

[pilchardthecat]

It has an adaptive throttle, the dead spot indicates he's been driving it like an old granny. Push the sport button or reset the adaptive throttle (which involves fecking about with the ignition key)

Has it been consistently running on 98/99 RON fuel for at least the last 2 full tanks? Stick one tank of 95 in it, and it'll lose 20-30bhp over 5,000rpm. And the knock sensors are very cautious so you wont get this power back for several hundred miles on 99.

5000rpm-7900rpm is where all the fun happens. If this is not the case it's either got crap fuel in it, or it's broken

[Chapppers]

Thanks, is there any way to make the pedal physically stiffer? It felt like it was barely there which wasn't helping at all.

[pilchardthecat]

Chapppers said:

Thanks, is there any way to make the pedal physically stiffer? It felt like it was barely there which wasn't helping at all.

Cant say i've ever had a problem, so maybe the spring is busted?

If not i suppose you could find a stiffer spring from somewhere, as long as it fits i suppose it would have the desired effect?

or wear ballet shoes?

[R P]

Thanks Dave for posting this and thanks Pilchard for your replies!

I've seen other owners complaining about throttle response, but this seems mostly about poor response from non-M cars. Both our opinions were that the throttle opened too quickly for the first small amount of throttle movement. My other car is an E36 M3 so I am used to a sensitive throttle!

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&am...

For a simple 15 second trick with the key, I'll give this a go and report back.


We've only done about 500 miles thus far but all on V power. Sunday night the car felt better than ever at the top end, so perhaps it has been run on 95 and we'll just getting past that!

I won't run the ballet shoes suggestion past the Wife in case she takes it seriously! I must be honest that it is more her car than mine!

Quick pic:



Regards, Ralph.

[pilchardthecat]

Lovely car.

Had mine for over 3 years and its been an absolute joy, as well as being by far the most reliable car i've ever owned. Will shed a tear when it goes shortly!

[essayer]

Chapppers said:

Hello all,

Secondly, it didn't seem particularly ferocious, as if it was running out of steam a bit towards the higher end of the rev spectrum? Shouldn't an M car pull all the way through?

Flooring my Z4M Roadster in second and taking it all the way to 8k RPM then doing the same in third was one of the most fun things I've ever done in a car, so if that doesn't bring a smile to your face, something is definitely wrong with the car

[Johnb850]

A Z4M should pull ferociously and have a sharp throttle response.

If not then something is wrong with the car.

[DodoRacing]

R P said:

Thanks Dave for posting this and thanks Pilchard for your replies!

I've seen other owners complaining about throttle response, but this seems mostly about poor response from non-M cars. Both our opinions were that the throttle opened too quickly for the first small amount of throttle movement. My other car is an E36 M3 so I am used to a sensitive throttle!

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&am...

Do the Euro cars have Clutch delay Valve (CDV) as well? Mine is jittering sometimes when starting in 1st gear from stand still (more so in the sport mode) but my mechanic says he cannot see a CDV.