2007 z4 as a daily car?

mlester187 said:
I drive my 3.0 Si every day. I will admit that the ride is 'choppy' to say the least. I was travelling on the M62 the other day where there are 'Humps for 2 miles' and I hate to admit that I felt like I was being thrown around at around 80-90 MPH. The handling of the car waaaaaay offsets this problem though. I travel to the Netherlands quite often and know what sort of roads you are talking about; IMO a z4 would not be the ideal car to take on these roads, it will be VERY bumpy. Car is useless in the snow as soon as you get to any sort of incline.
It may sound like I'm slating the z4. I'm not. I absolutely love my z4, it's the favourite of all the cars I have owned (over 15). For sheer driving pleasure it is simply fantastic. e.g. imagine one day you and the mrs take a small road trip out of the city centre on windy roads, if you opted for the Eos or the C70 you would seriuosly regret it, if you had a z4 you would have a MASSIVE smile on your face
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This is an interesting post.. Kind of the post that's quite important for me to consider at this point :) . If you were buying a car here in the Netherlands and you had to choose between the z4 and the c70/Eos, considering all things, which one would you choose? The brick roads, I can stay away from that. However, the car not being able to climb inclines in the snow - even with the snow tires on, is a bit worrying. Can you confirm this? Because, though the Netherlands is known to be a flat country, there are some inclines which unfortunately, are in front of railway crossings where you need to wait for a train to pass. from that point, if my car skids and/or skids back to hit the guy behind me, it would be pretty embarrassing :D
 
Like some of the others I use my Z4 Coupe for business & do 25k miles a year. The ride is hard but it's a sports car & non-runflats do make the ride smoother. The most annoying thing I find is the notchy gearchange! Hopefully I'll get the CDV removed eventually. But apart from that it's great as a daily car, totally reliable, very comfy, big boot & 30mpg+ with the 3.0i. My parents actually own an Eos and the two cars are complete opposites - the Eos is a far more relaxing drive but no power, useless round corners & doesn't feel special like the Z4 does. The Z4 on standard tyres is hopeless in the snow even on flat ground. I was stranded for 3 days when it snowed here at Christmas, everyone else was merrily driving past but as soon as the Z4 hit any snow or ice it just wheelspun. I tried a shovel, salt, carpets under the wheels but no luck. But it's rear wheel drive so what do you expect? I certainly wouldn't let a bit of snow put me off buying a Z4 or any car for that matter. But then again I've absolutely no common sense :P
 
falkonIndian said:
mlester187 said:
I drive my 3.0 Si every day. I will admit that the ride is 'choppy' to say the least. I was travelling on the M62 the other day where there are 'Humps for 2 miles' and I hate to admit that I felt like I was being thrown around at around 80-90 MPH. The handling of the car waaaaaay offsets this problem though. I travel to the Netherlands quite often and know what sort of roads you are talking about; IMO a z4 would not be the ideal car to take on these roads, it will be VERY bumpy. Car is useless in the snow as soon as you get to any sort of incline.
It may sound like I'm slating the z4. I'm not. I absolutely love my z4, it's the favourite of all the cars I have owned (over 15). For sheer driving pleasure it is simply fantastic. e.g. imagine one day you and the mrs take a small road trip out of the city centre on windy roads, if you opted for the Eos or the C70 you would seriuosly regret it, if you had a z4 you would have a MASSIVE smile on your face
Click to expand...


This is an interesting post.. Kind of the post that's quite important for me to consider at this point :) . If you were buying a car here in the Netherlands and you had to choose between the z4 and the c70/Eos, considering all things, which one would you choose? The brick roads, I can stay away from that. However, the car not being able to climb inclines in the snow - even with the snow tires on, is a bit worrying. Can you confirm this? Because, though the Netherlands is known to be a flat country, there are some inclines which unfortunately, are in front of railway crossings where you need to wait for a train to pass. from that point, if my car skids and/or skids back to hit the guy behind me, it would be pretty embarrassing :D
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Thanks for the reply. For the record I have to say that I think you should go for the z4. Apparently snow tires make a MASSIVE improvement on driving in the snow. I think there is a youtube video earlier in this thread? or another thread near this one? If you see that video you will see what an improvement they make. I do not have snow tires and therefore had to leave my car for a couple of weeks during the snow. Also if you make the change to non-runflats I hear (and imagine) the ride quality will improve significantly, I still run on runflats so can not comment from experience. Definitely go for the z4. I am a massive car fan, not just a z4 fan, and IMHO the Eos is just a big, heavy, boring car, and the volvo is......a volvo?! do you really want a volvo when you have the option to get a Z4??? No contest in my mind.
 
Thanks for the replies..

One question - this time, its a retrofit one :)
Is it possible to add the power option for the roof if it doesn't exist ? this dealer has quite a few z4's for sale and I intend to choose the one with the least miles on it. If that particular one has only a manual option, It would be nice to have a powered roof option retrofitted.

I'm not sure what else can be retrofitted, but this is the most necessary one - I think :S I don't want to get out of the car to fumble with the roof in case it starts to rain or something.."

Secondly, in case this can be retrofitted, can it be done at the BMW dealer (from whom i'm picking this up) or do you have to do this somewhere else? I'm getting a 2 year bmw warranty with the car and i dont want that to be voided..

what about navigation ? can that be retrofitted officially ? doesn't matter if its a hassle, I dont mind the tomtom navigation boxes :)
 
falkonIndian said:
However, the car not being able to climb inclines in the snow - even with the snow tires on, is a bit worrying. Can you confirm this?
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Last xmas I could not get off my snow-covered drive (incline & curve) in my renault kangoo on normal tyres.

This xmas my Z4 on winter tyres had no problem, I didn't bother clearing the snow off the drive because the tyres had plenty of grip
I live at the top of a hill, in a hilly area, and drove it all through the snow and there weren't any roads I couldn't drive

edit:
and the winter tyres are non-runflat, the ride is much better. More comfy and no tramlining except on a few particularly bad roads
 
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