BMW Z4 M Roadster
Discussion
So having been in the States for a couple of years now I've managed to get myself a reasonable job and have been saving like mad I finally have something worth talking about.
I realised when looking for this car that they were quite rare, and that finding a decent one locally would be hard to find. There were only around 40 or so for sale across all of America, which is about double whats for sale in England at the moment. I'd considered getting one from a dealer somewhere, but most of them that I've dealt with so far have all been morons. So I found a few privately, literally on the other side of the country. There was a nice Space Grey one with a brown leather interior that looked nice, but in the end I settled on an Imola red with cream interior.
I'd emailed the owner and spoken with him a bunch of times, and he seemed genuine. On 26th August after finishing work at 3am and only sleeping for an hour or so, I got a 6am flight to Dallas to go and look at the car and hopefully do the deal. I had to drive 250 miles or so just inside of Louisiana, and when I met up with the chap the car was better than expected. It only had 46k miles which I thought was a very good compromise between regular use and a garage queen. The current owner only did 1,000 miles in the year he had it, he was much more interested in older cars so wanted to get rid.
Crappy hire car.
Just after returning the hire car and about to head to Dallas.
When I'd seen the car was as expected, I paid the man and set off back to Dallas on Wednesday evening, arriving at my hotel at around 11pm after a few hours driving. In the morning I went to see Dealey Plaza, which was quite interesting, and then hit the road for some long driving. It was a great experience, but honestly not as fun as I'd expected. The roads were great, mostly dual carriageways, driving through Texas pretty much everyone displayed terrific lane discipline. I had the roof down most of the way, as it was lovely weather driving through there. As it turned to night I approached New Mexico, and had a quick look around El Paso, before continuing to my stop of the night in a unmemorable place called Las Cruces
Dallas book building where Kennedy was shot from.
New Mexico
A rather blurry scenic night panorama of El Paso.
Friday morning came around and I made an early start, filling up on a 'continental breakfast' which consisted of a waffle and some yoghurt, before leaving New Mexico behind and entering Arizona. The roads had been very straight and very boring most of the time, so occasionally I'd leave at a junction, just to stretch the legs of the wonderful S54. I also slowed down a lot to pass the large trucks, and then nailed it past them for a bit of entertainment. The engine in this thing is incredible. It has bags of torque and just keeps pulling all the way round to 8,000rpm.
Tank!
Straight roads
It started to get rather warm in Arizona, and I watched the thermometer on the car gradually increase. 30 degrees, 35 degrees, it just kept going higher. The roof had to go up and the brilliant climate control was utilised. I think the temperature peaked at 46.5 degrees according to the BMW, and it never really went below 43 for a good majority of driving through Arizona.
I was a little bit surprised upon entering California how greatly the standard of driving reduced. Going through Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, people generally seemed to have good lane discipline and know what they were doing. I felt like as soon as I crossed that border into California people started driving like s
t.
The last 60 miles or so of the trip back I took some twisty roads, and I was very impressed with how well the thing corners. I know that this car isn't the lightest around, but it really does handle very well.
Waxed and polished.
The car is pretty much immaculate. There are a few scratches here and there but very impressed with it considering its 9 years old.
So far I've installed an F10 M5 gearknob which has a much nice feeling to shift, and also improves the lighting on the gearstick at night.
Hoping to have many more happy miles with this car. Its been such a blast so far.
I realised when looking for this car that they were quite rare, and that finding a decent one locally would be hard to find. There were only around 40 or so for sale across all of America, which is about double whats for sale in England at the moment. I'd considered getting one from a dealer somewhere, but most of them that I've dealt with so far have all been morons. So I found a few privately, literally on the other side of the country. There was a nice Space Grey one with a brown leather interior that looked nice, but in the end I settled on an Imola red with cream interior.
I'd emailed the owner and spoken with him a bunch of times, and he seemed genuine. On 26th August after finishing work at 3am and only sleeping for an hour or so, I got a 6am flight to Dallas to go and look at the car and hopefully do the deal. I had to drive 250 miles or so just inside of Louisiana, and when I met up with the chap the car was better than expected. It only had 46k miles which I thought was a very good compromise between regular use and a garage queen. The current owner only did 1,000 miles in the year he had it, he was much more interested in older cars so wanted to get rid.
