BMW Z8 Roadster | Spotted
Twenty years ago, the 400hp Z8 made a fairly mediocre case for itself - what about now?
Funny one, the BMW Z8. After the warm reception at the 1997 Tokyo show of the Z07 concept - an evocation of BMW's delicious Mercedes 300SL-rivalling 507 roadster of the mid 1950s - a green light was given for the short-run production of a retro-styled two-door.
The Z8 Roadster would be designed by Henrik Fisker under the beardy supervision of Chris Bangle. It would be hand-built by BMW Motorsport with aluminium body panels laid onto an aluminium spaceframe. The engine would be the 5.0-litre V8 from the M5, the gearbox a six-speed Getrag manual. Top speed would be limited to 155mph, but the claimed 4.7sec 0-62mph time lent credibility to leaked PR asides suggesting a delimited 180mph.
The interior was unapologetically - some might say clumsily - period, dominated by a quad-spoke 'wire' steering wheel and centralised instrumentation that flagged up large areas of nothing much directly ahead of the passengers. Supposedly this was to minimise distractions from the commanding majesty of the view for'ard. To be fair, the acreage of button-free body-coloured dash trim panels became much more effective as a design feature when the body colour in question was a strong one.
The seats didn't look all that different to those found in a mid-spec 3 Series, but in general the Z8 had the very best kit from BMW's goodie sack: traction and stability control, navigation, climate, neon rear lights (there were no LEDs back then), powered/heated seats, powered steering wheel (fore and aft only), powered hood with a double-bubble metal hardtop included, runflat tyres - ah. Well, in every life a little rain must fall. Still, at least BMW offered plenty of personalisation options to buyers.
Ah yes, buyers. It's significant that of the 5,700 Z8s made, more than 2,500 went to the American market, The advertised price was $128,000 until one of the big car mags there declared it to be superior to the Ferrari 360 in acceleration, braking and handling, at which point a bidding war broke out and prices went through the roof.
It was a different picture in the UK, where fewer than 150 'official' examples were available. Even so, at £80,000 they didn't exactly fly off the shelves. This was partly due to BMW's failure to build any right-hand drive cars, but on another level there was some confusion about what the car was meant to be about. British journos appreciated the 400hp drivetrain but wondered why it wasn't chucking out more horsepower per litre. The Z8 weighed 1,660kg and never felt face-meltingly rapid. Others ventured the opinion that, despite its 50/50 weight distribution, the 'soft' chassis made it more of a boulevardier's car than a baws-oot blaster. Contemporary magazine reviews were vanilla even on a good day.
Fortunately for those who bought and doggedly held onto their Z8s, nostalgia has a useful tendency to strip away most if not all negative memories. In the Z8's case that gold-panning process has uncovered a rare grand tourer with a nice V8 engine, a comfy and refreshing driving experience, and an appearance that - if you can ignore the excessive chroming - has matured very nicely. Predictably there has been in a ramping-up of values. There are fewer than a hundred Z8s registered in the UK now, although the absence of RHD cars means that it's effectively a 'world car' in terms of market mobility. In other words, a car's location shouldn't affect its price.
Of the six examples for sale on PH Classifieds at the moment, three are Price On Application. For those who don't really get the concept of Applying for Prices, that leaves three cars to choose from. If we attribute a value of £25,000-£30,000 to the 28 GB registration plate that comes with the most expensive of these, that suggests a value of £220k-£225k for the one-owner, 23,000-mile car that's attached to it. For £25-£30k less than that you could have this 11,000-mile three-owner car. Will everyone be a fan of the urgent interior though, even if that was for many a default look for the Z8? Hmm.
Which leaves this silver Z8 as our Spotted favourite. Not just because the black leather is easier on the eye after a heavy night out, but also because the price is right, or more right at any rate, at £149,950. That's about as low as Z8s go these days. Anyone thinking of getting into one will be heartened to hear that BMW committed itself to maintaining a 50-year stockpile of Z8 parts, so that should be you covered until 2050. Whether BMW will be able to supply you with petrol at that point is another matter.
SPECIFICATION | BMW Z8 ROADSTER
Engine: 4,941cc V8
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 400@6,600rpm
Torque (lb ft): 369@3,800rpm
MPG: 19.5mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 349g/km
First registered: 2001
Recorded mileage: 40,500
Price new: £80,000
Yours for: £149,950
I accept that it floats certain boats and am not criticising that
That said, why shouldn’t they and aren’t all cars over priced at the moment or have I simply lost touch?
I like it’s looks, put could £150,000 to much better use and suspect I would be very disappointed when I drove it. Don’t meet your hero’s as they say.
Nice car, great engine, not worth £100k in my opinion, much less whatever these joker dealers are asking for it.
E39 M5 and Z4M covers every base better and for 30% the cost of this.
The dealer will say........ it is rare........ super desirable... appreciating asset.....BMW styling at its best........bulls
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