New E86 Member…..

[Sit]

Evening and Happy New Years Eve!

So I found this forum after noticing it being mentioned on Pistonheads A LOT! I am in between cars and looking at lots of different options I came across a thread about an E86 on PH by a member called Court_s called ‘My Midlife Crisis’ I was sold after 36 pages.

Tomorrow morning I am heading off to look at what looks to be a lovely example of the Z4 Coupe and I am extremely excited!

Read about the common problems (water pump, VC gasket, oil filter housing gasket, rear brake pipes) so feel fairly well informed.

Admired these cars for a long time and even at 18+ years old I think the design has stood the rest of time. I wanted a car that would be analogue and engaging to drive, would deal with the twice weekly commute to the office but above all feel special whatever journey I was making.

I am fairly confident the E86 will fill this brief perfectly whilst being of an era that allows DIY maintenance without needing laptops and a degree from NASA.

So that’s probably it from me for now. I will let you know how tomorrow goes.

Si

[-JackZ4-]

Welcome to the e85/86 club !
Several months ago I've bought a 2007 Z4 roadster for the same reasons you wrote above, and I can confirm that this type of car makes every trip special, and creates also a big smile on the driver's face

[MikeyH]

Hi and welcome to the forum, have a great day

[raymond.harper]

Post the car's details on your thread so the members can give you their opinions. A model-specific code reader is a good idea to have for the car if you intend to do your own repairs

[Sit]

Afternoon and Happy New Year, well just spent a lovely 2hr drive home in my newly purchased E86!!

The car appears to be in superb condition, couple of the known faults have been addressed with a new water pump, recent battery and manifold inspection documented. As mentioned I started browsing the E86's a few nights ago to see what prices were doing and noticed that they varied in price/condition/spec, this particular example caught my attention for several reasons -

- I bought it from an 80 year old lady who bought it brand new from Cooper BMW Wimbledon in 2006! Since then it has been her daily car and has rarely left the city in 18 years, finally conceding that it was no longer practical for her to get in and out of and it was replaced by a Lexus SUV/crossover. The opportunity to be the second owner on such a car was really attractive to me, the car has all the signs of being owned by an older lady with some curb rash on the wheels (parking), some scuffing to the drivers bolster (getting in and out) and the passenger seat has barely been sat in.

- It's finished in Individual Ruby Red, the overcast autumnal Autotrader pictures did not do this car justice and I knew with a good detail it would be transformed in the middle of Summer popping in an almost Aubergine hue.

- The research I did do suggested to me that these are quite 'spec sensitive' and in terms of options she went all out - electrically adjustable/memory Imola red M Sport seats, heated seats, sun protection glass, HiFi audio, folding mirrors, xenon headlights, comfort package and piano black dash finishers. So with the exception of adding the cruise stalk which looks to be fairly straightforward I pretty happy.

Mechanically the car is in good shape with plenty of bills and invoices to support scheduled and spontaneous maintenance being taken care of when required, no signs of oil filter housing gasket or manifold gasket leaking and for an 18 year old car the suspension and general road manners was superb - not a rattle to be heard, I genuinely think these were peak BMW.

There is some love required in the cosmetic department though, the wheels have seen better days plus on run flats which I want to ditch asap, the bonnet badge needs replacing, headlights need a cut and a polish, it wants a darn good clean/detail but all things I can do myself slow time. I would like to bring the infotainment up to date (somehow), fit the ZHP gear knob, stubby aerial, got some trim to repair inside cabin - all of which are enjoyable little projects in themselves. The initial drive home confirmed that my hopes of it feeling 'special' were on the money and in todays world of 300hp hot hatches, this really does take you back to a time when analogue driving without interference and assistance was all a petrolhead needed.

A prod of the sport button showed it could pick up its skirt and get a move on when required but not to the extent that you were quickly in jail term portions of the speedo, the joy of pointing it into a bend and stretching out 2nd and 3rd gears knitting a B road together is an utter joy.

Due to the usual UK weather I have not had a proper opportunity to get any good photos but attached is one from the advert (see what I mean about not doing it justice!)

Z4.JPG (181.95 KiB) Viewed 452 times

More to follow!

Si

[buzyg]

Welcome to the forum. PH is still going then.

[Mr Tidy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

My E86 story started with an Individual Ruby Black one (although mine had Pearl Grey leather). You're right about the paint too, it really does look fantastic when the light hits it right. It was a £745 option so only 147 Coupes came to the UK in that colour. You might find the colour shown on the V5 is "Red" - the previous owner of mine said his OH got pulled twice by the police as a result!

