Do 2003 cars really have that terrible build quality?

B

Beancounter1980

Active member
I have read on here that some mention that build quality was significantly improved from 2004 onwards..

Having looked round my car, i cant really comment as i have only had it for one day, but it looks in decent nick. The odd rattle here and there....

What should i look out for on a 2003 (53 plate) car then?

Cupholders, petrol flap??? what else..

This post kinda detracts from my buying experience in all honesty. Because if build quality was poor for first year models i would have payed a little more and bought a 04/05 plate. But it was the spec of my car and the price which made me buy it!!!

Cheers
Don
 
Mine's an '03 and it's fine. I think that a few things were learnt with the 1st year's production and as is often the case, and improved with time. If you really wanted to go for a properly updated one, then a facelift model would have been the one. Don't fret about your car, just enjoy.
 
In my experience, they are very well screwed together cars. I would not give it another thought and enjoy your purchase!
 
I've got an '03 - had it since brand new in '03 - and haven't had a problem at all. Its a great car and not a thing has gone wrong. Now that one of my tires is finally getting to the point it needs replacement soon, though, I'm probably taking this opportunity to upgrade to 18" wheels. Nothing to do with build quality, though, just their decision to put 16" on a sports car.
 
My friend has a 57 plate facelift car bought brand new and she has had more probs with it than my 04 as bigshurv said Enjoy your car all cars can have probs no matter what you spend.
 
Had my 53 plated Z since july last year and only had one problem and that was the ignition coils but that was done under warranty,so think about the positives of the car and enjoy it :thumbsup:
 
Can't say I could put my finger on anything in an 03 that is inherently badly put together other than the door skins needed sound deadening.

All cars get minor problems eased out over the years (like hood motors corroding) until the best of the lot is the last years run off models.

Not worth fretting over - drive an enjoy
 
Hey CJ - the door thing is something I notice daily - is it easy to put sound deadening in to make the doors sound a little less hollow when shutting them? Do you know how to do this? Or has this been discussed before?
 
Not to detract from op's thread, but I did the whole car while doing a door LED and puddle lighting project. Purchased a roll of the sound deadening matting. Can't recall the name but it's adhesive heavy mastic and a foil outer layer. Audio guys use it a lot.
With door cards off I cut strips about 6" wide and 12" long that could be threaded inside the boor and in effect wallpapered all the inside faces simply lining it up to create a complete cover of the door skin. I was advised to do it this way as it's easy to manage strips not big sheets in confined spaces.

I also added some to the inner of the boot lid, boot floor, etc.

Doors sound really solid now so I would recomend it.
 
Cool - I will def think about that... back to the thread, I have a theory that BMW had some issues in some areas of car development 7 - 10 years ago. The Mini was developed at around the same time, and it too suffers from the same rattles and squeaks which we see and hear - quite a coincidence for a company which is usually known for very strong values in that area!

I think they have sorted this stuff nowadays, but this is all perceived quality stuff - the cars themselves are still mechanically very strong (rear springs not withstanding) and I'd have no issue with a 2003 model at all.
 
Had my 53 plate for over 3 years now and no issues that haven't affected owners of new cars... or any more so than anyone with another marque.

Reference any rattles... when it's in I just get the garage to take off the door panels and make sure everything is nice and tight (blasted window regulators!), check the roof drains or put lubricant between rubbing plastics. Not that they're been installed I'll probably installed cup holders to the list. Yes, I'm lazy but I'm more worried about damaging something! It's a sports car thing not a Z4 thing.

As has been said... enjoy it :thumbsup:
 
I wouldn't go worrying about it. I'm coming from noisey hot hatches, but I think mine is really well put together, no rattles worth noting at all tbh.
 
My 2003 53 3.0 is great, no problems so urs will be fine. The rattly doors need sorting but i might follow the advice above just to improve things a little.
 
dan_i said:
I wouldn't go worrying about it. I'm coming from noisey hot hatches, but I think mine is really well put together, no rattles worth noting at all tbh.
Click to expand...


Agree mine is fine and as for the doors not sounding as solid as say a 3 series is it not saving weight it is a sports car after all thats why we have an ally bonnet/hood
 
i have a 2003. no complaints, other than I wish it had the "M" engine :D

the only really annoying thing is the squeaking i get when going over bumps from the soft top release "button" that is between the 2 seats at shoulder level. i have a power top, so it's a useless "button"

but doesn't bother me enough to move my arse to fix it :P ... just turn the music up :thumbsup:
 
My first Z4 was a 2003 and I drove it for 3 years and 45,000 miles with no issues other that the power top motor had to be replaced.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom