buying a Z4 (again) need advice

[Nanu]

I have just swapped my 28i for the 35is and the difference is amazing.
I was very happy with the 28i which gives great performance as well as being cheaper to run however the 35is is on a different level. A friend of mine drives a 360 Ferrari and when he drove mine andput his foot down his first words were "jesus this is quick". If you go down the 28i route then my advice would be to try and get a model that includes the adaptive sports suspension it does make a difference and is worth the extra. The manual version of the 28i is also the one I would recommend but the dual clutch in the 35is is by far the best auto I have ever driven so unless you have that gearbox stick with the manual in all Z4 models.

 

[bob4333]

35i, manual box...

But damn, every time I put my foot down, the car takes a couple seconds to start really accelerating, like the gearbox doesn't kick-down very fast at-all. It's frustrating and even in S mode the paddles don't always seem to respond immediately. I assume the manual is literally shift and squirt? Much more immediate.

My daily driver is a paddle shift auto and while relaxing and responsive (and can certainly push on when required), it isn't quite the same as a manual.

My 35i is a complete indulgence, replacing a Morgan Plus 8 manual (the Company only ever made 1 auto in 35 years) so a manual box was a must for me - and I just couldn't find one "used". I therefore had to throw another few quid at my budget and shop around for a new car from a dealer who saw the realities of life and order me one at a price that suited us both before I walked around the corner to find someone else. I did actually ask if they'd do a 35is manual but the BMW tailored approach wouldn't stretch that far.

A manual box is obviously more hassle when stuck in traffic but that 6 pot engine is so flexible it's not going to embarrass me if I momentarily get caught in the wrong gear. The clutch is light and the 'box so slick that when it comes to shift and squirt time I'm out of there like it's hard wired into what's left of my brain.

So in the end it was a trade off of features. The 35is has some things I really would have liked, but the car delivered last November has yet to disappoint in terms of sheer driveable fun. And that, for me, is uppermost in terms of what it's all about.

(I share your paranoia about parking it anywhere though. Why is it that I'll put it in a parking slot away from everyone in an isolated car park and come back to find some idiot parked next to me and the car park still vitually empty?).

 

[Visionist]

Hear hear! I park on a deserted street and five minutes later some clown has dumped a smashed-up twenty year old Punto in front of me and his presumably friend clown has dumped his smashed up twenty year old Seicento behind. Otherwise the sight of the car seems to rectify other's poor driving momentarily; some give up halfway through absent-mindedly cutting me up when they see the Z4, others literally hold up a long queue of traffic behind them to let me out, even when totally unnecessary. Cars seem to keep their distance even in a jam (it's all one big jam here) and almost never ever honk at me for proceeding slowly down a tight alley. Try driving slowly in a Panda...

 

[Timdon]

Hi back to the origanal post .I have just purchase a 2012 35i and the power is smooth with no lag .the fuel economy is very poor ,but I didn't buy a 3lt for mpg .overall the z4 35i is fast and smooth with the dct .what is the difference between the 35i and the 35is ? Is it just the adaptive suspension and remap ?

 

[jimbo1958]

Hi back to the origanal post .I have just purchase a 2012 35i and the power is smooth with no lag .the fuel economy is very poor ,but I didn't buy a 3lt for mpg .overall the z4 35i is fast and smooth with the dct .what is the difference between the 35i and the 35is ? Is it just the adaptive suspension and remap ?

Agree on the fuel Economy............not seen better than 17mpg in any of the weeks of my 7 months ownership.

 

[techathy]

Hi back to the origanal post .I have just purchase a 2012 35i and the power is smooth with no lag .the fuel economy is very poor ,but I didn't buy a 3lt for mpg .overall the z4 35i is fast and smooth with the dct .what is the difference between the 35i and the 35is ? Is it just the adaptive suspension and remap ?

Agree on the fuel Economy............not seen better than 17mpg in any of the weeks of my 7 months ownership.

You're not getting better than 16.6l/100km? That's almost twice my fuel consumption (8.74l/100km)

 

[bob4333]

Hi back to the origanal post .I have just purchase a 2012 35i and the power is smooth with no lag .the fuel economy is very poor ,but I didn't buy a 3lt for mpg .overall the z4 35i is fast and smooth with the dct .what is the difference between the 35i and the 35is ? Is it just the adaptive suspension and remap ?

Agree on the fuel Economy............not seen better than 17mpg in any of the weeks of my 7 months ownership.

I imagine you'd be a little disappointed with 17mpg.

Is this mostly town driving or are you, er....... enjoying the exhilaration of the engine everywhere you go? I get an average of 30 / 31 (35i manual) for most trips, though admittedly it doesn't take much to drop it to 27 / 28 come the red mist moments. But I've not had worse than that in the 3000 miles / 5 months I've had the car. Like most people I didn't buy it for it's economy and I don't drive it like a nun. I admit I was expecting worse.

 

[Visionist]

I saw a high of 26-point-something returning from Milan (450 miles of motorway) mostly in comfort/auto mode but with my again-&-again jaunts deep into lock-me-up-throw-away-the-key speeds, it dropped to 24 point-something-else.

Around town I'm getting under 16 on average.

 

[jimbo1958]

Hi back to the origanal post .I have just purchase a 2012 35i and the power is smooth with no lag .the fuel economy is very poor ,but I didn't buy a 3lt for mpg .overall the z4 35i is fast and smooth with the dct .what is the difference between the 35i and the 35is ? Is it just the adaptive suspension and remap ?