But it sounds like you've found a pretty special Coupe with just one previous keeper and most of the options fitted, although the seats might actually be Dream Red.

Court_S is also on here as "STC_Zed" BTW.

Anyway keep enjoying revving that lovely N52 engine, and good luck getting it exactly how you want it.

[Sit]

Thank you sir - that’s an amazing fact regarding the 147, I wonder how many of them are left?!?

It was yours and Sam’s chatter on his PH thread that tipped me over the edge! lol! So pleased I went for it though, looking forward to finessing it and updating whilst remaining OEM+ as much as possible.

Si

[Mr Tidy]

Someone on here compiled a database of all the 3.0Si and M models registered - here's a link if you want to while away some time! http://perso.numericable.fr/tonyz4c/index30si.html

If you click on each line you'll see the full spec, but looking again there were only 15 Ruby Black Coupes with Dream Red leather and Piano Black trim in the UK. With those other options your car may well be 1 of 1.

[Sit]

Wow that is fascinating, perhaps it is quite a rare beast then? Thanks for sharing.

Si

[Mr Tidy]

It's a rare beast anyway with only one previous keeper!

BTW iIf you want to you can go back to edit your first post and remove the word "Potential" from the title.

[Sit]

It's a rare beast anyway with only one previous keeper!

BTW iIf you want to you can go back to edit your first post and remove the word "Potential" from the title.

[darich]

Another E86 member...never enough E86s around. Welcome!!
Car looks amazing and just the second owner is fantastic! I'm guessing the mileage is low if it's never left the city?

[Sit]

Another E86 member...never enough E86s around. Welcome!!
Car looks amazing and just the second owner is fantastic! I'm guessing the mileage is low if it's never left the city?

Thanks bud it’s a great example, miles at 105k so averaged about 5k a year through its life.

Si

[Sit]

Apologies for anyone following this on PH but I feel there are probably two audiences for updates so here goes….

So it’s been 10 days now and the Z4 has seen a little use, despite her initial reaction Mrs Sit warmed quickly to it after our first trip out.

I have built up a little list of jobs to do which looks like this (not in any particular order) -

Boot struts - I thought these were shot and making a horrible noise, however when I disconnected the parcel shelf/cover the noise disappeared so I don’t think they need replacing.

Bonnet struts - these are shot and the bonnet nearly took my friends head off who came to view the car with me, these are on order and will be replaced.

Bonnet (actually bumper!) badge - showing signs of corrosion so will be removed and replaced with an OE one.

ZHP gear knob - seen a lot of positive reviews of these so will pick one up at some point.

Front fog lights - these resemble a fish tank so will remove and inspect and see if I can clean, also seen a few people drill some small holes in bottom edge to let any water out.

Gummi pfledge - was introduced to this when I had a Honda S2000 and used it on all the rubber seals, the Z4’s looking a bit dry so will pick up a tube of this.

Centre console trim - this is cracked in a couple of places, initially I was going to see about having it repaired as I know the piano black is scarce and sought after. Luckily a saved eBay search turned up a full set so that’s arrived and is waiting to be swapped out.

Wheels - I think I covered this and the transformation took place today, it may be cliche/done to death but there is a reason for that - CSL’s just suit this car so darn well. For me the 108’s really aged it, the shape and lines I think are timeless bit those wheels really let it down. Did a bit of research and settled on a set of 19” Atomic CSL reps from Mark at BM Autosport, absolute pleasure to deal with and they came next day. I chose the hyper silver finish which is as close to OE as I can get I think. I went with ant ET33 on the rears which is quite a deep concave but pushes the rim out flush with the arch and avoids the need for spacers. Again I researched tyre choice and went with the Uniroyal Rainsport 5’s which had positive reviews from many. I won’t be tracking this and given our damp climate and rwd I favoured some wet grip. They look good and have a built in rim protector, a little stretch on the rear but not to the degree of the stance brigade and if I didn’t tell you then you probably wouldn’t notice.

A sneak peak -

|https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/91521/202501107312508

The car is in desperate need of a clean so no pics just yet, it’s booked in at my local detailers for a full decontamination and clean which I know will do the Individual paint justice.

It’s parked outside our kitchen window so find myself volunteering more often to wash up - it’s quite a pretty think to stare at.

I also have some gaskets on order to do oil filter housing, oil cooler and valve cover as a precautionary measure.

The headlights are pretty hazy so picked up the Auto Glym kit from Halfords last weekend and need to get round to seeing to them.