E85 Roadster to Z4MR upgrade worth it?

 
Darren Slone said:
I've not had another Z4 before my ///M , I haven't got extended warranty, I don't really care, if something breaks I'll get it fixed, I didn't do any calculations, I just wanted an ///M, I don't care if it uses more fuel, tyres wear quicker, road tax is astronomical, or servicing costs more, not always the case it you use a good Indy , it's a car, I love it to bits, every time i get in it, clean it, look at it, drive it, my heart races , if it's pounds , shillings and pence that makes the difference then go for a different model, because they do cost more, if not go for ///M :driving: :driving: :driving:
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:happyclap: :thumbsup:
 
cant help noticing just how many 2.5 and 3 litre z owners whilst waxing lyrical as to the perfection of said motors, seem to add various m mods ,such as wheels, quad exhausts, seats' etc etc oops :evil: , and M badges! :poke: :fuelfire:
 
Daffy said:
Z4M-2006 said:
Has anyone actually done a comparison cost wise for 3.0 v ///M ?

I'm suprised at how little my ///M costs to run...tax is a kick in thes spuds,but the cost of 1 pint of beer a week covers it..
Insurance is £430, and would be nearer £350 if missus hadn't had a bump and protecting my no claims bonus..

Inspection 2 is the only expensive service,the rest are cheap.

Currently averaging 23 on the daily commute.

How much cheaper per week would running a 3.0 litre be??

My advice, get one.. Hellishly quick and capable,a 3.0 is good just not quick enough or special enough. Whatever the price tag..
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£40 per month from tax, £20 for a non -///M
£40 per month for servicing, £15 for a non -///M
£40 per month for tyres, £20 for a non -///M
£60 per month for warranty, not required for a non -///M

That's £125 PER MONTH extra before you've even driven anywhere, and remember, an extra 10 mpg is a 40% increase on the ///Ms 23mpg. The above are based on 7000-8000 miles per year.

So, excluding depreciation, an ///M will cost you an extra £3000 over the two years. Including fuel, that increases to almost £4800.

Having owned both and calculated both VERY carefully, I can assure you these figures are pretty accurate.

BTW, the ins 1 service is almost £700, which is substantially more than the £170 I just paid for my 330i Sport Tourings Insp 1.

Additional to this, the gearbox on the ///M is utter rubbish; and much as I pine after my ///MC everytime I see one, I wouldn't buy another. I think I'd spend £5-6k less and buy an auto 3.0si coupe.
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Even if your calculations are correct, 99% of ///M owners (or any performance car) don't care. :driving:

What's the difference in running cost's between a 2.0 against a 3.0. Some may say the 2.0 is the better car. Again... don't care :P

Ps. The M gearbox is excellent. You may have had a faulty one. :poke:
 
Is the upgrade enjoyable ? yes, 100% yes.
Is the upgrade worth it ? no.
The MR costs more, much more, and you can't use it properly on open roads.

If you ask yourself if it's worth it, then you need a 3.0si, not an M.
 
Dont see the point of arguing and getting heated over it. Go try it, if you think its better buy it. Simple.

They are for people with disposable income if you dont have enough to buy an M you can still have great fun with the 3.0l the M is just better in most respects IMO. Remember these cars were 40-50k new so they cost money to look after.

MPG, costs of running/servicing/fixing are not important to me really... Its just a car and cars cost money, simples. They are so cheap now, the cost of running is easier to digest for those who are bothered.

If you are worried about problems and things going wrong spend the money and buy a good one. If your budget is stretched to the bottom line cars I would say dont bother you will end up with some trouble. Generally you get what you pay for, if its cheap its cheap for a reason. Therefore a good 3.0l is probably a better choice.
 
in todays climate... i personally wont be buying another expensive car to run for a while.... business is pretty pants for me so personally im glad ive got my ///M car and im happy to keep and maintain it but would i do it NOW over a 3.0l??? for me... no i wouldn't. Parts are expensive, the s54 needs meticulous care , dont get me wrong the car is imo amazing.... but right now, today..... i wouldn't put myself into that position. Then again if your flush.. do it!! The cars are cheap to buy but are not cheap to run at all.

just my feeling. that's my honest point of view.
 
