New Member Intro

[EddieC757]

Hi all. New Member here. Just wanted to tell my story how I became a member of the Z4 club.

We, my 19 year old son and I, bought our 2005 BMW Z4 from a local dealership around Oct 2020. He needed a new car. I wanted him to get some reliable compact SUV, but he saw the Z4 in the lot and loved it. He had the money to buy it himself, and I've always wanted a convertible anyway, so sure, let's get it! Got it checked out, it was supposedly good to go, and off we went. Unfortunately, it seems we've had issue after issue with it.

The stereo didn't work. We knew it didn't, but I figured I'd drop a new stereo in there with no problem. I didn't realize that it had a special system with its own amp making it not so easy to replace. But I bought an amp and finally had sound. But I screwed it up, see my Door Speakers don't work post for the details.

I think every light on the dashboard has been on at one time or another. SES, air bag, the brake trio of lights, you name it, it's been on. So it's been in the shop a few times and failed state inspection. I finally bought a BMW code reader this past weekend and was successful in clearing codes, but it read close to 30 errors that I need to get fixed.

The roof latch motor needed to be replaced. Replacing it wasn't a problem, but now the front plastic part of the roof is broken. See my other post for details on that. And honestly, I didn't know the roof automatically opened and closed. I always thought it was manual until I started doing research recently. Opening and closing by hand is not a problem, so replacing that motor isn't a priority for me at this point. And I've read it's not an easy fix.

There have been other problems, but those are the ones I can remember

So my son had been happily driving it since we're bought it. He just left for boot camp last week so I guess the car is mine for awhile. My DD is a 2010 Nissan Armada. I love it, but gas mileage on it is a ridiculous 12 mile/gallon, and I finally hit the $100 mark to fill it the other day. So I figure I can mix in driving the Z4 a little bit to save gas. But I also just realized Z4 uses premium. So not sure how much I'd be saving.

I really want to like this car. It's so fun to drive. And it's a great mid life crisis look on me (I'm in my 50s). But I also don't want to spend my life savings to keep it running.

Anyway, that's my story. I'm hoping to get a lot of good info off this forum. Thanks for reading.

[enuff_zed]

Hi and welcome.
Didn't realise you were part of the overseas contingent, so you may as well ignore my recommendation for roof spares.
Regarding your codes: they get stored and may have been there years. So clear them all and see what comes back. Hopefully won't look so bad then.
The roof motor must be covered in a thousand threads on here. Boils down to the fact it needs to be moved to the trunk before you can work on it (unless you take the roof right off) It's a fiddly job but doable if you persevere. I'm in my 50s too and done a few. Have a good read up on it and see what you think.

Finally, before the photo police arrive, let's see some pics of your car.

[Big Bad Boris]

Welcome, sorry to hear about your many teething problems. Hopefully things will look up from here on.

There are lots of experienced and knowledgeable people on here (and me ) that can help with problems and issues, as well as many user and how to guides related to common issues.

I see you have already had sound advice from Mr Nuff Zed, his advice on photos is also good… the photo police will be along if they don’t arrive

[buzyg]

Welcome on board.

[Mr Tidy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear of all the issues you have had with your car but you should enjoy driving it once they are all sorted out!

[MikeyH]

Welcome to the forum and let’s hope you have better luck to come with your Zed. Photos please, Dee Daa, Dee Daa too late they’re here