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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Specific discussion about the E89 2009 Z4 (sDrive35is, sDrive35i, sDrive30i, sDrive23i)
mcbutler
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by mcbutler » Thu Sep 23, 2021 4:43 pm

R.E92 wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 11:18 am
BeardyJon wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:32 am I got nervous taking it past 110mph so I wouldn't wanna go any higher than that.
Pondrew wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 10:46 pm Have we morphed into a different dimension with this thread? Are you seriously talking about E89 Z4s, or some Italian exotica? :?
My teeth have all been destroyed by driving on a British road at 30mph in mine :o
I really don't think (/hope) anyone here is considering doing 180mph on British roads.
Why not? Our motorways are straight and flat enough.

Other than some arbitrary speed limits there's no difference between doing 180 on an unrestricted autobahn and the M6 or M40.
Except that if they catch you in UK they will arrest you, take your car and crush it, and you will most likely end up in prison for a short time, spending the rest of your life with a criminal record and all its disadvantages.
But what the heck, mines ok at the limiter, if anyone tries this dont take your foot off the throttle quickly when you bottle out, it gives quite a twitch as the torque through the drive train shifts, gave me a few involuntary sphincter twitches

:evil: :evil:
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by R.E92 » Thu Sep 23, 2021 5:35 pm

mcbutler wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 4:43 pm
R.E92 wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 11:18 am
BeardyJon wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:32 am I got nervous taking it past 110mph so I wouldn't wanna go any higher than that.



I really don't think (/hope) anyone here is considering doing 180mph on British roads.
Why not? Our motorways are straight and flat enough.

Other than some arbitrary speed limits there's no difference between doing 180 on an unrestricted autobahn and the M6 or M40.
Except that if they catch you in UK they will arrest you, take your car and crush it, and you will most likely end up in prison for a short time, spending the rest of your life with a criminal record and all its disadvantages.
But what the heck, mines ok at the limiter, if anyone tries this dont take your foot off the throttle quickly when you bottle out, it gives quite a twitch as the torque through the drive train shifts, gave me a few involuntary sphincter twitches

:evil: :evil:
I don't see how that would happen if there's no other cars on the road at the time. I agree that I wouldn't even consider going over 100 if there was potential for getting stopped. Police speed enforcement is minimal at the moment which is one of the few benefits to their lack of funding, aside from the predictable camera vans I can honestly say I've not seen traffic officers doing speed checks for years.

In my area they've even resorted to giving NIMBYs toy speed cameras to enforce 30mph zones in villages. They even turned off the fixed cameras due citing high running costs of the old analogue technology.

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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by mcbutler » Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:29 pm

Comes from experience, good fortune and one very nice police officer.

I took delivery of a spanking C63AMG some years ago and one of my first trips was Plymouth to Bournemouth for the theatre and back.
On the return trip the tolpuddle bypass is a long smooth quiet 70mph road, wife was asleep so 'hey ho lkets go'!!!!
Gentle accelaration to the limiter passing only two other vehicles with no one around anywhere then slowed down, soon noticed one of the vehicles closing fast, wannabe racer me thinks and ignored it.
Driving perfectly for the next couple of miles then on come the blue lights behind me and I pulled over. I got out of the car immediately and said "fair cop I am not going to make any excuses for that". The traffic officer was a giant of a man, he explained clearly to me that once you exceed 100mph they have the power to seize and destroy your vehicle and arrest you! I was sweating at this point leaning on my very expensive new motor. He then went on to the mitigating factors - instant admission of guilt - no bullshit - capable car - driven well although excessive speed - empty road - good conditions etc etc etc.
The summary of this was being given a ticket for 93mph which means I got a fine and points and did not qualify for that silly education course they run.
It was a real eye opener for me - only good thing is wife slept right through the whole thing and still does not know to this day.

Be warned chaps - the other officer in the car was a complete w****r and wanted my car and freedom - luckily the other guy was the senior officer present..
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by buzyg » Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:44 pm

mcbutler wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:29 pm Comes from experience, good fortune and one very nice police officer.

