Bye bye Z4MC

C

cb_M_coop

Member
Tried to put it off for as long as possible, but couldn't fight it any longer. The Zed had to go. Going to be a father for the first time to a little bundle of joy due in July this year, so needed something with back seats and a little bit more luggage space.

Bye bye Z4, hello M3 (with competition pack :D )

Excuse the dodgy phone-photos:

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I'm man enough to admit that a tear was shed when the keys to the Zed were handed over. That said, I don't think I'm doing too badly out of the arrangement :P

When all's said and done, it's all about compromise: back seats for Mummy, V8 for Daddy :evil: :driving: :thumbsup:
 
Cheers gents.

Not quite new - 3 weeks old with 40 miles on the clock.

Straight manual. I really like the DCT - it's a fantastic system. But, that v8 is so easy for heeling-and-toeing, as it's got so little inertia: a mere flick of the throttle sends the revs soaring. I'm an old-skool lad at heart.

Plus, I've got the bike for enjoying true clutchless shifting :D

Thought about the saloon, but managed to convince the missus that with a two door car the doors are bigger, so it'd be easier getting the wee one in and out. No idea how I managed to pull that one off!
 
Cheers doofus4000, although it's not quite the blade: it's the cbr600rr. Quick enough for me for the time being though :lol:

Thinking about taking the step up to litre-bike ownerhsip next year :thumbsup:
 
doors maybe wider, but it will be a bitch trying to get the nipper in the back, should have got the saloon :evil:
 
srhutch, just make sure you never bump into my missus - she'll realise she's been duped :?

Having had all the relevant scans, it looks pretty definite that it's a wee lad we're having. If he's anything like his Daddy I'm sure he'll understand my decision :D

And, at the end of the day, it's infinitely more practical than the M Coop!
 
The coupe is soooo much nicer looking then the saloon though, the right choice by far :thumbsup:
 
Have to say it's a nice car to move to after the Z4. Always loved the M3 Comp. :thumbsup:

You showed us the phone pics, now we need to see the phone videos. DO IT! :lol:
 
lovely looking M3 cb_M_coop, and congratulations on the soon the be a father thing!
 
Very nice mate, is it Silverstone or Silver?

Full review and comparison on B raod handling required I think....
 
I was thinking the same thing, they don't do silver though (special order?) think it's just the phone pics making it look less blue than usual.
 
Yeah, it's Silverstone - the blue tone just doesn't show through that well on the photos.

Difficult to say definitively on handling, as I've been taking it easy during the running in phase. However, it feels significantly more composed and less fidgety than the Zed. Could just be a lower level of involvement, so you're less aware of the suspension's activities but, to be honest, it just feels a bit more sophisticated with better overall body control. I think OEM suspension has probably moved on a fair bit since the Zed.

Naturally, when I was programming the M-button, I set everything to maximum attack mode just to see what it was like (who wouldn't?). Even in their most aggressive setting, the dampers yield a much more comfortable, composed feeling than the Zed.

It just feels like a much easier car to drive faster than the Zed. Not to say that's necessarily a great thing: the Zed definitely had a bit more drama imbued into the whole experience. In the Zed, I used to find that poorly surfaced roads were more of a restraint to pace than any discipline on my part. In the M3, the body feels a lot more securely 'tied-down' and you're not nervous that it's going to get thrown off-line if you hit any mid-corner ruts.

Anyway, limited to 5.5k rpm for the first c1200 miles. After a run down to Edinburgh at the weekend I've got 350 miles on it now, so shouldn't be too long before I introduce myself to the limiter :evil:
 
Those EDC dampers you've got are similar to what we had on the e34 M5s in 1994 and are not new technology (but do work well), but they do weigh a fair bit more than standard suspension and have lots of lovely accelerometers & control units to feed them info and control them. Hopefully they've worked out the issues with the top seals sweating & then leaking. On a new car I wouldn't worry as it's all under warranty, however, down the line someone is going to find out that those dampers are only produced under license to BMW and you can't buy them anywhere else.

The e34 M5 ones started off costing £300 each (when I bought my first set in 2003) and the price rose by about 30% each year (bought my last set in 2006 at £700 each), with them now being around £900 a corner.

We had hoped that BMW would let the license expire after 10 years so that we could buy them direct from the manufacturer, but BMW decided to renew and hike the price up :headbang: so most of us went looking for aftermarket solutions. The best currently being the Bilstein ActiveRide set up with uses 'magnetic fluid' in their dampers to control the flow rates, rather than valving that the EDC uses.

BTW, what MPG are you getting whilst you're keeping the revs low?
 
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