Ocht... its just a car.... Z4
Discussion
So a few years ago..... I found myself in the position of being able to buy a car, not a run of the mill for A to B duties, but something as a toy, something that would be for pleasure. I always liked convertibles rented a few over the years and never thought for the life of me that Id be able to afford one. Okay its not a supercar by any manner of means but it still did 60 in under 7 seconds and would reach the other side of 150 ok I know by 1 mph but it was still north of the 150 mark.
Id looked at a few convertibles and no matter what I looked at it came back to the Z, the folding tin roof and a six cylinder engine. Id a few to see then I saw this up on autotrader that was local, well 40 miles or so. went to see it had a test drive and yep it ticked the boxes for me and I bought it. 22k miles it had and a full service history. I believe a lady owner and she had been caught out with the weather and went on to a rangerover. That suited me, a fun car for a year I thought, something to tool around in and enjoy.
I left the garage with a Z4 on no finance and it was all mine. My first BMW.
200hp and rwd was interesting, especially up here in the wet. still the weakest link is always the nut that holds the steering wheel. take it gently and follow the laws of physics and you will do fine. Actually in the four years Ill say I never scared myself in the car. I did once or twice slip the rear out at a roundabout but that was just pushing on beyond the grip. got used to rear wheel drive and apart from snow the car did what was asked and was dependable.
The thing with cars is they grow on you, you start to 'bond' with them and yes Ill say I enjoyed the Z4, group forums were great for finding information and learning about the car, who would have thought my car had an emergency call button at the rear view mirror, that was found out from one of the forums. I also found out about the dreaded 296 wheels, when they said the were cracking they were not being complimentary. I did suffer from a couple of cracked wheels, and although the were professionally repaired they cracked else where. just a bad design of wheel. I ended up getting two new wheels and shod them with non run flats and there was never an issue after that. However I never ventured too far from home just incase.... ended up changing the 296 for a set of 293. and normal service resumed. faith was found and no terror occurred with the thought of long trips.
One of the things that I did do was join an official BMW club, Id say that was probably the best things that I did, it put me in touch with a few like minded individuals and it really improved the ownership of the car. the club meets tended to involve a good natter and a nice drive somewhere.
Ive enjoyed my time with the car and would recommend anyone to get a convertible at least once in their life, its a great experience and the driving experience is totally different. You don't realise just how much you are isolated from the world until you drop the roof.
Although there was one not so nice moment when I had a seagull dump on me, ill say it was one greedy bugger or it was seriously ill. On the whole other people liked the car and I got many nice comments, you got the odd smart one but they were few and far between.
Id looked at a few convertibles and no matter what I looked at it came back to the Z, the folding tin roof and a six cylinder engine. Id a few to see then I saw this up on autotrader that was local, well 40 miles or so. went to see it had a test drive and yep it ticked the boxes for me and I bought it. 22k miles it had and a full service history. I believe a lady owner and she had been caught out with the weather and went on to a rangerover. That suited me, a fun car for a year I thought, something to tool around in and enjoy.
I left the garage with a Z4 on no finance and it was all mine. My first BMW.
200hp and rwd was interesting, especially up here in the wet. still the weakest link is always the nut that holds the steering wheel. take it gently and follow the laws of physics and you will do fine. Actually in the four years Ill say I never scared myself in the car. I did once or twice slip the rear out at a roundabout but that was just pushing on beyond the grip. got used to rear wheel drive and apart from snow the car did what was asked and was dependable.
The thing with cars is they grow on you, you start to 'bond' with them and yes Ill say I enjoyed the Z4, group forums were great for finding information and learning about the car, who would have thought my car had an emergency call button at the rear view mirror, that was found out from one of the forums. I also found out about the dreaded 296 wheels, when they said the were cracking they were not being complimentary. I did suffer from a couple of cracked wheels, and although the were professionally repaired they cracked else where. just a bad design of wheel. I ended up getting two new wheels and shod them with non run flats and there was never an issue after that. However I never ventured too far from home just incase.... ended up changing the 296 for a set of 293. and normal service resumed. faith was found and no terror occurred with the thought of long trips.
One of the things that I did do was join an official BMW club, Id say that was probably the best things that I did, it put me in touch with a few like minded individuals and it really improved the ownership of the car. the club meets tended to involve a good natter and a nice drive somewhere.
Ive enjoyed my time with the car and would recommend anyone to get a convertible at least once in their life, its a great experience and the driving experience is totally different. You don't realise just how much you are isolated from the world until you drop the roof.
Although there was one not so nice moment when I had a seagull dump on me, ill say it was one greedy bugger or it was seriously ill. On the whole other people liked the car and I got many nice comments, you got the odd smart one but they were few and far between.
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