2004 Z4 2.5 - Finally scratching the six cylinder BMW itch!
Discussion
Am aware there have already been a few Readers Cars threads on Z4s, but thought there was room for another, given that PH has had a few articles on Z4s recently.
I bought this car from a good friend, who bought it 14 years ago as an ex-demo. It's a 2.5 SE (I know everyone says get the 3.0) with 46k miles on the clock and in very good cosmetic condition. It drives well, but hasn't seen much servicing in the last 4-5 years apart from oil changes and tyres.
This is a second car in our household, with a newish CR-V doing the most of the heavy lifting.
First impressions of the car are great. I haven't owned a convertible since my Mk2 MX-5 in the early 2000s. The six cylinder engine sounds fantastic, and driving around on a warm autumn day with the roof down is a lot of fun. Some people are quite critical of the Z4's interior, but I like the simple minimalism of it. My wife is not normally a fan of the "fun" cars I buy (previous cars include a 2010 Mini Cooper S and a 2000 Jag XK8) but she likes this one as it reminds her of her old 2003 3-series coupe that she owned a long time ago.
Plans for the car are:
I bought this car from a good friend, who bought it 14 years ago as an ex-demo. It's a 2.5 SE (I know everyone says get the 3.0) with 46k miles on the clock and in very good cosmetic condition. It drives well, but hasn't seen much servicing in the last 4-5 years apart from oil changes and tyres.
This is a second car in our household, with a newish CR-V doing the most of the heavy lifting.
First impressions of the car are great. I haven't owned a convertible since my Mk2 MX-5 in the early 2000s. The six cylinder engine sounds fantastic, and driving around on a warm autumn day with the roof down is a lot of fun. Some people are quite critical of the Z4's interior, but I like the simple minimalism of it. My wife is not normally a fan of the "fun" cars I buy (previous cars include a 2010 Mini Cooper S and a 2000 Jag XK8) but she likes this one as it reminds her of her old 2003 3-series coupe that she owned a long time ago.
Plans for the car are:
- Give it a service (oil change, air filter, pollen filter, brake fluid)
- Have a go at the cloudy headlight lenses with a headlight polishing kit
- Retro-fit the in-dash cupholders
- Maybe change the alloys, as the rear tyres will need replacing soon anyway
Thanks for all the comments and wheel suggestions! Really enjoying the car so far.
I bought a set of 17” Style 89 wheels with good Pirelli non-runflat tyres from a guy on the Z4 forum. He very helpfully delivered the wheels to me and brought his trolley jack to help me change the wheels over. They could do with a refurb, but at the price they were worth buying for the tyres alone. I might refurb them (and perhaps repaint them a slightly darker colour) in the spring.
helix402 said:
Good choice of wheels (they are E46 wheels):
Yes, although I don't recall seeing many E46s with this style of wheel.The fact that these were available locally to me and fitted with good Pirelli tyres with 5-6mm of tread was what swung the deal.
Saw your E46 Readers Cars thread - looks good!
Edited by spreadsheet monkey on Monday 1st October 15:58
Mr Tidy said:
Those wheels look great, but must be a PITA to clean with so many spokes. 
That's why I bought a set of 295s for my Z4!
Nice coupe. Montego Blue is a great colour. Silver wasn't my first choice for my Z4, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy a low mileage car with a known history.That's why I bought a set of 295s for my Z4!
I'm not much of a detailer - I can live with grubby wheels. I'm not planning to spend every weekend on my hands and knees cleaning them with a toothbrush!
M1C said:
Keep the little wheels too!
Yes the little wheels maybe dont look as good....but IMO it's about the drive!
You’re preaching to the converted, I agree big wheels can ruin the ride. Yes the little wheels maybe dont look as good....but IMO it's about the drive!
The new wheels are only 17” wheels, so I have still have a decent bit of sidewall in the tyres (225/45/17).
Sticks. said:
I was reading about these on the Z4 Forum recently but not checked for compatibility and fitting yet https://gromaudio.co.uk/products/grom-usb3-usb-and...
These look good. Fitting this is probably a better use of my time than the OEM cupholders.I just need to check if my head unit is compatible. I have the standard BMW Business CD player, with a 6 CD changer. I don't want to lose the CD changer, but hopefully it can take an additional Aux input.
I’ve given the car a service (oil + filter, air filter, pollen filter). The long bonnet means there is loads of space for the little 2.5 engine. The oil that came out was pretty dark, as I don’t think the car has had an oil change for the last two years. This is what you get with very low mileage cars!
I had a go at restoring the headlights with a Holts headlight polishing kit. It worked OK, but I haven’t yet had the chance to put on the final coat of clear lacquer. You can see the difference in the headlights in the two photos. I also cleaned up the engine compartment as it was pretty grubby.
I’ve noticed the high level brake light lens is cracked - apparently this is a common fault and cheap to fix.
