Supercharger!!!! (just thinking about it)
Supercharger!!!! (just thinking about it)
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Mr Whippy

Original Poster:

32,453 posts

272 months

Thursday 14th April 2011
quotequote all
I keep coming back round to these...

For about £3,600, ESS do a 310bhp kit for the 3.0i Z4. I can't buy one yet, but might be able to towards the end of the year as a treat.


My Z4 owes me nothing now, isn't losing THAT much value, and importantly, it still ticks all the right boxes for me. Big boot, quick roof. Useable all year round, nice to drive etc.
I'd like a Tamora next, or maybe a VX220 Turbo. If I need to go sensible, a V8 S4 facelift would be nice, or maybe an E46 M3.
Either way, they are all a bit more expensive than my Z4 + supercharger.


Am I mad? All up the Z4's worth won't be much over £11,000 with a supercharger in it, while a swap to an Alpina one or M one will be ~ £15,000+ and I'm not sure moving to one of those for the extra outlay will feel worth it. I could get a Tamora for similar money.


Is this a silly thing to think about? Would I be better just saving up more and then going for a totally new experience/car etc?
Just feels weird to keep a car for longer than 2-3yrs, and then spend almost half it's value on tuning it when I might be just 6 months away from being bored of it!


Hmmmmm

Dave

Beedub

1,993 posts

257 months

Thursday 14th April 2011
quotequote all
whippy... i swear it will be the best thing you EVER do.......

clabcon

325 posts

236 months

Thursday 14th April 2011
quotequote all
Mr Whippy said:
I keep coming back round to these...

For about £3,600, ESS do a 310bhp kit for the 3.0i Z4. I can't buy one yet, but might be able to towards the end of the year as a treat.


My Z4 owes me nothing now, isn't losing THAT much value, and importantly, it still ticks all the right boxes for me. Big boot, quick roof. Useable all year round, nice to drive etc.
I'd like a Tamora next, or maybe a VX220 Turbo. If I need to go sensible, a V8 S4 facelift would be nice, or maybe an E46 M3.
Either way, they are all a bit more expensive than my Z4 + supercharger.


Am I mad? All up the Z4's worth won't be much over £11,000 with a supercharger in it, while a swap to an Alpina one or M one will be ~ £15,000+ and I'm not sure moving to one of those for the extra outlay will feel worth it. I could get a Tamora for similar money.


Is this a silly thing to think about? Would I be better just saving up more and then going for a totally new experience/car etc?
Just feels weird to keep a car for longer than 2-3yrs, and then spend almost half it's value on tuning it when I might be just 6 months away from being bored of it!


Hmmmmm

Dave
Sell it and buy a Z4M.

k15tox

1,680 posts

212 months

Thursday 14th April 2011
quotequote all
in theory a z4m will still be quicker........

i wouldnt just go slapping a charger on, maybe consider brakes, suspension and i dont think your clutch will hold up to all the low down tourques.

but if you do, you will have something different. and theres nothing wrong with that.


but never expect to get your money back with mods......you rarely do.

scz4

2,841 posts

272 months

Thursday 14th April 2011
quotequote all
Perhaps I can help.

I used to have a Z4 3.0 with the stage II kit, around 355bhp, a little more with the exhaust and custom remap.

I had the first kit in the UK, so had a few teething problems, but ESS travelled to Scotland to correct these. After that the kit was faultless, this was back in Jan 2007 and I did about 12000 miles.

The car was exteremly fast, noticably quicker than my friends Z4M, it's 100kg+ lighter and had much more torque. The huge advantage of the 3.0 kit is it's a twin screw supercharger, so doesn't just make peak boost at peak rpm. The twin screw generates maximum torque from 1900rpm, so it absolutely flies through the rev range. There is no real kick to the power curve, not sure if that's good or bad, delivery is very smooth.

Fuel economy didn't change that much, suspension and brakes (with a few tweaks) coped just fine on the road, never tracked it. Lack of LSD wasn't essential, but would of been nice. Insurnace was cheaper than a Z4M (with supercharger declared), no ///M tax on servicing and parts.

I put the Z4 back to standard and sold the charger seperately, didn't lose much mone on it. After the Z4, I went for a E36 M3 Evo, it wasn't as quick in a straight line or round the twisties, but had much more character and overall probably more fun with that engine.

All that said, I'll be maybe looking for a Z4M roadster later in the summer. I think the Z4M will be a more enjoyable package overall, but I appreciate running costs will be a lot higher. I wouldn't charge the Z4M as it's a centrifugal charger (max boost needs max rpm) and from what I've seen with this kit in the M3, 0-100mph there really isn't much difference in acceleration, only after that would it pull away, would be better off with a diff ratio change and a carbon airbox for the noise!!

So I would recomemnd a Z4M, but if you fancy something a little more discrete and certainly different then charge your 3.0 smile You won't be disappointed, but try and save for the stage II, I wouldn't feel comfortable charging a car without an intercooler.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

G

Edited by scz4 on Thursday 14th April 21:30

flux

83 posts

272 months

Saturday 30th April 2011
quotequote all
That's a pretty good price. Which company is that from?

Mr Whippy

Original Poster:

32,453 posts

272 months

Saturday 30th April 2011
quotequote all
From ESS in Norway.

Dave

StuB

6,695 posts

270 months

Friday 6th May 2011
quotequote all
Dave, do it if you plan to keep the car a while! Perhaps not if you don't.

Hontesly, still love ours and no issues with most of the perceived drawbacks.

Q cars - can't beat em.

biggrin