New member from Oxford

[Felix79]

Hi everyone,

In the next few weeks I will most likely be getting myself a Z4, with the Z4M being my ideal choice, with the budget range I've got.

Back in the 00's I use to own a number of BMW E30's, with my last one being an Alpina C2 2.5. My old man had to sell his really rare spec E46 M3 earlier this year and was forced (ie Mum told him) to get a dull 2.0 Merc 4 door. Because of this, while the Z4 will be mine on paper, it's going to be shared with my Poppa so he can hear that magical 3.2 straight six howl one more.

Here in Oxford/Oxfordshire, car culture and interesting cars are a rarity, thanks to the tree hugging, car hating culture the University breeds.

Thankfully the resistance movement in Oxford is pretty strong and there is a really good JDM and Euro car scene. With Oxford being so close to Reading, my friends and I use to go over to the big monthly meets held there. Until 2016 I had a really heavily modded Subaru Impreza P1 (classic shape, but in a 2 door and built by Prodrive), that I use to go to many meets around the Midlands. My health had gotten pretty bad and my P1 was rusting away on my driveway, which was almost criminal in it's own right. Thankfully, the support I get with my health issues (lower spinal damage/ Nerve damage) these days, has finally allowed me to get behind the wheel again and start to get out and see people.


Currently, I am using my mums Mini John Cooper Works as it has always been the run about car, until my poor Poppa got the dreaded 4 door C class, which is actually better on fuel than the Mini is! I'm over 6f4" and with the design of the windscreen, I find it hard to see traffic lights etc, as I lose a lot of what is visible. By a stroke of luck, I was able to sit in a Z4M Roadster that a localish car dealer in Witney has up for sale. I know I can fit perfectly in the Z4 coupe, but I was concerned that the roadster would lose just a bit more space than I required. Thankfully I was able to get a good driving position and found the seats supportive enough that they didn't aggravate my lower back problems.


Once we get our Z4 (fingers crossed it will be a Z4M), both my Poppa and I want to get active with a owners club in the new year, as it is going to car meets that we get our best "father and son" time. I'm just working my way through the forums, as I want to learn what I need to look out for when getting a Z4 and especially the Z4M with it's special bits. My old mans E46 M3 convertible needed so much work doing, as the previous owner was an idiot who was trying to run a rare spec M3 on a shoestring, which meant so many niggles needed looking at, with the Vanos being the big offender!


I look forward to getting to know the members on the board and with a bit of luck, I will meet some of you at a car meet next year.


Regards,

Dan aka Felix

[bz4kev]

Hi welcome along nice choice Z4M hopefully you find one soon enough and can show us all some pics I pop down to see my brother now and again he lives near Whitney so maybe meet up some time

[Felix79]

Hi welcome along nice choice Z4M hopefully you find one soon enough and can show us all some pics I pop down to see my brother now and again he lives near Whitney so maybe meet up some time

Yeah I would totally be cool with that. It was actually at a garage in Witney that I managed to take a look around a sorted Z4M Roadster. It was priced pretty good, but he really low balled the amount for the JCW Mini. He was offering £6300 for the Mini, yet if you go online to Autotrader and look for a JCW Mini from 2010, there is nothing near Oxfordshire and the one closest to "ours" were up for £9200 to £8400. So Poppa's going to get some good pics and just do a high detail finish (he's a retired car valeter/detailer) and get it up for sale. Hopefully with no other JCW Mini's for sale in our area, it should work in our favour and get sold quick.


I've found a few Z4M's in a Tocaz Blue with a nice interia option. It shouldn't take too long to get hold of one, but I was just making sure I didn't just go for the first one I saw and find out later I could have gotten one with all the right options. With my 6f4" frame, I found the Z4M to be pretty much perfect for me.

[metal licker]

Hi and welcome aboard

[Mister T]

Hi from North Oxford

Oxfordshire seems to have a really strong classic car scene, loads of shows during the summer season and plenty going on at Bicester Heritage. I know what you mean about the more modern stuff, don't know if the Boosted UK meets still happen at the Akeman Inn.

[Marlon]

Welcome to the forum, happy hunting

[Felix79]

Hi from North Oxford

Oxfordshire seems to have a really strong classic car scene, loads of shows during the summer season and plenty going on at Bicester Heritage. I know what you mean about the more modern stuff, don't know if the Boosted UK meets still happen at the Akeman Inn.

