First Test Drive of an M

C

CornishRob

Senior member
My quest for an M cam closer yesrerday as i started to view and had my first test drive.

WOW!! What a machine. Loved it!

I went into the test drive with mixed feelings about how it would drive after reading the internet and other peoples opinions. Now i am moving from a Defender so this may have changed my views against the normal driver.

I found the clutch easy to control in slow traffic, although i did kangaroo it when in sport mode going from first to second once!

The gearbox i found interesting, and to be honest was a PITA to shift at slow speeds. When booting it, i didnt even notice it! I guess you would get used to it.

I also found myself not fully booting it so the engine revved up a bit slower so i could enjoy the noise. Oh that noise! I found it too easy to go through a couple of gears and be in license loosing teritory in the quest for noise!

All in all, very impressed with the package and just need to find the right one now.

Oh one thing i did notice, when i was reversing, i noticed a clonk everything i engaged and disengaged the clutch. The sales guy said its normal. Would it be the diff? I didnt hear anything when we were driving, but didnt listen for it as i only heard it at the end of the test drive. Went out again for a little spin after i noticed it, but didnt hear it!

Thanks
 
glad you liked it
hmmm cant say ive noticed a clonk?? maybe im just used to zeds so i dont notice
but def nothing obvious on my car
 
Is your Z your only car? Do you manage with it practically or do you tend to find you struggle with space.

I wont really have use of any other car, so i need to be able to use it for everything.

Think i will need a bike rack of some description. Hope this isnt frowned upon!
 
Yes, a shift to 1st and reverse will produce a "clonk" from the differential when stationary. After owning the car for a bit, you will not even notice it.
 
ovrkll said:
Yes, a shift to 1st and reverse will produce a "clonk" from the differential when stationary. After owning the car for a bit, you will not even notice it.
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X2...
 
I also get that noise. Plus a fair amount of diff chatter at parking speeds. You get used to it and to be honest i kind of like it. Gives it a bit more character.
 
CornishRob said:
I found the clutch easy to control in slow traffic, although i did kangaroo it when in sport mode going from first to second once!

The gearbox i found interesting, and to be honest was a PITA to shift at slow speeds. When booting it, i didnt even notice it! I guess you would get used to it.

I also found myself not fully booting it so the engine revved up a bit slower so i could enjoy the noise. Oh that noise! I found it too easy to go through a couple of gears and be in license loosing teritory in the quest for noise!
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All the above is correct.... The gearbox takes some time getting used to. The sport button is not so great in my opinion and I rarely use it.
 
Franzino said:
The sport button is not so great in my opinion and I rarely use it.
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To me, the "sport" button makes the ///M almost undriveable. It must be the most pointless thing on the car - obviously put there by the Marketing department rather than Engineering. :(
 
It would be great if the sport button was some kind of function that made the DSC a little less involved...like on more recent M models.
 
Adamski said:
Are you going to buy it? :)
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Probably not the one i tested. Hoping to look at another tomorrow which has more potential to be the right one.

The one yesterday was to be used as a benchmark to test as it was the closest around.
 
Thanks for the responses about the clonks. So i shouldnt be worried then!

Yeah i think i would rarely use the sport button as well to be honest.

Just out of interest, how long do brake pads and discs usually last mileage wise (for general road use)?

It seems like alot of cars are for sale at about 35K with the next service being the Inspection 2 in about 15K!
 
CornishRob said:
It seems like alot of cars are for sale at about 35K with the next service being the Inspection 2 in about 15K!
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Ive picked up on that as well. A lot of people seem to be selling just as it reaches inspection 2
 
Because Ins 2 is £1k!

Dont worry about the clonk most BMWs do especially with the Getrag gearbox. Its quite notchy, one thing to do is to pump the clutch. Press it once fully then press it again and engage reverse :thumbsup:
 
If you buy with 15k to next service then it's two years away (assuming it's just had an oil service) unless you cover the 15k first. Insp 2 will be expensive and you would expect to pay £800 up at a main dealer, less at an indi. I'd use it to negotiate the price down by £500 if it were me!
 
sammyz said:
If you buy with 15k to next service then it's two years away (assuming it's just had an oil service) unless you cover the 15k first. Insp 2 will be expensive and you would expect to pay £800 up at a main dealer, less at an indi. I'd use it to negotiate the price down by £500 if it were me!
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Yeah, problem is that i probably will do 12-15k a year. The service isnt really an issue, just comes with this sort of car i guess.

I had hoped i could get one though with about 20-30k on the clock, however it seems that there are onyl a couple of AUC Z4m that are in that band, and they seem very expensive!

My reasoning going for a 20-30K mileage car is that due to me doing 12K+ miles a year, in 2 years it would potentially be on 65k say, which i probably a fair amount of miles considering whats about at the moment. I imagine it would be hard to sell if i wanted to with that sort of mileage!

Its hard to know if i should dig even deeper to get an AUC which looks expensive, or just wait and see if anything else comes up...
 
Not really, as the Z4M came out in 2006 65k is below average milage already so add two more years 65K will be fairly low milage for a car of that age. Most people dont buy the cars to do 12-15k a year more like 6k so people wont be put off by 65k I dont think. As time goes by it will be harder and harder to find low milage cars.
 
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