Crappy hire car.
Just after returning the hire car and about to head to Dallas.
When I'd seen the car was as expected, I paid the man and set off back to Dallas on Wednesday evening, arriving at my hotel at around 11pm after a few hours driving. In the morning I went to see Dealey Plaza, which was quite interesting, and then hit the road for some long driving. It was a great experience, but honestly not as fun as I'd expected. The roads were great, mostly dual carriageways, driving through Texas pretty much everyone displayed terrific lane discipline. I had the roof down most of the way, as it was lovely weather driving through there. As it turned to night I approached New Mexico, and had a quick look around El Paso, before continuing to my stop of the night in a unmemorable place called Las Cruces
Dallas book building where Kennedy was shot from.
New Mexico
A rather blurry scenic night panorama of El Paso.
Friday morning came around and I made an early start, filling up on a 'continental breakfast' which consisted of a waffle and some yoghurt, before leaving New Mexico behind and entering Arizona. The roads had been very straight and very boring most of the time, so occasionally I'd leave at a junction, just to stretch the legs of the wonderful S54. I also slowed down a lot to pass the large trucks, and then nailed it past them for a bit of entertainment. The engine in this thing is incredible. It has bags of torque and just keeps pulling all the way round to 8,000rpm.
Tank!
Straight roads
It started to get rather warm in Arizona, and I watched the thermometer on the car gradually increase. 30 degrees, 35 degrees, it just kept going higher. The roof had to go up and the brilliant climate control was utilised. I think the temperature peaked at 46.5 degrees according to the BMW, and it never really went below 43 for a good majority of driving through Arizona.
I was a little bit surprised upon entering California how greatly the standard of driving reduced. Going through Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, people generally seemed to have good lane discipline and know what they were doing. I felt like as soon as I crossed that border into California people started driving like s
t.The last 60 miles or so of the trip back I took some twisty roads, and I was very impressed with how well the thing corners. I know that this car isn't the lightest around, but it really does handle very well.
Waxed and polished.
The car is pretty much immaculate. There are a few scratches here and there but very impressed with it considering its 9 years old.
So far I've installed an F10 M5 gearknob which has a much nice feeling to shift, and also improves the lighting on the gearstick at night.
Hoping to have many more happy miles with this car. Its been such a blast so far.
FrankHovis said:
Very nice and definitely a bit of a rarity over there. What happens with the number plate, do you have to re-register in California?
Yes. I was a bit apprehensive about that. I needed to get it emissions tested before registering it. If it failed then I'd have to fix it before I could register it. Thankfully it passed no problem.After that I took it to the American AA who offer registration services which is quite good.
I had to pay sales tax on the bloody thing which was annoying, but after that tthey gave me new number plates there and then.
Gave it a wash yesterday and put some more polish on. I have also tinted the indicators in red to give a slightly more modern feel.
Orange peel tastic!
The car is so much fun to drive. Love having enough torque to get past things easily.
I'll probably be getting the front bumper resprayed in the next few months and will get them to spray over those hideous orange reflectors on the front while they are doing it.
Orange peel tastic!
The car is so much fun to drive. Love having enough torque to get past things easily.
I'll probably be getting the front bumper resprayed in the next few months and will get them to spray over those hideous orange reflectors on the front while they are doing it.
TheDukeGTi said:
Nice car mate! That S54 is something else.
I recently moved to California from the UK and am looking for an M3. How have you found registering an out-of-state car in Cali? It's something I've considered doing, but I've heard it's a pain.
Piece of piss chap. I thought it was hard as well, but after doing it the process couldn't have been more straight forward.I recently moved to California from the UK and am looking for an M3. How have you found registering an out-of-state car in Cali? It's something I've considered doing, but I've heard it's a pain.
Basically it went:
1.Buy car and drive it back
2.Get it smog checked
3.Get it checked by DMV (in my case the AAA did it which was a lot easier)
4.Pay sales tax and registration.
If you aren't a member of the AAA I'd very much recommend it.
