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And onto BMW Number 2... Z4 Content



Bubbles

ClioSport Club Member
  BMW I4 M50
A slightly out of the blue purchase, but hey the time was right as was the price too. So picked up this a few weeks back : 3.0Si with 41k on it, just serviced and new discs/pads too. Has a fairly rare Pearl Grey leather interior which we were initially not that sure about but have grown to like the lightness of it now versus the black that most come with. The alloys had just been refurbed too with anthracite centres - again something that people will either love or hate, they look great in person though.

World away from the 330 too - obviously slightly more powerful to begin with and being lighter you notice this extra power. Much more fun as you might also expect and with the sound generator mod done it sounds great when stretching it's legs!

Anyway, pictures :

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riz

ClioSport Club Member
  Jaguar XFR
I always assumed the 3.0 engine was the same as in the 330.

Nice car, unsure on the alloys.
 

Bluebeard

ClioSport Moderator
  Whichever has fuel
I like the wheels, look good.

I'm not a fan of the car though unfortunately. I'm sure they're good, but have no desire to own one what so ever.
 

Gally

Formerly Mashed up egg in a cup
ClioSport Club Member
Looks superb! Great choice for the summer!

Let me know how you get on with the seats hun.
 

Coby.

ClioSport Club Member
  XC60-R.......V40-R
Absolutely love that..... I think the seats give it a more upmarket look than plain black versions.
 

Bubbles

ClioSport Club Member
  BMW I4 M50
Thanks :)

Yes the prefacelift versions have 231bhp whereas the facelift have 265bhp. Biggest noticeable difference for us is auto in the 330 versus manual in the Z, helps a lot!

Seats as I say are nice, will be even nicer once they're clean again - as expected being light seats they've got a bit of dirt buildup to lose.

New centre caps bought last week, nothing else really to do then but drive it... even better if the sun will shine again

Will also get some better lit pictures of the wheels - they really are great in person and they look almost black there, when in fact they're a nice pearl looking anthracite.
 

Heez

ClioSport Club Member
  Superleggera'd Bean
Love the chairs, unsure on the wheels. Looks a good motor, love a Z4 me!
 
  53 Clio's & counting
Looks lovely!

I used to dislike these, but they are really growing on me, especially when you factor they are such great jack of all trades!
 
  Megane r26
Looks great that does, really got a soft spot for these since a good friend of mine had one.

Those seats are great, my mate had them in black. So much better then the standard items.

Quick tip, makesure the drain holes for the roof motor/pump are clear. I've changed two of these now due to water damage. BMW in there wisdom out them in a water well in some what look likes some makeshift case. The job itself self isn't too bad but required removal of the roof.

Great car though, enjoy.
 

Bubbles

ClioSport Club Member
  BMW I4 M50
Lovely . Anyone know how these are on fuel / general running costs ?

I'm sure you get 30-35 mpg on motorway.

We were seeing 33mpg coming back during rush hour and stop start traffic, plus a bit of playing with it (as you do on your first proper drive back). Going round our playground of MK it is doing 26-28 I think, pretty much on a par with what we would see from a 182 when doing the same.

When looking on the z4 forum there wasn't too much that jumped out as going to be wallet hurting if it went wrong (bar the roof motor mentioned below). Overall servicing costs at an independent work out at £160ish for an Insp1 and £260ish for an Insp2. Front discs and pads - £140 for the parts. RFL for the year is £280. I'm sure Rob will be along to add further info as he has had his longer/has a bit more knowledge on them. Which incidentally brings me onto thanking him for his little tips and pieces to look out for :)

Quick tip, makesure the drain holes for the roof motor/pump are clear. I've changed two of these now due to water damage. BMW in there wisdom out them in a water well in some what look likes some makeshift case. The job itself self isn't too bad but required removal of the roof.

Thanks :) Yeah had read up on this - the previous owner has the guide all printed out for how to do it which we've got and had kept on top of it. But something to remain on top of!

Should have gone for a MR.