I took delivery of a spanking C63AMG some years ago and one of my first trips was Plymouth to Bournemouth for the theatre and back.
On the return trip the tolpuddle bypass is a long smooth quiet 70mph road, wife was asleep so 'hey ho lkets go'!!!!
Gentle acceleration to the limiter passing only two other vehicles with no one around anywhere then slowed down, soon noticed one of the vehicles closing fast, wannabe racer me thinks and ignored it.
Driving perfectly for the next couple of miles then on come the blue lights behind me and I pulled over. I got out of the car immediately and said "fair cop I am not going to make any excuses for that". The traffic officer was a giant of a man, he explained clearly to me that once you exceed 100mph they have the power to seize and destroy your vehicle and arrest you! I was sweating at this point leaning on my very expensive new motor. He then went on to the mitigating factors - instant admission of guilt - no bullshit - capable car - driven well although excessive speed - empty road - good conditions etc etc etc.
The summary of this was being given a ticket for 93mph which means I got a fine and points and did not qualify for that silly education course they run.
It was a real eye opener for me - only good thing is wife slept right through the whole thing and still does not know to this day.

Be warned chaps - the other officer in the car was a complete w****r and wanted my car and freedom - luckily the other guy was the senior officer present..
Makes me glad to be an old git with all such desires to drive myself at 180mph in a car long behind me. :D :driving: :thumbsup:

(By todays rules I could have had 3 cars crushed during my time. Mind one of those was a company hire car, so wouldn't count. :lol: )
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by zxy » Thu Sep 23, 2021 9:45 pm

The E89 shape was used extensively for racing here in IMSA and also in Europe, while it was still in production. It had a large wing and a big V8. Lots of YouTube videos of it. I enjoyed seeing it come up through the esses in front of Ferraris and Corvette race cars at Watkins Glen. I do not think it was capable of 180 MPH.. but it sure sounded thrilling. The current race car is based on the M6 body shape. Although big and heavy, it is actually more aerodynamic according to team members that I spoke with, because of the extended body shape length. {Bmw builds exellent strong, safe race cars, (which I got to sit in) in their opinion).
The street version does shift some weight rearward when the top is down, but it is fairly light aluminum as is the cast aluminum mechanism. The car has a fairly even weight distribution to start with. Also you will notice that the new cloth top version is not much lighter. Going over about 95 with the top down would get pretty weird, just from the wind noise and buffeting.
And finally, going very fast requires proper tires and proper suspension set-up and with the top up. Mine feels ok on track up to 120 or so and that is my personal limit of stupid fast. Also if your tires are over 5 years old don't do it... they are shot even if low mileage and very high speed rated.
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by Busterboo » Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:33 pm

I was thinking of starting 'The 36 mph Club'. That's 30 mph + 10% + 2 + 1, the speed at which most of us really get speeding tickets.
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by Ole gits rule » Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:54 pm

Busterboo wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:33 pm I was thinking of starting 'The 36 mph Club'. That's 30 mph + 10% + 2 + 1, the speed at which most of us really get speeding tickets.
Member number 1 here :rofl:
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by BeardyJon » Fri Sep 24, 2021 9:14 am

mcbutler wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:29 pm I took delivery of a spanking C63AMG... I got a fine and points and did not qualify for that silly education course they run......the other officer in the car was a complete w****r and wanted my car and freedom - luckily the other guy was the senior officer present..
VERY rare to find the one nice policeman in the country cos the rest are all c***s.

I had to do the speed awareness course once after getting snapped by a camera doing [drumroll.......] 78mph 🙄. It was mostly nonsense, but the one thing that has stuck with me was when the guy running it said "Better to be late in this life than early to the next one". And that still rings in my ears whenever I'm feeling like I'm in a rush.

