I've had my 2.0 for a year now, since January 2019.
First thing I did was to put brand new Pirelli tires on since it still had the original Bridgestone Potenzas and I was not about to drive 1200km through the Karoo desert with shoddy tires when I collected the car. Next I found a good independent service station (Garage 808 in Cape Town) that actually knew something about the Z4 cars.
They went over the car and we decided on an inspection 2 service to establish a baseline for maintenance as a new owner. They also had to replace the gasket cover seal and recondition the vacuum pump, replacing all seals on it. The front bushes needed replacement (I settled for powerflex), and I was warned that the front brakes would need to be re-done at the next service. Not a cheap service but lots of preventative maintenance was done. I also had them check that the drains for the hood was clear to protect the roof motor (I read it is a party trick of the E85, and a good maintenance practice).
Come 2020 and 15000km later (the service interval indicator showing a good 11000km to the next service) I had an oil service done and the front brake discs and pads replaced. Interestingly my mechanic insists on using the original BMW discs, but he uses an after market brake pad, the original BMW brake pads costing R1000 more. I am somewhat puzzled since an "dipstick o-ring" was leaking and replaced but the N46b20 doesn't have a dipstick, so will ask them to explain exactly what it was. The brakes were always going to be expensive and the oil service was cheap. This means that my Z4 is well within the maintenance cost bracket of my previous Honda Civic!
I naturally asked for them to check the hood drains again for blockage, and the receptionist simply said "we do that automatically!"
Unfortunately they noticed that a bottom panel on my bumper is damaged (I had to get used to driving such a low car) - they will get a quote for a replacement part but I might just look for a second hand part if I can.
Here's to one year of trouble free motoring with my Z4!
Future project and thoughts:
1) I want to make sure if the facelift model has the wiring for the phone and bluetooth. Some forums indicate that you can plug in a bluetooth module in the boot and then you're good to go. I won't have anybody take my dash apart for this though.
2) I wish BMW never put cup holders in the car: apart from being useless they rattle over certain road surfaces.
3) On the topic of rattles I have noticed the little panels in the roll over bar can also sometimes rattle over certain surfaces
4) Though I would have loved a 3.0si for that phenomenal engine, this car is really fun and light to drive in a mountain pass (the du Toits Kloof pass is magical) while as economical as my Honda was for a daily driver.
First thing I did was to put brand new Pirelli tires on since it still had the original Bridgestone Potenzas and I was not about to drive 1200km through the Karoo desert with shoddy tires when I collected the car. Next I found a good independent service station (Garage 808 in Cape Town) that actually knew something about the Z4 cars.
They went over the car and we decided on an inspection 2 service to establish a baseline for maintenance as a new owner. They also had to replace the gasket cover seal and recondition the vacuum pump, replacing all seals on it. The front bushes needed replacement (I settled for powerflex), and I was warned that the front brakes would need to be re-done at the next service. Not a cheap service but lots of preventative maintenance was done. I also had them check that the drains for the hood was clear to protect the roof motor (I read it is a party trick of the E85, and a good maintenance practice).
Come 2020 and 15000km later (the service interval indicator showing a good 11000km to the next service) I had an oil service done and the front brake discs and pads replaced. Interestingly my mechanic insists on using the original BMW discs, but he uses an after market brake pad, the original BMW brake pads costing R1000 more. I am somewhat puzzled since an "dipstick o-ring" was leaking and replaced but the N46b20 doesn't have a dipstick, so will ask them to explain exactly what it was. The brakes were always going to be expensive and the oil service was cheap. This means that my Z4 is well within the maintenance cost bracket of my previous Honda Civic!
I naturally asked for them to check the hood drains again for blockage, and the receptionist simply said "we do that automatically!"
Unfortunately they noticed that a bottom panel on my bumper is damaged (I had to get used to driving such a low car) - they will get a quote for a replacement part but I might just look for a second hand part if I can.
Here's to one year of trouble free motoring with my Z4!
Future project and thoughts:
1) I want to make sure if the facelift model has the wiring for the phone and bluetooth. Some forums indicate that you can plug in a bluetooth module in the boot and then you're good to go. I won't have anybody take my dash apart for this though.
2) I wish BMW never put cup holders in the car: apart from being useless they rattle over certain road surfaces.
3) On the topic of rattles I have noticed the little panels in the roll over bar can also sometimes rattle over certain surfaces
4) Though I would have loved a 3.0si for that phenomenal engine, this car is really fun and light to drive in a mountain pass (the du Toits Kloof pass is magical) while as economical as my Honda was for a daily driver.
