RE: BMW Z4 M: PH Buying Guide

[daz05]

GroundEffect said:

Owned a Z4M Roadster for 2 years. Loved it but it was by no-means perfect. You couldn't really hustle it down a B-road as the handling was quite...excitable. By comparison, my E92 M3 is much more progressive and communicative.

Similar experience to me comparing the E92 but reading this thread I feel some of the tales of the Zeds handling traits are a little exaggerated.

The gear change can also be improved with a shorter shifter and a clutch stop to remove the gap in changes.

Edited by daz05 on Monday 2nd November 20:59

[AliV6]

Owned mine for a little over 4 years and 30k miles.

Great looking car with a sublime driving position.

After 4 years and replacing half the car under warranty it was sound. I put a full review on z4-forum.

Still can't can't fault the looks.

Edited by AliV6 on Monday 2nd November 21:36

[carl_w]

AliV6 said:

Owned mine for a little over 4 years and 30k miles.

Great looking car with a sublime driving position.

After 4 years and replacing half the car under warranty it was sound. I put a full review on z4-forum.

Also interesting. I've had mine for 8 years and the only things (to my knowledge, best check my profile for details) that I've replaced under warranty are:
O2 sensors
Exhaust back boxes
Starter motor
Cupholders (three times now -- don't use them folks)

[ess]

Love the 'rear springs as consumables' comment.
Replaced three times on YA07. Really should ditch OEM.

Great car for Euro trips -



No use in London tho -

[a11y_m]

I 'only' had an older 3.0i SE (the M54 231ps) but was still the most fun car I've owned. Driven for everything from daily use to road trips. Kept for over 3.5 years and only the arrival of kids forced a sale. Didn't ever get the opportunity to compare to an M version, probably just as well really as mine was perfect and cheap (relative to an M) to run. Removed the pins from the top mounts for extra negative camber, replace tyres with non-runflats. Eibach springs on mine were a mistake as they certainly did the ride no favours on bumpy roads where it ran out of travel and was poorly damped

Still miss it though, still love the looks, my interior was certainly individual indeed:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/bED6hj]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/bEC7pd]

[p.douther]

OWNED A Z4 ROADSTER A FEW YEARS AGO ..IN THE LAST YEAR I HAD THE RARE OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE AN ALPINA ROADSTER S .THE PERFORMANCE IS SIMILAR,BUT THE RIDE AND SUPERIOR ENGINE TORQUE MAKE THE ALPINA MORE DESIRABLE.THE INTERIOR IS MORE LUXURIOUS,AND THE LIMITED PRODUCTION RUN OF 167 CARS GIVES IMO THE ALPINA ROADSTER A BETTER CHANCE OF ACHIEVING CULT STATUS

[shambolic]

No need to shout!

[jontbone]

I've adored the look of these since they came out and seemed like a fitting replacement for the oddball yet strangely great looking Z3M Coupe. Would seriously consider a 3.0i as a fast cruiser, unfortunately the M is just too much for me to justify at the moment.

General consensus seems to agree that the handling doesn't match the looks without some mods which is a shame, although I dont think that would put me off too much, as I wouldn't be driving it at ten tenths.

I wouldn't rule out a 6pot Z3 Roadster either, I still think they look rather fresh & modern despite being 20 years since launch.

[AliV6]

carl_w said:

Also interesting. I've had mine for 8 years and the only things (to my knowledge, best check my profile for details) that I've replaced under warranty are:
O2 sensors
Exhaust back boxes
Starter motor
Cupholders (three times now -- don't use them folks)

I did a owners review on the Z4 forum when I bought the M3, but can't seem to find it. Mine was a Friday PM car for sure.

From front to back:

Sticking calipers
Engine mount(s)
gearbox end seal
02 sensors 3 or 4
2 dampers and 1 spring (then switched to Eibachs)
Passenger tweeter
New windscreen as they had to remove it to source a rattle!
Propshaft end seal

Possibly more that I've forgotten. I got my moneys worth out the warranty that's for sure.

I was never a fan of the motor either, very top end felt like you needed to rev the tits off to extract the best out of it.

Also the misses made an absolute hash of driving it being 5'2 and with a stiff clutch/box...I've been on less aggressive roller coasters!

[andybirtles]

Personally I have always thought that the z3m was a more muscley looking and aggressive looking car. Which is why I still have mine with only 61k on it.... The interior on the z4m is barely different from all other z4's compared to the interior differences between the z3m and the z3... This also goes for the outside... Apart from the 4 pipes at the rear the z4m just doesn't seem to distinguish itself from the other models. The z3m looks pure aggression in comparison with its deep dish rear wheels and flared rear arches.. This is probably why good z3m's are creeping past z4m's in value !!!!

Just my opinion !!!!!

Andy.

[Amirhussain]

Pereldh said:

Edited by Pereldh on Monday 2nd November 00:26

Great picture.

[otolith]

AliV6 said:

I was never a fan of the motor either, very top end felt like you needed to rev the tits off to extract the best out of it.