Agree on the fuel Economy............not seen better than 17mpg in any of the weeks of my 7 months ownership.

I imagine you'd be a little disappointed with 17mpg.

Is this mostly town driving or are you, er....... enjoying the exhilaration of the engine everywhere you go? I get an average of 30 / 31 (35i manual) for most trips, though admittedly it doesn't take much to drop it to 27 / 28 come the red mist moments. But I've not had worse than that in the 3000 miles / 5 months I've had the car. Like most people I didn't buy it for it's economy and I don't drive it like a nun. I admit I was expecting worse.

This has been 100% town driving. Not been on a run since I purchased it.
Don't think there's a problem with the car as I only used to get 24mpg around town for the 4 years I owned my E85 3.0i.
Will reset the comp when I go to Duxford on Sunday to see what I get.
Amazed that you're getting 30mpg.

 

[RX-78]

Just given my 28i a brief run on mixed town/empty A road on sports nice. I used to get 29mpg on my 7 years old e86 3.0se. I'm getting 31mpg now. Very disappointing given on spec sheet it's meant to be 10mpg better then my old e86.

Does make me feel a bit better if 35is is getting mpg around 20mpg as this was the prime reason for not going 35is for me. To be honest, acceleration and response on 28i on sports mode is plenty for me as daily drive, occasional fun car.

Although I'm not missing the manual in congested town traffic, I realized how much I miss it when I drove my wife's 320 diesel Eco drive. It somehow felt more involved.

So, if money was no option, go for 35is. If you are getting on a bit and need it as a fault drive, 28i auto is prefect. If you user it as a weekend car, may be 35i or 28i manual , depending on your budget?

 

[Timdon]

Hi back to the origanal post .I have just purchase a 2012 35i and the power is smooth with no lag .the fuel economy is very poor ,but I didn't buy a 3lt for mpg .overall the z4 35i is fast and smooth with the dct .what is the difference between the 35i and the 35is ? Is it just the adaptive suspension and remap ?

Agree on the fuel Economy............not seen better than 17mpg in any of the weeks of my 7 months ownership. :

Must admit I have only done country roads and bypass not motorways ,but i only drive in sport or sport + 17 to 20 mpg

 

[HillWalker]

No town work in my 35is but never get less than 30 mpg

 

[chasBMW]

No town work in my 35is but never get less than 30 mpg

I have no idea how you are managing this

 

[jimbo1958]

No town work in my 35is but never get less than 30 mpg

I have no idea how you are managing this

Nor me, but well jealous.

 

[HillWalker]

No town work in my 35is but never get less than 30 mpg

I have no idea how you are managing this

Nor me, but well jealous.

Drive like a Nun mainly longish journeys, tootling along at 60ish and no making the sweet sounding six cylinder engine sing !!!

Having said that back in the early eighties I did win a brand new Ford Cortina (remember them) in a national economy driving competition run by Ford and out of 18,000 entries I eventually won, and when asked in a interview at the end of the competition by Sir Jackie Stewart what the secret was to good fuel economy my answer was and still is a light right foot

 

[James Junior]

I have been running a 3.0 Si Coupe for the past two years. I commute into my office in Spinningfields every day which is in the centre of Manchester, from out in the suburbs, though admittedly I tend to avoid peak times. I also do the odd motorway jaunt off to see clients. My long term average MPG is 28 in the 3.0 Si, which is ridiculously good for a 6 cylinder engine. Mine is an auto which helps, plus I do tend to use a momentum driving style and a light foot in town. Out on the open road I am not shy however.

I am in the market for a 35is so curious to see how it will compare once I find one. I am expecting around a 20% MPG deficit by comparison, which for a 28% increase in horsepower seems more than a fair trade off. Everything else I fancy is V8 (XKR/RS5/M3/AMG C63) so would be on another level of thirstiness, so the 35is seems a good compromise between performance and economy.

Once I finally find one I will report back and benchmark against the 3.0 Si in case anyone else is thinking of making the same move and needs a reference point for town driving.

 

[ronk]

It's got to be a six !

 

[matthurley]

I have been running a 3.0 Si Coupe for the past two years. I commute into my office in Spinningfields every day which is in the centre of Manchester, from out in the suburbs, though admittedly I tend to avoid peak times. I also do the odd motorway jaunt off to see clients. My long term average MPG is 28 in the 3.0 Si, which is ridiculously good for a 6 cylinder engine. Mine is an auto which helps, plus I do tend to use a momentum driving style and a light foot in town. Out on the open road I am not shy however.

I am in the market for a 35is so curious to see how it will compare once I find one. I am expecting around a 20% MPG deficit by comparison, which for a 28% increase in horsepower seems more than a fair trade off. Everything else I fancy is V8 (XKR/RS5/M3/AMG C63) so would be on another level of thirstiness, so the 35is seems a good compromise between performance and economy.

Once I finally find one I will report back and benchmark against the 3.0 Si in case anyone else is thinking of making the same move and needs a reference point for town driving.

At this rate I'm expecting lots of 35is's at next years English/Welsh meet !

 

[Stark]

I only ever got about 18mpg but I drive mine hard and fast and didn't expect better than that....I'm looking for another one online and there is a big shortage of them for anything near what I sold mine for, especially with DCT and 326's

Ever sell a car and think you sold it too cheap? 8)

 

[Visionist]

Driving around town today:

13.4 MPG

Where's my prize lol