Polarbert said:
Piece of piss chap. I thought it was hard as well, but after doing it the process couldn't have been more straight forward.
Basically it went:
1.Buy car and drive it back
2.Get it smog checked
3.Get it checked by DMV (in my case the AAA did it which was a lot easier)
4.Pay sales tax and registration.
If you aren't a member of the AAA I'd very much recommend it.
That's good to hear, thanks very much for the advice. Again, lovely car. Especially with that engine and in Imola Red. Top workBasically it went:
1.Buy car and drive it back
2.Get it smog checked
3.Get it checked by DMV (in my case the AAA did it which was a lot easier)
4.Pay sales tax and registration.
If you aren't a member of the AAA I'd very much recommend it.
So I don't know how many people will be interested in an update, since I've not really done any modifications to the car, but some things have happened along the way worth typing about.
Had a service about a month and a half ago now, including new spark plugs. Had a misfire on the fourth cylinder one day which shocked me somewhat. After spending ages to find a decent local independent who knew what they were doing and wasn't going to rape me, I found somewhere and the guy appeared very honest. He has a Ferrari F355 Berlineta in black which looks like an amazing car.
Car has been pretty much faultless since having the oil and plugs changed. Its fast enough for me, and although I would like it louder it is doing the job for the time being.
So a few weeks while I was at work, a coworker came up and said that he had struck my car while he was leaving the parking space. I couldn't really understand how, but I went down and found this:
I was annoyed but thankful the chap was honest and came to me with his insurance details. So it was booked in and all was going well. It was due to go in for repairs on a Monday, and while happily working the Thursday before my supervisor came over to my desk and said that someone had hit my car in the car park. I first of all though 'yes I know' but then asked him if he was joking. No was his answer. So I go down and this old chap told me he hit my car while leaving. Two times within the space of two weeks. I couldn't really believe it but oh well.
Thankfully the garage said they could do this additional work while it was in, and I now had two insurance claims against other peoples insurance.
Anyway it has come back to me and all is well.
Reflectors have been painted over!
Had a service about a month and a half ago now, including new spark plugs. Had a misfire on the fourth cylinder one day which shocked me somewhat. After spending ages to find a decent local independent who knew what they were doing and wasn't going to rape me, I found somewhere and the guy appeared very honest. He has a Ferrari F355 Berlineta in black which looks like an amazing car.
Car has been pretty much faultless since having the oil and plugs changed. Its fast enough for me, and although I would like it louder it is doing the job for the time being.
So a few weeks while I was at work, a coworker came up and said that he had struck my car while he was leaving the parking space. I couldn't really understand how, but I went down and found this:
I was annoyed but thankful the chap was honest and came to me with his insurance details. So it was booked in and all was going well. It was due to go in for repairs on a Monday, and while happily working the Thursday before my supervisor came over to my desk and said that someone had hit my car in the car park. I first of all though 'yes I know' but then asked him if he was joking. No was his answer. So I go down and this old chap told me he hit my car while leaving. Two times within the space of two weeks. I couldn't really believe it but oh well.
Thankfully the garage said they could do this additional work while it was in, and I now had two insurance claims against other peoples insurance.
Anyway it has come back to me and all is well.
Reflectors have been painted over!
Oh and I am sure some people noticed that the picture of the speedo it showed a lot of condensation from water droplets inside the plastic cover. I don't know how that happened, but I finally did something about it using a guide. Out came the instrument cluster, and I took it apart and cleaned it up. I couldn't and didn't want to chance releasing the last retaining clips to separate the plastic from the instrument cluster, so I just used some cotton buds soaked in glass cleaner.
It isn't a perfect job, but I really didn't want to mess with what could be quite brittle ten year old plastic.
This was the clip that I couldn't work out how to release. I'm sure its easy once you've done it, but I had no idea, as when I tried to release one, it seemed to act against the other one.
It isn't a perfect job, but I really didn't want to mess with what could be quite brittle ten year old plastic.
This was the clip that I couldn't work out how to release. I'm sure its easy once you've done it, but I had no idea, as when I tried to release one, it seemed to act against the other one.
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