Replacement for a Z4

[TameRacingDriver]

JayEmm on YouTube has reviewed both the Z4C 3.0 and the M and I believe he much preferred the 3.0 car.

Edited to add links

Edited by TameRacingDriver on Friday 6th January 12:32

[coldel]

Jayemm I think had the roadster Z4M did he? So not quite apples and apples but close enough I would suggest to talk about bumpy ride etc.

What I am coming to appreciate for the Z4C is that for all the talk of it not being able to attack B roads (which you could adapt the car to do a lot better with suspension, ARB, suspension settings etc) is that living in zone 3 in west London B roads are far and few between. I have also used two VX220s on B roads which make an old Boxster seem a bit meh in comparison.

But yes its all about needs. If someone needs something to drive their B roads daily they will give a Z4C a bad review. If they need something to live with daily across multiple road types, it actually is a good shout.

...and like jayemm i also discovered the auto hill start function by chance, it made me very happy lol

[jm8403]

coldel said:

Jayemm I think had the roadster Z4M did he? So not quite apples and apples b

Review above is of coupe

[coldel]

jm8403 said:

coldel said:

Jayemm I think had the roadster Z4M did he? So not quite apples and apples b

Review above is of coupe

For some reason TRD post is showing blank for me

So had a guess

[jm8403]

coldel said:

jm8403 said:

coldel said:

Jayemm I think had the roadster Z4M did he? So not quite apples and apples b

Review above is of coupe

For some reason TRD post is showing blank for me

So had a guess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk4x-QSZfeU

[TameRacingDriver]

Anyone feel free to let me know if the links aren't working, I'll try and fix them.

[C70R]

Jayemm seems like a decent bloke, but remember his goal is to generate content.

If he'd just come to the conclusion of "yeah, the more expensive and faster car is better" he probably wouldn't have half as many clicks/views.

ETA - Jason Potato liked the M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHKLtxI1kSE

Edited by C70R on Friday 6th January 13:19

[Earthdweller]

Si v M ?

Interesting comparison, I drove both before I decided to buy a weekend car ( as well as trying lots of other things )

I found the M was pretty special but very much an all or nothing car and the Si was a much more rounded and usable car, maybe 8 tenths of the M but really only at silly speeds, day to day it’s the better car

I bought the Si and 6 years later I have no regrets and I’ve been all over Europe in it and it’s an excellent affordable fun car, no it’s not perfect but a few mods can transform it particularly around tyres and suspension and gearchange with a CDV delete

Mine now handles brilliantly and rides very well and also with the DLV exhaust mod sounds like it should have done when it left the factory

I’ve occasionally thought about getting an M and when a friend was thinking of selling his a couple of years ago I was very tempted .. but I genuinely don’t think they are worth the premium over the Si

They are a great fun car to chuck down a B road and bang for buck I really think hard to beat

[cerb4.5lee]

C70R said:

ETA - Jason Potato liked the M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHKLtxI1kSE

I watched that a few times when I had mine.

Richard Hammond rated the Z4M Roadster on his Top Gear review video as well IIRC.

[cerb4.5lee]

Earthdweller said:

Si v M ?

Interesting comparison, I drove both before I decided to buy a weekend car ( as well as trying lots of other things )

I found the M was pretty special but very much an all or nothing car and the Si was a much more rounded and usable car, maybe 8 tenths of the M but really only at silly speeds, day to day it’s the better car

I bought the Si and 6 years later I have no regrets and I’ve been all over Europe in it and it’s an excellent affordable fun car, no it’s not perfect but a few mods can transform it particularly around tyres and suspension and gearchange with a CDV delete

Mine now handles brilliantly and rides very well and also with the DLV exhaust mod sounds like it should have done when it left the factory

I’ve occasionally thought about getting an M and when a friend was thinking of selling his a couple of years ago I was very tempted .. but I genuinely don’t think they are worth the premium over the Si

They are a great fun car to chuck down a B road and bang for buck I really think hard to beat

That is the general consensus that I always get from the comparisons that I've read over the years too. I would like to try either the Z4 or Z4M Coupe to see how they compare to the Z4M Roadster I had. I do properly remember falling in love with the Z4M Coupe when I sat in one at the London motorshow back in 2006, and that was what pushed me to get mine back in 2012. I do often wonder if I should have gone for the Coupe over the Roadster though, and that still niggles at me now.

[Mr Tidy]

I bought a 3.0Si Z4 Coupe in 2014 and always thought it was 80% of the car for 50% of the money.

Then in 2019 I drove a couple of M Coupes and found one at a price I couldn't resist - so I bought it!

I still think the 3.0Si is 80% of the car for 50% of the money, but that extra 20% is just fantastic.

Servicing costs for the M aren't cheap, but they seem cheaper than E46 M3s with boot-floor issues!

Z4M Coupe as a weekend toy works for me, but I'd have a 3.0 Si as a daily - if I didn't have an E90 330i with the same N52 engine as the 3.0Si

[plenty]

First-generation EPAS was a deal-breaker for me so I went with the Z4M, but I'd love to try an N52 Z4 with a hydraulic conversion.

100+ kgs less weight over the front axle with the alloy N52 block versus the heavy cast-iron S54 can only be a good thing.

