RE: BMW Z3 M Coupe: Spotted

[s m]

Bit like a rich man's 130i ....

[Carlton Banks]

Keeping mine for the time being, love it.

[daveco]

If I remember the road tests correctly these were quicker than the E46 M3 in a straight line?

What was that down to, different gearing perhaps?

[motco]

daveco said:

If I remember the road tests correctly these were quicker than the E46 M3 in a straight line?

What was that down to, different gearing perhaps?

Smaller frontal area?

[Petecossie]

HuggyBearFezzy said:

Those staggered deep dish wheels look so nice. Shame BMW and other manufacturers don't do them anymore. Anybody know the reason why not? I'm guessing deep dish wheels do not go with modern styling/ cost.

How right you are about the deep dish wheels.

BMW missed a trick with the Z4 MC as it should have had a more bullous rear arch.

The difference is the Z3MC was conceived and built by engineers and no stylists & bean counters involved. The Z4MC was designed by stylists and had bean counters involved to keep the cost down!!

It will never happen again at BMW I'm sure.

[PurpleTurtle]

2 GKC said:

Lovely but doesn't work in Estoril for me. Needs to be black or Imola Red. Two tone interiors not BMW's finest hour either.

Each to their own but I think it's perfect in Estoril, but I agree with you on the two-tone interiors.

I had the opportunity to buy one of these new and discounted but passed it up. Bought an E46 M3 Convertible instead.

I was single in those days and the M Coupe would've been fine for me, but probabaly wouldn't have survived marriage and having a kid - the E46 has Isofix so has (so far) survived any kind of 'sensible family car' cull.

The Z would definitely make it into my Lottery Garage though.

[kambites]

I don't think anyone would really consider 5600NM/deg to be anything other than poor torsional rigidity in a car weighing significantly over a tonne.

To put it in perspective, it's far worse than an MGF.

Edited by kambites on Monday 12th February 11:21

[s m]

daveco said:

If I remember the road tests correctly these were quicker than the E46 M3 in a straight line?

Which road tests in particular?

[Resolutionary]

A friend bought one in Estoril and blue seat inserts with visions of grandeur but it got shunted a year or so back and has been garaged ever since. Quite depressing really as I adore these M coupes for their outlandish looks alone. I'd have mine in Dakar yellow please.

[brightonpad]

Our Imola... when I say our, I mean my GFs . It will never be sold.

[CRA1G]

Resolutionary said:

A friend bought one in Estoril and blue seat inserts with visions of grandeur but it got shunted a year or so back and has been garaged ever since. Quite depressing really as I adore these M coupes for their outlandish looks alone. I'd have mine in Dakar yellow please.

Yes.. i quite like Dakar yellow..

[kambites]

The yellow is lovely.

Someone had work used to have a bright pink Z3M Roadster which was... interesting.

[CRA1G]

Part of my little collection....

[Dr Nookie]

pwj1959 said:

Had one of these 1999 (ish). Disappointing but probably because it followed a S1 Elise so a bit like piloting an elephant by remote control rather than giving a gazelle a vague idea of the direction of travel required. Horrific servicing, insurance and petrol costs. Lost almost £1k a month in depreciation. We've had 2 more S1 Elise but apart from a Mini JCW (fabulous), we've never returned to the BMW marque.

Not exactly comparable cars though are they? That's a bit like me saying I found the Elise a little bit dull after the 7?
An Elise you probably buy purely for handling, a ZMC you buy for the combination of personality, performance, novelty, noise etc. with a great deal of practicality too. Aside from being on a track(and that's still only a maybe) I can't think of a single occasion I'd rather have an Elise, but it's all horses for courses.
I've never heard anyone moan about the fuel costs. I get mid 20's regardless of driving style, maybe a little higher on the motorway. Insurance is less than our CR-V and aside from the big service 2 it's what you'd expect to pay, for what you're driving really.
I'm 12 years in and it's perfectly reasonable to run IMO. Cheap even.

[2 GKC]

CRA1G said:

Part of my little collection....

Three great cars, but need a respray

What are those wheels on the Z3? Don't look standard?