For a weekend car and occasional weekday use, it wasn't worth the extra £4k purchase price, double the amount of RFL each year or the extra M tax added to parts and servicing. Would absolutely love an M, but couldn't justify it ultimately for our use of the car and no regrets for 'only' settling on a 3.0 :)
 

Rob

ClioSport Moderator
Cracking looking car that, still not a fan of the wheels, silver centres and you'll see they look LOADS better.

Seats are a bloody amazing colour, seriously.

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Silver wheels, winning.
 
  Z4
Another one! Sheep ;)
Lovely car. M sport seats are essential on these IMO. Being the facelift it does look much fresher in that colour, strangely I prefer the prefacelift in black, maybe I'm bias? Mine
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Should have gone for a MR.

Over rated. Too much of a handful for the Uk roads IMO, preferred my e46 m3.
 

Ali

  V6, Trackhawk, GTS
Another one! Sheep ;)
Lovely car. M sport seats are essential on these IMO. Being the facelift it does look much fresher in that colour, strangely I prefer the prefacelift in black, maybe I'm bias? Mine
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Over rated. Too much of a handful for the Uk roads IMO, preferred my e46 m3.

I can't see how it's over rated...Nor can i see how it's any more of a handful than a 3.0l Zed. The Z4's biggest flaw is the chassis, full stop. The damping in particular is very poor!
 

Bubbles

ClioSport Club Member
  BMW I4 M50
So, errrrm, yeah. The ownership of this little beasty turned out to be very short lived... When we bought the car it had noisy brakes, very noisy brakes in fact as soon as the they had been applied once. Once warm they almost appeared to be binding on. The chap we bought the car from had just replaced them, but after a few days of driving they got worse. With a bit of back and forth he agreed to replace the brakes again with a decent brand, turns out he had fitted the cheapest disc and pad combo when a mechanic friend of ours took a look.

So the day after the new set of brakes were fitted and a mere 17 miles later as we approached a roundabout a few minutes from home, the brake pedal went flat to the floor and absolutely no brakes whatsoever. The approach to the roundabout was downhill so even though Gareth downshifted to try and lose some speed the car gained further speed. We avoided the car coming round the roundabout but just caught the edge of the kerbed section of said roundabout which took us on a bit of a detour up an embankment and into a field... Both completely fine, car stood up really well but inevitably was a write off following the impact.

The approach to the roundabout :

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Directly behind the sign is the embankment we climbed :

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Most of the underside of the car left up the embankment :

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Said fence :

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And the damaged car :

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Getting to the exact cause of the failure hasn't really been established either, no one will commute definitely to it be X or Y, independent inspections have been carried out and there are a couple of different possible reasons but sadly it's us who picks up the bill for it, protected no claims should soften the blow on renewal time next year but it'll still be a premium increase. And after much wrangling with the insurance over the value of the Z4 we agreed a payout - big thanks to Gally on the advice he gave which helped in getting our settlement increased. Feeling lucky, it could've been a lot worse if we hit another car or didn't avoid the roundabout. As precious and enthusiastic as we are with ours cars, it is just metal.

At the weekend we collected this as its replacement :

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So very nearly bought another Z4, but opted for something slightly different in the form of the TT. 2 years newer, better spec including BOSE and also something slightly bigger inside - its amazing looking back on the Z4 just how vulnerable we felt afterwards given the small cabin and lowness of the Z.

​Will do a thread on the TT once we've given it our own clean and done a few more miles, but first impressions are good :)
 

-J-

  RS2'ed 172 Cup
Shame but as I said on Instagram could have been much worse, glad you walked away unscathed.

The replacement looks nice :)
 
  Z4
I can't see how it's over rated...Nor can i see how it's any more of a handful than a 3.0l Zed. The Z4's biggest flaw is the chassis, full stop. The damping in particular is very poor!

Drive both and comment. I have several times and I stand firmly against my statement! The chassis is good, the damping is awful. Add M power and it exploits this! I can objectively say i had more fun on the roads in my 3.0 than I did in the z4M. The 3.0 offers 85% the drive with 35% the costs.

Unlucky bubbles, you're lucky to walk away! Good replacement with the TT.

I bet Robs eyes lit up 'spares!'
 


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