You do, but it's not as if it's lacking at the bottom end. If you like a high-revving NA engine, and I appreciate not everyone does, it's magnificent.

[nunpuncher]

I had a roadster. I really struggled when i bought it as I much preferred the look of the coupe. A rarely available local coupe came up for a very similar price just before i was about to buy the roadster but after driving the coupe I forced myself into buying the roadster. It seemed that adding a roof to a car designed from initial conception to have no roof resulted in something altogether far too stiff for any normal road. I remember wincing when i spotted manhole covers on the test drive.

In the end I didn't keep the roadster longer than 6 months. I enjoyed it well enough but it never found a place in my heart, I guess i always wished it looked like the coupe (which I still think is fantastic looking). The handling did feel twitchy but I think a lot of that is down to the driving position. You sit with your arse almost right on that rear axel so feel every single tiny little bit of lateral movement.

[cerb4.5lee]

nunpuncher said:

I had a roadster. I really struggled when i bought it as I much preferred the look of the coupe. A rarely available local coupe came up for a very similar price just before i was about to buy the roadster but after driving the coupe I forced myself into buying the roadster. It seemed that adding a roof to a car designed from initial conception to have no roof resulted in something altogether far too stiff for any normal road. I remember wincing when i spotted manhole covers on the test drive.

In the end I didn't keep the roadster longer than 6 months. I enjoyed it well enough but it never found a place in my heart, I guess i always wished it looked like the coupe (which I still think is fantastic looking). The handling did feel twitchy but I think a lot of that is down to the driving position. You sit with your arse almost right on that rear axel so feel every single tiny little bit of lateral movement.

This is so similar to me and I had always loved the look of the Coupe and mostly had Coupes in the past but decided to go for the Roadster(maybe a mid life crisis thing!) and just spent the whole ownership experience wishing I had gone for the prettier and sexier Coupe model.

I was another who felt the engine did its best work right at the top end and it felt to me torque light(came out of a Cerbera and was used to a 330d as well though)so maybe that was why and the engine just didn't live up to the hype that I had read about for me.

[Beedub]

mines been totally relaible really.... the only issues I've had since 2007 are...

A new seat ( warranty)
New battery.

And a tight shim on cylinder 5 inlet valve..... ( currently diving into this to change the shim and do some checks ). All i all considering the hard use the car see's and its state of tune, I'm very pleased.... I won't lie however I'm well aware that theirs large bill looking in my future with this car, but.... it think that goes with all high performance vehicles.

Seating position, steering and brakes are awesome for me, i LOVe being sat over the rear axle. The engine dominates the experience however, wonderful cars! They are only going one way so grab a low mile/low owner one now while you can.

[CRA1G]

andybirtles said:

Personally I have always thought that the z3m was a more muscley looking and aggressive looking car. Which is why I still have mine with only 61k on it.... The interior on the z4m is barely different from all other z4's compared to the interior differences between the z3m and the z3... This also goes for the outside... Apart from the 4 pipes at the rear the z4m just doesn't seem to distinguish itself from the other models. The z3m looks pure aggression in comparison with its deep dish rear wheels and flared rear arches.. This is probably why good z3m's are creeping past z4m's in value !!!!

Just my opinion !!!!!

Andy.

I agree but which model do you have..? are you talking Z3M Coupe..? I think they are unique purely because they only did it in the "M" for the UK market.

[blumpkin]

CRA1G said:

I agree but which model do you have..? are you talking Z3M Coupe..? I think they are unique purely because they only did it in the "M" for the UK market.

Err...

[paulyv]

CRA1G said:

I agree but which model do you have..? are you talking Z3M Coupe..? I think they are unique purely because they only did it in the "M" for the UK market.

Not sure that is right - although admittedly the USA one had a slightly different engine (as did their M3 of the time I think). Happy to be proved wrong but I seem to recall I have seen them in the U.S.

[CRA1G]

paulyv said:

Not sure that is right - although admittedly the USA one had a slightly different engine (as did their M3 of the time I think). Happy to be proved wrong but I seem to recall I have seen them in the U.S.

No what I mean is you could only buy a Z3M Coupe in the UK world wide they did the "M" and other size engine's....

[FlavaDave]

scz4 said:

FlavaDave said:

I replaced the dampers for Bilstein B6 and run contisport 5s and it's made a huge difference to the ride and handling. It now has immense front end traction and a wonderfully semi-light back end. It also bobs along with a 'reassuring' firmness, having lost all of its skittish nature. Certainly no plans to sell. Possibly ever.

Good to know, looking to purchase a B6 kit myself, can get them for £480 online, but reviews are thin on the ground.

Are you using OEM springs or Eibachs.

G

OEM springs. There's very little on the net about this and was going to post something official anyway for others to read, but briefly it's the single best thing you can do to the car. Absolutely transformed the ride and handling. I lost a little confidence with it during the summer but now it feels like nothing fazes it/me.

The B6s seemed quite long compared to the OEM dampers I took off. You might want to look at the B8s which are identical in performance, but shorter in the shaft. Never the less they seem to work!