Just realised over the Skye trip that I have now had my Z4 for 7 years.
I never intended to keep it this long and have never kept any previous car even remotely this long.
It all started when a friends brother who works for BMW in Munich left a brand new shiney LHD 3.0 at his parents house. Our friend came to visit us bringing said car, the sun was shining, the roof was down so it would have been rude not to go for a quick blat around the leafy lanes of Suffolk.
MrsG and I continued to talk about the Z before deciding we could not afford one, we then got the bad news that it would be impossible for us to start a family and before we knew it to cheer ourselves up we were putting down a deposit.
The 8th May 2004 arrived and I drove my old E46 to Bury St Edmunds for the last time. There it was AV04 WZP my 2.5 SE Z4 Roadster. We specced it up with the MFSW, M Suspension, 17" 103 wheels, heated leather seats and few other bits and pieces. It was immediately christened Louie by better half as she likened the WZP to the Wazzzzup of the Budwieser lizards of the time.
We took our first long drive in the Z the following weekend with the excuse of showing it off to family, reversing off my parents driveway the drop kerb at that point in time was a sharp 45deg angle this was when I discovered how low the Z was as I heard the unmistakable sound of it grounding on the pavement.
Nothing much happened over the next few years the Z remaining totally as we picked it up.
The ignition coils went within the warranty period and then I became a victim of the rear springs snapping and most recently the airbag light, beyond these small niggles the Zed has performed faultlessly over the 7 years and 62,000 miles.
It was on Fri Jan 23, 2009 @ 1:01 pm that financial disaster struck.
I discovered Z4-Forum.com.
I initially joined to enquire about a boot lid mounted luggage rack, I bought one but have never used it
To this point in time I had always modded motorbikes never a car, even to the point of ripping a Kawasaki ZX7R to pieces to start fitting parts when it was less than 4 hours old.
The forum opened up a new world of tastefully and thoughtfully modified cars and i realised that it could be done without them becoming a member of the max power brigade.
I have no pictures of the Zed as we bought it (lies all lies, I've just found this one pre Z4-itis)
but only after Z4-itis (copyright ZerrmattV) started to take hold.
Nothing major at first.
Just CF Roundells, painted brake calipers and Eibach springs replacing the seemingly snap happy OEM ones.
I upgraded the stereo to an Alpine iDA X-305 around this time to get better iPod control and eventually after a few false starts got the MFSW controls to work and fitted a LeatherZ armrest.
This was followed by a trip to Wolverhampton to pick up a Titanium Silver Hardtop.
By now Z4-itis was really taking hold with new 19" VMR V710's, Quad spots and clear side repeaters being next on the list.
With winter approaching the Hardtop was sprayed to match the car and Z4-itis finally started to release its grip.
Unfortunately the remission was short lived.
Trawling through Ebay I stumbled on a Tri-colour M Steering wheel onto which I fettled my existing spokes to fit.
At this point I attended my first Z4 Forum meet and managed to clumsely kerb my wheels on a now infamous bridge, they were badly refurbed IMO and have just been been redone to a much better standard.
I convinced myself that to embrace the Amber of the OEM headlights was the right and logical thing to do, until a thread on here pointed out some post-facelift halogen headlights, a buy it now price broke open the credit card again and before I knew it I'd bought them, only to discover another thread saying they thought the seller was a bit dodgy Thankfully the lights arrived and were fitted almost immediately. The cost being somewhat offset by my old lights being puchased by a forum member who had just had a bit of a disaster with his.
I have gathered together a few more items for future projects which are currently gathering dust in the garage and the sharp eyed among you who have looked at the Skye trip photos will have spotted that Z4-itis is still being treated.
The bumper was purchased from TomTVR for a very reasonable price, and I finally got it sprayed by the same guy who has just refurbed my wheels and they have made a cracking job of both things, the only downside was when they tried to put a carbon wrap on the lower cross piece as I had asked them to, but they were unable to get it to lay to their satisfaction, they have offered to try again but I think I will just have it sprayed satin black which he has again offered to do at no further cost. I finished fitting the bumper on Friday night before getting up early for the Skye run. The only snag being the front is now just over 1/2" lower than it was before, but it has yet to grind itself on anything.
I have a few more things lurking in the pipeline but I think I will just have to keep taking the tablets to keep Z4-itis at bay until the new year.
As I said I have now had my Zed for 7 years and I can't honestly see me ever getting rid of it, there is nothing IMO currently on the market that hits all the buttons and makes me feel the way that I did when I first saw the E85, we did toy with trading up to a better newer model but decided like some others on here to spend on the money on personizing what I already had. I think I can honestly say I get more satisfaction out of the Zed now than ever before.
I like to think I have now made some good friends via the forum and genuinely look forward to seeing them on the runs.
Here's to the next 7 years and hoping the forum is still encouraging me to do the things that I never knew needed doing.