Otherwise the car is great. It’s an old and relatively inexpensive car but it still gets a lot of positive comments.
I had a go at restoring the headlights with a Holts headlight polishing kit. It worked OK, but I haven’t yet had the chance to put on the final coat of clear lacquer. You can see the difference in the headlights in the two photos. I also cleaned up the engine compartment as it was pretty grubby.
I’ve noticed the high level brake light lens is cracked - apparently this is a common fault and cheap to fix.
Otherwise the car is great. It’s an old and relatively inexpensive car but it still gets a lot of positive comments.
Sticks. said:
I'd suggest spraying lots of WD40 around the bonnet catch. It can behave like the cable's stretched otherwise and potentially not open.
Thanks for the tip. Had noticed the bonnet release cable was a bit stiff.Sticks. said:
Yes, they're still a striking car - I still like the look of them. Flame Surfacing I think it was called - so that from any angle it wouldn't look flat, but almost liquid. And as you no doubt know, Z4 sculpted into the nearside wing and door.
Didn't know about the Z sculpted into the wing and door. There was a good Chris Harris article a while back, conceding that the flame surfaced cars have aged well.https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Update after six months - the car has ploughed through the winter with no leaks or other misbehaviour.
I have replaced the cracked third brake light (which is a common weak point) and the front brake pads (which I think were the originals from 2004) and also gave the car a thorough clean and polish, and treated the hood with BMW branded waterproofer.
In an ideal world I’d have a more interesting colour and a 3.0 instead of a 2.5, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to buy a car from a friend with a known history and low mileage.
The seats in my SE model are a bit flat, and the car is a bit noisy on the motorway - it’s no grand tourer. But it’s a lot of fun to drive, the engine sounds great, and the styling is ageing well.
Here’s a photo of my Z4 alongside my dad’s Z3.
I have replaced the cracked third brake light (which is a common weak point) and the front brake pads (which I think were the originals from 2004) and also gave the car a thorough clean and polish, and treated the hood with BMW branded waterproofer.
In an ideal world I’d have a more interesting colour and a 3.0 instead of a 2.5, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to buy a car from a friend with a known history and low mileage.
The seats in my SE model are a bit flat, and the car is a bit noisy on the motorway - it’s no grand tourer. But it’s a lot of fun to drive, the engine sounds great, and the styling is ageing well.
Here’s a photo of my Z4 alongside my dad’s Z3.
Sticks. said:
Did you get around to fitting the Grom? if so, was it easy and worthwhile?
No I didn’t. I don’t envisage using the car for long trips, so I can’t justify the expense/effort of fitting an aux socket or Bluetooth. Happy just to go old school and get my music the radio/CD...Update on the car - a couple of months ago, l got the Style 89 alloys refurbished by Wheel Doctor based in Horley, and replaced the rear tyres at the same time. They did a good job, and I’m pleased with the results.
In anticipation of winter, I also removed the washer reservoir and cleaned out all the gunk. This is an easy job on the Z4 because there’s so much room under the bonnet, but I’ve had to pay dealers to do the same job for me on my 3-series BMWs in the past because I couldn’t be arsed with removing wheels and pulling off wheel arch liners.
Otherwise, there’s not much to report. The car still runs well, and is fun to drive on a winter morning with the roof down and the seat heaters cranked up.
Even though it’s only a second car in our household, we could still do with a four seater, to make weekend child-shuttling easier. I’ll probably wait until next spring and then change it for something a bit more practical (130i coupe/cabrio maybe).
In anticipation of winter, I also removed the washer reservoir and cleaned out all the gunk. This is an easy job on the Z4 because there’s so much room under the bonnet, but I’ve had to pay dealers to do the same job for me on my 3-series BMWs in the past because I couldn’t be arsed with removing wheels and pulling off wheel arch liners.
Otherwise, there’s not much to report. The car still runs well, and is fun to drive on a winter morning with the roof down and the seat heaters cranked up.
Even though it’s only a second car in our household, we could still do with a four seater, to make weekend child-shuttling easier. I’ll probably wait until next spring and then change it for something a bit more practical (130i coupe/cabrio maybe).
Sold the car earlier this week to a young guy, an aerospace engineering grad. He seemed very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the car and i hope he enjoys it and does more miles in it than I did!
The car was very reliable in the time I had it, with no special allowances made for it being a 16 year old convertible. It lived outside on my drive, it never got damp or leaky during the winter, and always started first time even after being left unused for a week or two during the recent lockdown months.
These E85 Z4s are great value at the moment, and a cheap way into the "good old days" of driver-focused six cylinder BMWs.
The car was very reliable in the time I had it, with no special allowances made for it being a 16 year old convertible. It lived outside on my drive, it never got damp or leaky during the winter, and always started first time even after being left unused for a week or two during the recent lockdown months.
These E85 Z4s are great value at the moment, and a cheap way into the "good old days" of driver-focused six cylinder BMWs.
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