[jm8403]

Mr Tidy said:

I bought a 3.0Si Z4 Coupe in 2014 and always thought it was 80% of the car for 50% of the money.

Then in 2019 I drove a couple of M Coupes and found one at a price I couldn't resist - so I bought it!

I still think the 3.0Si is 80% of the car for 50% of the money, but that extra 20% is just fantastic.

Servicing costs for the M aren't cheap, but they seem cheaper than E46 M3s with boot-floor issues!

Z4M Coupe as a weekend toy works for me, but I'd have a 3.0 Si as a daily - if I didn't have an E90 330i with the same N52 engine as the 3.0Si

A Z4M and 3L coupe as a daily is a route very few chose. I'd have M for fun car if I could only have one and an auto 3/5 series personally if I was going that route. At the minute I have a full race car which can't go on the road, so I see no need to upgrade the Z4 3L Couple to Z4M for the use it gets.

[coldel]

Well I am going to keep mine for now I think. Have a good tinker with it over spring time and get a few road trips booked in for the summer.

I really cannot see anything worth changing it for at the moment, Boxster isnt worth the potential bork, MX5 or 124 just dont have the power, same with GT86. B road thrashing is fun but not worth choosing a car for the 1% of driving I do on them. And the Z4C just looks gorgeous and so different.

So I am sticking for now...especially given the reputational damage the Z4C Values thread has done to any chance of selling one

[TameRacingDriver]

coldel said:

Well I am going to keep mine for now I think. Have a good tinker with it over spring time and get a few road trips booked in for the summer.

I really cannot see anything worth changing it for at the moment, Boxster isnt worth the potential bork, MX5 or 124 just dont have the power, same with GT86. B road thrashing is fun but not worth choosing a car for the 1% of driving I do on them. And the Z4C just looks gorgeous and so different.

So I am sticking for now...especially given the reputational damage the Z4C Values thread has done to any chance of selling one

Mate, if you want to sell yours to me for 50p, the money is waiting

[coldel]

TameRacingDriver said:

coldel said:

Well I am going to keep mine for now I think. Have a good tinker with it over spring time and get a few road trips booked in for the summer.

I really cannot see anything worth changing it for at the moment, Boxster isnt worth the potential bork, MX5 or 124 just dont have the power, same with GT86. B road thrashing is fun but not worth choosing a car for the 1% of driving I do on them. And the Z4C just looks gorgeous and so different.

So I am sticking for now...especially given the reputational damage the Z4C Values thread has done to any chance of selling one

Mate, if you want to sell yours to me for 50p, the money is waiting

Thats more than double what I thought I would get, done!

[TameRacingDriver]

Seriously though, I am gonna wait until Spring and then see if I still fancy one myself, I did really like mine even though it was the auto, but rest assured I wont be making that particular mistake again.

It's either that or stretch the budget for a Cayman and constantly live in fear

[coldel]

The manual gearbox is pretty awesome I have to say, really wrings out the revs and the gear throw (once you get rid of the awful plastic stick it comes with) is short and solid. If I compare it to the 350z gear box I had for instance the Nissan felt like it came out of a tractor. They should be about 2 grand for a 20k mile manual by the spring too

[TameRacingDriver]

coldel said:

The manual gearbox is pretty awesome I have to say, really wrings out the revs and the gear throw (once you get rid of the awful plastic stick it comes with) is short and solid. If I compare it to the 350z gear box I had for instance the Nissan felt like it came out of a tractor. They should be about 2 grand for a 20k mile manual by the spring too

Yeah, I feel like I never got the proper experience with the auto really. You're right about the 350Z too, agricultural is the first word that springs to mind about it's gearbox. £2K for a 20K miler, lets keep everything crossed shall we

Mind I probably won't want to pay as much as £10k so I'll have to see. I'll probably only get £5k for my MX5 and don' want to completely obliterate my savings If I could get one for £8k or so that would be palatable. The thing is, it's not a daily driver in so much as I work from home so it's just a runabout really, but it would get used properly when I do use it.

[cerb4.5lee]

TameRacingDriver said:

coldel said:

The manual gearbox is pretty awesome I have to say, really wrings out the revs and the gear throw (once you get rid of the awful plastic stick it comes with) is short and solid. If I compare it to the 350z gear box I had for instance the Nissan felt like it came out of a tractor. They should be about 2 grand for a 20k mile manual by the spring too

Yeah, I feel like I never got the proper experience with the auto really. You're right about the 350Z too, agricultural is the first word that springs to mind about it's gearbox. £2K for a 20K miler, lets keep everything crossed shall we

I wasn't fond of the auto mated to the N52 engine in the E90 330i either. BMW manual gearboxes do seem to differ a lot as well. For example I absolutely hated the manual in the Z4M, but I disliked the manual a bit less in the E92 M3 though. Whereas the manual in the E61 520d was lovely to use in comparison(smooth/direct), although it wasn't a great match to the tiny powerband of the 20d engine though for me.

I do like the manual in the 370Z, however it doesn't always go into the gear I'm looking for occasionally though to be fair! I do like how chunky/heavy it feels to use, and it suits the car I reckon.