But I still think this site should carry a wealth warning :lol: .
I never intended to keep it this long and have never kept any previous car even remotely this long.
It all started when a friends brother who works for BMW in Munich left a brand new shiney LHD 3.0 at his parents house. Our friend came to visit us bringing said car, the sun was shining, the roof was down so it would have been rude not to go for a quick blat around the leafy lanes of Suffolk.
MrsG and I continued to talk about the Z before deciding we could not afford one, we then got the bad news that it would be impossible for us to start a family and before we knew it to cheer ourselves up we were putting down a deposit.
The 8th May 2004 arrived and I drove my old E46 to Bury St Edmunds for the last time. There it was AV04 WZP my 2.5 SE Z4 Roadster. We specced it up with the MFSW, M Suspension, 17" 103 wheels, heated leather seats and few other bits and pieces. It was immediately christened Louie by better half as she likened the WZP to the Wazzzzup of the Budwieser lizards of the time.
We took our first long drive in the Z the following weekend with the excuse of showing it off to family, reversing off my parents driveway the drop kerb at that point in time was a sharp 45deg angle this was when I discovered how low the Z was as I heard the unmistakable sound of it grounding on the pavement.
Nothing much happened over the next few years the Z remaining totally as we picked it up.
The ignition coils went within the warranty period and then I became a victim of the rear springs snapping and most recently the airbag light, beyond these small niggles the Zed has performed faultlessly over the 7 years and 62,000 miles.
It was on Fri Jan 23, 2009 @ 1:01 pm that financial disaster struck.
I discovered Z4-Forum.com.
I initially joined to enquire about a boot lid mounted luggage rack, I bought one but have never used it
To this point in time I had always modded motorbikes never a car, even to the point of ripping a Kawasaki ZX7R to pieces to start fitting parts when it was less than 4 hours old.
The forum opened up a new world of tastefully and thoughtfully modified cars and i realised that it could be done without them becoming a member of the max power brigade.
I have no pictures of the Zed as we bought it (lies all lies, I've just found this one pre Z4-itis)
but only after Z4-itis (copyright ZerrmattV) started to take hold.
Nothing major at first.
Just CF Roundells, painted brake calipers and Eibach springs replacing the seemingly snap happy OEM ones.
I upgraded the stereo to an Alpine iDA X-305 around this time to get better iPod control and eventually after a few false starts got the MFSW controls to work and fitted a LeatherZ armrest.
This was followed by a trip to Wolverhampton to pick up a Titanium Silver Hardtop.
By now Z4-itis was really taking hold with new 19" VMR V710's, Quad spots and clear side repeaters being next on the list.
With winter approaching the Hardtop was sprayed to match the car and Z4-itis finally started to release its grip.
Unfortunately the remission was short lived.
Trawling through Ebay I stumbled on a Tri-colour M Steering wheel onto which I fettled my existing spokes to fit.
At this point I attended my first Z4 Forum meet and managed to clumsely kerb my wheels on a now infamous bridge, they were badly refurbed IMO and have just been been redone to a much better standard.
I convinced myself that to embrace the Amber of the OEM headlights was the right and logical thing to do, until a thread on here pointed out some post-facelift halogen headlights, a buy it now price broke open the credit card again and before I knew it I'd bought them, only to discover another thread saying they thought the seller was a bit dodgy
Thankfully the lights arrived and were fitted almost immediately. The cost being somewhat offset by my old lights being puchased by a forum member who had just had a bit of a disaster with his.I have gathered together a few more items for future projects which are currently gathering dust in the garage and the sharp eyed among you who have looked at the Skye trip photos will have spotted that Z4-itis is still being treated.
The bumper was purchased from TomTVR for a very reasonable price, and I finally got it sprayed by the same guy who has just refurbed my wheels and they have made a cracking job of both things, the only downside was when they tried to put a carbon wrap on the lower cross piece as I had asked them to, but they were unable to get it to lay to their satisfaction, they have offered to try again but I think I will just have it sprayed satin black which he has again offered to do at no further cost. I finished fitting the bumper on Friday night before getting up early for the Skye run. The only snag being the front is now just over 1/2" lower than it was before, but it has yet to grind itself on anything.
I have a few more things lurking in the pipeline but I think I will just have to keep taking the tablets to keep Z4-itis at bay until the new year.
As I said I have now had my Zed for 7 years and I can't honestly see me ever getting rid of it, there is nothing IMO currently on the market that hits all the buttons and makes me feel the way that I did when I first saw the E85, we did toy with trading up to a better newer model but decided like some others on here to spend on the money on personizing what I already had. I think I can honestly say I get more satisfaction out of the Zed now than ever before.
I like to think I have now made some good friends via the forum and genuinely look forward to seeing them on the runs.
Here's to the next 7 years and hoping the forum is still encouraging me to do the things that I never knew needed doing.
But I still think this site should carry a wealth warning :lol: .
south yorkshire