Daffy said:
My Fiat Panda has a better box than the ///M. The manual in the Cayman S is sublime. 1st to 2nd in the ///M is appalling.

Tyres on the non ///M are around £550 a set vs £700 a set for the ///M, but my rears on the ///M lasted less than 9k, but lasted 16k on the 3.0se. So in 2 years you'll need 2 sets of rears on the ///M at £400+. Hence the extra £££.
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This is just one persons opinion,and,while perfectly valid(given your ownership experience),not the Definitive guide to costs.

My own experiences thus far are...
DURING 5 years of owning a 2005 3.0i se........
1.TYRES cost me aprox.£110 fitted each,for Vredestein Ultracs/Sessantas,AND LASTED for 15-20kmiles on the rear,and 20-25k mls on the front.
2.BMW BRAKEDISCS PRICED AT £330 FTD INC PADS,FRONT PAIR ONLY/CHOSE THE AFTERMARKET ROUTE....with EBC,and some brake judder issues,forcing me to replace them after just 10/12k mls ,costing me aprox £550 for 2 sets of discs n pads(FRONTS ONLY) :headbang:
3.INSP.1 COSTS ROUND £250 AT MAIN DEALER;INSP.2 COST ME £350 INC S/PLUGS,OIL SRVC JUST £130.

THIS CAR WENT FOR MY 1ST 3YEARS OF OWNERSHIP COSTING LESS THAN £1000 ,FOR REPAIRS AND SERVICES (@ £330 PER YR),which i think,given it cost 36k NEW,is pretty good.
BUT,in the last 2yrs of my ownership,
I Renewed 2 x traction control sensors,A Wiper arm/control modules/full assembly,1 Window regulator,Suspension bushes and 1 suspn link,1 anti-roll bar link,etc,Rear discs,pads and Handbrake shoes...costing me a total of Aprox.£3K IN 2YEARS (INC.SERVICING) :thumbsdown:

Having just bought myself a low-mileage(20k miles) M Roadster,in June,and knowing the car needed an Insp.1 servc and soon-ish needing Front discs and pads(scoring/excess pitting,etc,and rather noisy when braking firmly),plus new tyres within 4-6k miles...

I got the Insp.1 done right away..COSTING £700
iNSP.2 COSTS AROUND 1K,OIL SERVC,when needed IS GOING TO BE £160(SAME DEALER AS I ALWAYS USE)
Decide to renew discs pads at Front as they were noisy as heck,and decided to go BMW parts this time
Cost was £560 fitted for Front ONLY discs n pads
Priced tyres at £150 each for suitable replacements(eg pilot sports,etc).

Also had to Replace a faulty O2 sensor a few days after getting it...cost,£300 fitted.
So not the best start to M ownership,and while i love the extra performance/sound/traction due to the m diff.........
I am still to be convinced the extra £100 insurance;£200 on Roadtax(due in October);an extra £12(ish) per every 300 miles (based on 250mls per 10gallons used, against my 3.0i's 300 miles avg for every 10gallons used).

But,others on here ,eg sammyz,have owned their M's for years,and have hardly spent anything on them,and are stil on original discs n pads..also,if i had sold my 3.0i 2yrs before i did,it would have been the MOST RELAIBLE car i have owned,and not the LEAST reliable,lol.

So,its all relative...some ppl have to spend money on theirs,some don't.
M costs are higher,obviously...but is a Heart over Head choice :driving:
 
I upgraded from a 2.5si to and ///M

Why?

