ErrErrminator
Active member
I collected my new Z4 on Sunday. Spent what seemed like much of day on the train (and bus replacement service) getting from home in Somerset up to Derby.
Digidick (Richard) kindly picked me up from the station, in the Z, so it wasn’t difficult to find him. The car looked fantastic waiting outside. It had obviously been cherished. The sterling grey paintwork shone and it looked purposeful sat on the huge satin black 19” alloys. I declined the offer to drive back from the station, as I didn’t relish the idea of an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar city centre. But a nice little test drive on some quieter roads later confirmed that this was a good car.
Having done all the necessary checks, agreed the deal was good, exchanged money, paperwork and keys, taxed it, had a cuppa (cheers Rich), I then drove the 180 miles home. I got back around 8pm. The light was fading quickly, so I tucked it away in the garage and there it stayed until this morning.
Yesterday was a work day, so I didn’t get the chance to ‘play’. So frustrating knowing that the new toy was at home and there was nothing I could do about it. With the sun shining and an impromptu day off, today has been Zed familiarisation day!
Last night I did what most of us men folk never do and read the instructions! So that’s the owners manual done. On to the practical. :wink:
With my home chores done this morning I figured I had earned some time out with the car. After careful extracting it from the garage (it’s a bit tight and I need to get used to the width/length of the car) I set about getting comfortable with all the controls, knobs, switches etc. Not that there are that many really and they’re fairly intuitive. I probably should have done this more thoroughly before driving home on Sunday, buy hey ho. :roll:
Next the fun bit, a little drive out on the sort of roads it will be used on regularly now that it resides here in rural Somerset. So a short, but very enjoyable blat round a nice little circular route I know, on some of West Somerset and Exmoor’s finest twisty B roads. This is just what it was bought for and I’m glad to report it did everything I hoped it would.
The lusty 2.5 litre engine is plenty quick enough on this type of road, quickly building speed along the short straighter sections before entering the next set of flowing, sinuous bends. The noise from the oh-so-discreet Ducklakeview exhaust mod is rather addictive. A deep and throaty rumble, building to a hard edged wail at the upper end. There are pops and crackles on the overrun too, which brings about a childish grin.
I was expecting the 19 inch rims with skinny rubber and sport springs to be too much for my liking, but I was pleasantly surprised by this combination. Yes, it makes you wince if you catch a sizeable surface defect, but most of these can be avoided by the observant driver. I got no tramlining and although very firm didn’t find the set-up uncomfortable or too crashy.
The steering is nicely weighted and quite direct and with that long bonnet stretching out in front and a low, straight legged driving position it has all the sports car ingredients I was looking for.
To sum up, if you can’t already tell, I am chuffed! Definitely looking forward to many enjoyable drives with this one. Roll on the summer!
8)
Digidick (Richard) kindly picked me up from the station, in the Z, so it wasn’t difficult to find him. The car looked fantastic waiting outside. It had obviously been cherished. The sterling grey paintwork shone and it looked purposeful sat on the huge satin black 19” alloys. I declined the offer to drive back from the station, as I didn’t relish the idea of an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar city centre. But a nice little test drive on some quieter roads later confirmed that this was a good car.
Having done all the necessary checks, agreed the deal was good, exchanged money, paperwork and keys, taxed it, had a cuppa (cheers Rich), I then drove the 180 miles home. I got back around 8pm. The light was fading quickly, so I tucked it away in the garage and there it stayed until this morning.
Yesterday was a work day, so I didn’t get the chance to ‘play’. So frustrating knowing that the new toy was at home and there was nothing I could do about it. With the sun shining and an impromptu day off, today has been Zed familiarisation day!
Last night I did what most of us men folk never do and read the instructions! So that’s the owners manual done. On to the practical. :wink:
With my home chores done this morning I figured I had earned some time out with the car. After careful extracting it from the garage (it’s a bit tight and I need to get used to the width/length of the car) I set about getting comfortable with all the controls, knobs, switches etc. Not that there are that many really and they’re fairly intuitive. I probably should have done this more thoroughly before driving home on Sunday, buy hey ho. :roll:
Next the fun bit, a little drive out on the sort of roads it will be used on regularly now that it resides here in rural Somerset. So a short, but very enjoyable blat round a nice little circular route I know, on some of West Somerset and Exmoor’s finest twisty B roads. This is just what it was bought for and I’m glad to report it did everything I hoped it would.
The lusty 2.5 litre engine is plenty quick enough on this type of road, quickly building speed along the short straighter sections before entering the next set of flowing, sinuous bends. The noise from the oh-so-discreet Ducklakeview exhaust mod is rather addictive. A deep and throaty rumble, building to a hard edged wail at the upper end. There are pops and crackles on the overrun too, which brings about a childish grin.
I was expecting the 19 inch rims with skinny rubber and sport springs to be too much for my liking, but I was pleasantly surprised by this combination. Yes, it makes you wince if you catch a sizeable surface defect, but most of these can be avoided by the observant driver. I got no tramlining and although very firm didn’t find the set-up uncomfortable or too crashy.
The steering is nicely weighted and quite direct and with that long bonnet stretching out in front and a low, straight legged driving position it has all the sports car ingredients I was looking for.
To sum up, if you can’t already tell, I am chuffed! Definitely looking forward to many enjoyable drives with this one. Roll on the summer!
8) 
North West Surrey
North Yorkshire