The other thing was an old lady who was furious she'd been sent to the course and then proceeded to boast about how she'd never had lessons or had to take a test to drive, and then told us a story about the time she decided to stop on the hard shoulder on a motorway for a nap because she was tired and how ridiculous it was that she was ticketed for that too. Genuinely terrifies me that there are people like her on the road operating lethal machinery.
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by buzyg » Fri Sep 24, 2021 9:25 am

BeardyJon wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 9:14 am The other thing was an old lady who was furious she'd been sent to the course and then proceeded to boast about how she'd never had lessons or had to take a test to drive, and then told us a story about the time she decided to stop on the hard shoulder on a motorway for a nap because she was tired and how ridiculous it was that she was ticketed for that too. Genuinely terrifies me that there are people like her on the road operating lethal machinery.
You need to appreciate that there was a time, not that long ago, when you could drive along on UK roads especially the motor ways. and not see a soul for miles. :wink:

Some of the stuff I used to get up to, does not bare printing and I was a saint compared to my farther. :driving:

Older folk need to adjust though and not every one changes their ways in time to stay safe, so she was wrong to mock the course in that respect.
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by tiglon » Fri Sep 24, 2021 10:40 am

BeardyJon wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 9:14 am
mcbutler wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:29 pm I took delivery of a spanking C63AMG... I got a fine and points and did not qualify for that silly education course they run......the other officer in the car was a complete w****r and wanted my car and freedom - luckily the other guy was the senior officer present..
VERY rare to find the one nice policeman in the country cos the rest are all c***s.

I had to do the speed awareness course once after getting snapped by a camera doing [drumroll.......] 78mph 🙄. It was mostly nonsense, but the one thing that has stuck with me was when the guy running it said "Better to be late in this life than early to the next one". And that still rings in my ears whenever I'm feeling like I'm in a rush.

The other thing was an old lady who was furious she'd been sent to the course and then proceeded to boast about how she'd never had lessons or had to take a test to drive, and then told us a story about the time she decided to stop on the hard shoulder on a motorway for a nap because she was tired and how ridiculous it was that she was ticketed for that too. Genuinely terrifies me that there are people like her on the road operating lethal machinery.
I think every speed awareness course has an older well-spoken lady who is furious about being there. :rofl:

With mine being in London a few years ago, it also had a cabbie who thought it unfair to be done for doing 21 in a 20. I had a bit more sympathy for him...
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by Chippie » Fri Sep 24, 2021 12:51 pm

tiglon wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 10:40 am
BeardyJon wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 9:14 am
mcbutler wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:29 pm I took delivery of a spanking C63AMG... I got a fine and points and did not qualify for that silly education course they run......the other officer in the car was a complete w****r and wanted my car and freedom - luckily the other guy was the senior officer present..
VERY rare to find the one nice policeman in the country cos the rest are all c***s.

I had to do the speed awareness course once after getting snapped by a camera doing [drumroll.......] 78mph 🙄. It was mostly nonsense, but the one thing that has stuck with me was when the guy running it said "Better to be late in this life than early to the next one". And that still rings in my ears whenever I'm feeling like I'm in a rush.

The other thing was an old lady who was furious she'd been sent to the course and then proceeded to boast about how she'd never had lessons or had to take a test to drive, and then told us a story about the time she decided to stop on the hard shoulder on a motorway for a nap because she was tired and how ridiculous it was that she was ticketed for that too. Genuinely terrifies me that there are people like her on the road operating lethal machinery.
I think every speed awareness course has an older well-spoken lady who is furious about being there. :rofl:

With mine being in London a few years ago, it also had a cabbie who thought it unfair to be done for doing 21 in a 20. I had a bit more sympathy for him...
More likely 31 in a 20, sounds like he was a bit of a topper
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by chasBMW » Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:19 pm

Well I owned 2 35iS models they were limited to 155 , yes they can be tweeked i guess but even then you would need different rated tires
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by chasBMW » Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:19 pm

Well I owned 2 35iS models they were limited to 155 , yes they can be tweeked i guess but even then you would need different rated tires
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by mcbutler » Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:06 pm

BeardyJon wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 9:14 am VERY rare to find the one nice policeman in the country cos the rest are all c***s.
"VERY rare to find the one nice policeman in the country cos the rest are all c***s."

I completely agree with you on that one chum
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How stable is the E89 at high speed?

Post by etropic » Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:52 pm

I'd feel fine at 180, it's all the other idiots i'm worried about ;)

Actually I've only gotten to 120 and it felt amazing.

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