Well it's my 2nd/3rd car only doe 3-4k per year if that so it doesnt really cost much to run. I wanted a keeper so had to be an ///M

Insurance is actually 20% cheaper than my 2.5si

Servicing costs for an Indi really arent bad http://www.bartleyuk.com/prices-1998-2004-BMW-M3.htm

Service Cost
Oil £175
Inspection I £420
Inspection 2 £555
Annual Check (Brake Fluid & Coolant) £110

As a daily driver it's going to cost more than a 3.0i, but as a toy :thumbsup:

But as many have said, this is a decision only you can make and it's made with the heart not your head. After all a 3.0i does everything you need it to do.
 
I got my my m as I wanted one. It had to be the M or nothing for me. Never considered any other engine.

I'm 26 and had to give up my Defender and boat for it, but since then I haven't looked back and love it. Haven't missed my truck or boat, but would like a Defender as my other car. At the moment there is no point, but didn't want to wait to have the M as my second car so brought it.

I do 60 miles a day in mine, as a commute. Mix or motorway and A roads. It's a dream. The 45 mins each way is a delight, not a chore, but I wouldn't like to do 45 mins in traffic though. Maybe as i am a bit younger I can put up with a firm daily ride compared to someone more matured, but I don't find it a problem at all.

Cost wise, from all the information given, if costs scare you then it's not for you. At present, i dont have a mortgage, or kids, so my cash is relatively disposable for beer and cars etc. I have a house deposit for when I decide to buy, but will keep topping it up when I can.

What I'm trying to say is if you can afford it, do it, you won't regret it, but if you can't afford it, then it's maybe something for the future when funds arnt as tight.

For me, I might get run over by a bus tomorrow, life is too short to always wait for things. Your along time dead!

Good luck in your decision...
 
I ran a 320d till last year, cost me £160 a week / £8,000 a year in depreciation!! Yes it did 50mpg, but the biggest cost by a very long way was depreciation. Buy an M and look after it and it should depreciate very slowly. I keep an eye on used values and they have been pretty stable over the last 12 months for low mileage cars.

By the way, tyres for an M are not much different in price to 18 inch run flats (back to the 320d, it cost over £800 for a set of Bridgestone RF's!) but I concede that they won't last as long. I get 27mpg from mine on average, and can see +30mpg on a sensible motorway run. Insurance is sensible on a multicar policy, but yes road tax is steep at £475.

No one would suggest an M is a cheap car to run, but for me it represents good value for the performance. Good luck with the decision
 
Bingo, 9k out of a set of tyres is abuse no other way to say it. Stating that all Ms run this kind of ware is just stupid.

Should last around 15k really.... even with hooning.

I am very similar see 26.6 average over the last 6.5k (which is my first 6.5k in the car) and 32.2mpg out of the last 400 mile run. Think they are very reasonable.
 
9k miles for tyres on the driven axle for either RWD or FWD on any car is normal if you live in the sticks with good twisties to your doorstep, as is 20ish mpg for the Z4MC. That's my experience based on around 400k miles of that kind of driving. Likewise, I don't run tyres down to the minimum legal tread-depth just to squeeze my money's worth out of them. IMO, it's far better to run mid-priced tyres, such as Falken 452s with decent tread and replace them sooner than a top-priced brand and feel you need to get every last penny out of them.
 
Sorry but I don't agree. 9k miles isn't normal at all for most users. I'd be appalled if I only got 9k out of mine and I don't hang about either.

I've had all manner of high powered front wheel drive turbo and non-turbo hot hatches in my youth and gave them all a good caning but never did I wear tyres out after 9k miles.
 
Have to agree with OG. Done 6k on my new tyres and live in the heart of cumbria and its basically a hoon car barely warn them at all. Can easily see 15k out of them. Theres guys on here that have done multiple track days and trips to the ring and still running their tyres, with tread to spare.
 
9k was my worst ever mileage for a tyre...

It was a low quality chinese tyre on a Saab turbo that i had many years ago..

I had a 528i sport and got 30k from a set of Vredesteins.... I also live in rural area,directly between the Woodhead pass and the snake pass both regularly get a good blast. Its a good hours driving,and can be drivenin a 45 mile circle and is my very own peak districtring on my doorstep!
 
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