Back when I had my Impreza P1, there was a number of meets around Oxfordshire. My friends and I started a group called Fresh Additions and we would do monthly meets in Abingdon. We even called the owner of the car park, asking if it was ok to use it. While he was not "allowed" to give permission for such a thing, he told us if we keep the noise down and picked up our rubbish at the end of the night, then he would turn a blind eye. We managed to do this for about 18 months, with not a single fight or people doing stupid s**t in the car park. Then one Sunday two guys who had R33 GTTS's turned up from MK and started doing massive burn outs and rev battles. Even though we all had staff tops for the meets, these guys didn't even know who's event it was. They then started to drift round the car park, where we had a few hundred cars and ALOT of people. It didn't end well and after then the Police would throw people out right at the gates.


in 2007 I had an E30 Alpina C2 2.5 and I did loads of classic car meets with an E30 forum group(It's not a nice place to visit these days) and we'd also do bigger German car meets etc. I actually have found that JDM car meets usually get hundreds of cars turning up. I've made a good number of friends from the Oxford car meets that use to happen. I know there are usually more regular meets happening in Reading these days, so my mates have been going to those.


What's really annoying is I'm having to drive so far from Oxford to even find interesting cars for sale. I'm looking at having to do over 100 mile round trip to look at a Z4M Roadster that has pretty much all the options I want to have on the car I will buy. Just a shame the Z4M Coupe's command such a massive premium over the roadsters, as the extra room you get with the seating position would have been handy for me.

[Mister T]

I still have a 500+hp Nissan 200SX which I've owned since 2000. Used to go to all the Jap meets back when I lived in Essex

I'll be putting my Z4M Coupe up for sale soon if you're interested...

[buzyg]

Welcome aboard. 6ft4 with a doggy lower back, sounds familiar. Love my ///MR, I find it very comfy and have driven it several hundred miles, on a number of occasions with now problems for me or the Zed.

Happy hunting.

[Felix79]

I still have a 500+hp Nissan 200SX which I've owned since 2000. Used to go to all the Jap meets back when I lived in Essex

I'll be putting my Z4M Coupe up for sale soon if you're interested...

Truth be told I know a Z4M Coupe is out side of my price range. I've only got about £12-£13k max if I'm lucky. Hoping to be able to get about £8k for my mums Mini JCW as it's a pretty decent spec, but thankfully lacks the Sat-Nav package which is horrid in Mini's.

The reason why I let my Impreza P1 go was due to me not driving it and it was slowly rusting away on our driveway. It was killing me to see it just rot like that and I was too "ill" with my spinal problems to do much about it.

Welcome aboard. 6ft4 with a doggy lower back, sounds familiar. Love my ///MR, I find it very comfy and have driven it several hundred miles, on a number of occasions with now problems for me or the Zed.

Happy hunting.

Thursday I actually managed to look at a Z4M roadster. I know I could fit in a Z4 Coupe, as my friend use to have one and I never had a problem.

I like the low driving position of the Z4. When I am driving the Mini JCW, I have so much of the top cut off due to the rake of the windscreen etc. I can't see traffic lights unless I start bending down to get them in sight, which just compresses the damaged nerves and causes my pain to spike so bad that I've had to pull over to the side of the road and get my passenger to take over driving.


The really race like Recaro's my Impreza P1 had were perfect for me. I was really low down and I had support around my lumbar area, which kept me really comfortable and put my pelvis at an angel that allowed there to be no compression on my lower spinal cord nerve endings.

I do hope to do some long trips up north to see a special lady. Oxford to Morcombe is around a 4 hour drive, so having a car that can allow me to do this was important. It's why I decided not to go for an S2000, as it's just got too harsh of a ride and the gear ratios just make it impractical for motorway driving.

[firebobby]

Welcome to the forum, I'm just up the road in Stokenchurch.
You should be good for the German car/bike nights at the Ace cafe. We have breakfast meets at the AV8 cafe near Cirencester.
Remember the photos when you do get one

[Mr Tidy]

Hi and welcome to the forum Dan.

It sounds like you've just got to find one now - good luck.

[Felix79]

Thanks guys, I think it will take a week or two for the Mini to sell and then I will know for sure what price range I can look in to. There are a couple Z4M's in a lovely blue colour, with a dark interior with a manual transmission. If I don't have enough to get a Z4MR , I will go for a 3.0 Coupe as I have really fell for the Z4's looks. I think they look better today than they did back during the launch.


I would love to do an Ace cafe run with a few other forum members. Considering how simple it is for me coming from Oxford, to get to Ace, it would be rude not too!

As soon as I've got my Z4MR or Z4, I will for sure take some decent photos. I know that I will be making changes, as I love the CSL wheels from the E46 M3 CSL. 1Poppa had a set on his E46 M3 Convertible , as well as a factory fitted CSL front end. One of the main motivators in getting an Z4MR is that engine. I can't wait to get out hooning in one and more importantly get involved with car meets and car culture again after a few years away

[Mr Tidy]

It sounds like a Z4MR is what you need, especially as you have the family connection to the M3 Convertible.

Something like this one maybe:- viewtopic.php?f=41&t=110302

[Felix79]

Well I've just gone out to the same dealership with my folks. We phoned up before we went and the guy agreed to a price that was over a grand more than before. My folks were happy with everything and thankfully I've avoided having to do several 100 mile round trips to get a Z4M.

I pick the car up this Sat