[pwj1959]

Dr Nookie said:

pwj1959 said:

Had one of these 1999 (ish). Disappointing but probably because it followed a S1 Elise so a bit like piloting an elephant by remote control rather than giving a gazelle a vague idea of the direction of travel required. Horrific servicing, insurance and petrol costs. Lost almost £1k a month in depreciation. We've had 2 more S1 Elise but apart from a Mini JCW (fabulous), we've never returned to the BMW marque.

Not exactly comparable cars though are they? That's a bit like me saying I found the Elise a little bit dull after the 7?
An Elise you probably buy purely for handling, a ZMC you buy for the combination of personality, performance, novelty, noise etc. with a great deal of practicality too. Aside from being on a track(and that's still only a maybe) I can't think of a single occasion I'd rather have an Elise, but it's all horses for courses.
I've never heard anyone moan about the fuel costs. I get mid 20's regardless of driving style, maybe a little higher on the motorway. Insurance is less than our CR-V and aside from the big service 2 it's what you'd expect to pay, for what you're driving really.
I'm 12 years in and it's perfectly reasonable to run IMO. Cheap even.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to compare like with like as they are so dissimilar. I should have said that we found it heavy to drive. At the time the servicing costs were very high if you wanted to stay in the dealer network for warranty purposes. Tyres back then were a joke price wise. Very much horses for courses our 3rd S1 Elise is in the garage. We realised many years ago that smaller lighter cars were our preference.

[motco]

Gompo said:

motco said:

I went to look at one of these in Derbyshire about 3 - 4 years ago. It was a Cat D but a bit of panel alignment was all that was needed to make it good. The VANOS was a bit noisy and the rear end had not been reinforced - but not cracked either. It could have been had for about £8k but we walked away. What a mistake that was - it would have at least doubled in value in the interim.

I think I remember that one, definitely around that area and time period. It was possibly the cheapest one I'd seen. I seem to think it was white?

Not sure Gompo, I seem to recall silver but I may be wrong. It was just east of Chesterfield if I remember rightly.

[daveco]

s m said:

daveco said:

If I remember the road tests correctly these were quicker than the E46 M3 in a straight line?

Which road tests in particular?

Here is one of them, and in the slightly down on power yank version too.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/bmw-m-coupe-s...

[s m]

daveco said:

s m said:

daveco said:

If I remember the road tests correctly these were quicker than the E46 M3 in a straight line?

Which road tests in particular?

Here is one of them, and in the slightly down on power yank version too.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/bmw-m-coupe-s...

Looks like there wasn't much in it but the E46 just edged it

"For all its power and tight focus on performance driving, the M coupe is now slightly slower than the M3 sedan-we posted a 4.7-second 0-to-60 time in that two-door. Chalk it up to the M coupe's more conservative final-drive ratio (3.15:1 versus 3.62:1), five-speed versus six-speed gearbox, and 18 fewer horses. The reduced horsepower is due to different exhaust systems in the two cars."


In the UK mags the E46 usually just edged it although it had more weight , shorter gearing in the first few cogs helping it off the line no doubt

[daveco]

s m said:

daveco said:

s m said:

daveco said:

If I remember the road tests correctly these were quicker than the E46 M3 in a straight line?

Which road tests in particular?

Here is one of them, and in the slightly down on power yank version too.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/bmw-m-coupe-s...

Looks like there wasn't much in it but the E46 just edged it

"For all its power and tight focus on performance driving, the M coupe is now slightly slower than the M3 sedan-we posted a 4.7-second 0-to-60 time in that two-door. Chalk it up to the M coupe's more conservative final-drive ratio (3.15:1 versus 3.62:1), five-speed versus six-speed gearbox, and 18 fewer horses. The reduced horsepower is due to different exhaust systems in the two cars."


In the UK mags the E46 usually just edged it although it had more weight , shorter gearing in the first few cogs helping it off the line no doubt

Right you are I must have got them mixed up. The below links have them pretty much neck and neck with the E46 being slightly quicker everywhere bar the 0-400 metre dash

E46 M3 http://www.zeperfs.com/en/fiche108-bmw-m3-3-2.htm
Z3M http://www.zeperfs.com/en/fiche119-bmw-z3-m.htm