BMW Z4 2.2i SE (E85) | Shed of the Week
No one is exactly sure who designed the E85, but one thing is certain - they don't make 'em like this anymore
In his classic 1835 work ‘Locksley Hall’ the poet Alfred Tennyson said that in the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
Shed’s fancies could never be described as light even on the sunniest of summer’s days, and his mistaken comprehension of poetry is limited to the odd one-night stanza, but he has always been partial to the soft caress of a warm breeze on his tonsure. Such opportunities are rare in the UK of course, but Shed reckons that once the ‘good’ weather does arrive the hood on this week’s BMW Z4 would be more than capable of keeping his and you-know-who’s bonces dry during a typical July cloudburst.
Many seem to sniff at the 2003-on E85/86 Z4 now, but it’s worth remembering that it was enthusiastically reviewed in period. The internet is less than clear on who actually designed it. If you don’t like the looks of it and you don’t like Chris Bangle you might want to say it was his fault. If you do like it you could say it was Anders Warming, who as we all know went on from his job as a car designer to launch a heated glove business. Actually, that’s not true - he is now head of styling at Rolls-Royce.
The first Z4s were built at BMW’s plant in South Carolina. They were firmer-riding and sportier than the squidgy Z3. In fact, Sport models were maybe too firm for British roads, especially if they had run-flat tyres which played merry hell with Shed’s farmers. All Z4 models bar the 2.0 were powered by characterful straight sixes. The 2.2 that we’re looking at here was built in 2004, bang in the middle of a short run from 2003 to 2005. Its M54 engine produced 168hp at 6,100rpm and 155lb ft at 3,500rpm, enough to get the car’s 1,325kg through the 0-62mph run in 7.7 seconds.
At the other end of the E85 scale, you had the S54-powered 3.2 M Roadster which buzzed out 338hp at a freaky 7,900rpm and 269lb ft at 4,900rpm. Despite being 125kg heavier than the 2.2 it did the 0-62 in 4.8 seconds, and we’re talking about nearly 20 years ago here. Today you’ll need at least £11k for a Z4 M and up to £25k for a low-mile specimen in a rare colour, making our 104,000-mile, two-owner 2.2 SE look like a veritable snip at £1,895.
We’re told this Z4 has a service history, but nothing about the length of it. Although the M54 engine has a fine reputation for reliability 2.2 petrols can suffer from failing coils and wear to the VANOS valve timing gubbins. Busted rear springs were common too, but these were easy (10mins a side) and cheap to sort out. You could expect near-30mpg average consumption figures across most of the Z4 range. The CO2 figure for the 2.2 was 214g/km, so your annual VED payment will be £415.
The MOT runs out in March, i.e. any minute now, but the good news is that the only blots on the last test were a non-excessive oil leak and a worn offside rear tyre, which looks like it might have been replaced anyway. The even better news is that the vendor Ray (hopefully not Ray Von) will put a new ticket on it for you. It’s a pity we can’t see more of the interior, but most of what we can see is coated in either wood or leather, materials which lend themselves to being spruced up. Quite literally in the case of the wood if you felt like a change of species.
As with any electronically-controlled car roof, the one on the Z4 could conk out, usually as a result of motor saturation from blocked drains, but a little diligence in that department should keep things cushty. It’s a good idea never to leave the top down when parked under a leaf-shedding tree in Autumn.
Which neatly brings us back to the poetic approach of Spring. Tennyson died in 1892, the same year in which Daimler’s first proper production vehicle (the Daimler Motorised Carriage) went on sale, but he was clearly a motoring visionary having penned several works on an automotive theme many decades before cars were invented. He was a Ford man too by all accounts.
Recalling Shed’s liking for a breeze on his scalp, who can forget his ’Come Hither The Zephyr’? For supercar enthusiasts he penned ’Many A Night From Yon Zonda Ivied Casement’, but the real classics of course were the unfortunately misspelt ‘Lotos Eaters’ and the similarly typoed ‘Break, Break, Break!’, the tragic story of a pony and cart going out of control on a stretch of wet cobbles.
It’s all true, look it up. OK, the Zonda and Zephyr ones were made up, but the rest of it is free education. Shed could do with a bit of that. He still thinks an iambic pentameter is something you use to check exhaust emissions.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/18093865
As for this week's shed, I've only experienced the 2.2l straight six in a Z3 where it sounds great and is adequately torquey for the application. This looks like a fun car for not much money, as long as none of the usual Z4 roadster issues are lurking.
My wife has no interest in cars (“just so long as the roof comes down”) but even she thought the interior felt “cheap”.
End up with a TT but this looks a pre-summer bargain.
Plus I'd just come out of the Cerbera as well, and that had leather everywhere with it having the full hide option, plus the switchgear in that felt more special to me as well. The Z4 is a fantastic car value wise now for sure though, and this is a cracking shed I think.
And their value hasn’t fared well lately- a few extra pounds will get you into heated leather and a nicer example generally.
Great fun & good looking cars though.
Plus I'd just come out of the Cerbera as well, and that had leather everywhere with it having the full hide option, plus the switchgear in that felt more special to me as well. The Z4 is a fantastic car value wise now for sure though, and this is a cracking shed I think.
The interior was the least important element for me - I bought it for the engine, the performance and the outside appearance. I still have it 16 years later and the interior is one of the least modified areas of the car…unless you count a carbon bucket seat and a throttle pedal extension to aid heel-and-toe (and a short shifter that I’ve yet to fit).
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