God, I love my car!

T

toplad

Member
I’ve had a varied and interesting mix of penis extensions over the years, but my Z4 M Coupe is the best so far, I’m normally getting a bit restless by now for some new metal, but I actually miss the car if I haven’t had the chance to go out for over a week.

The Z4 is Ruby black and shows all the dirt, so it’s a good job I love cleaning the body work so much, I’ve never cleaned any car so much in my life, but it’s more a reflection of how much I like the car rather than the need to keep it looking good, I don’t remember polishing my 911 as much. Once polished it looks fantastic, I always glance over my shoulder as I walk up the drive.
When I do go out for a drive, the first thing I think, well the second actually after I’m reminded about the firm low speed ride, is, “god this is a fast car”. :driving: Had a little run against an RS4 on the motorway last week, he was in front as the traffic cleared, he’s seen me in the rear view mirror and decides to floor it, but I’m in the right gear (3 rd) I see him change down, but he’s only gone to fifth (I think) because as the traffic clears I have no problem closing the gap between us. Then we both slow down again for more traffic, the slower cars pull over again, this time the RS4 driver goes for forth(I think), I see the back of the Audi drop more this time and a puff of smoke out of the exhaust, but he’s still not in the right gear and I close up easily again. I don’t think I’d have closed the gap as easy in my Cayman S. I’m genuinely shocked BMW shoe horned a 338 BHP engine in to a small car and created something slightly barking. :?


The Z4M coupe isn’t prefect, but the mix of the stonking engine and more civility than you get from any TVR is the sort of all round package I’ll find hard to replace.
 
They are amazing!!

How does the Zed compare to the Cayman S you had, I have a friend who can't make his mind up over the too :( (obvious choice in my opinion). Performance wise is the Zed faster in a straight line?
 
I was out early Sunday for a blast and the car seemed indecently fast! frightened myself to 'laugh out loud' at the lunacy of it all :)
I hurled it about some 'B' road twisties then hammered some young lad in his Golf GTI on a straight. Silly really but this car brings out the boy racer in me! :roll:
 
I've had mine a week and can't stand being indoors I just want to drive it all the time. A SLK350 tried to get away from me the other day with no joy. :D He was fast though!!!
 
daz05 said:
They are amazing!!

How does the Zed compare to the Cayman S you had, I have a friend who can't make his mind up over the too :( (obvious choice in my opinion). Performance wise is the Zed faster in a straight line?
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I did a write up on the Z4 when I first bought it and posted it on another site, it compares the Cayman and S2000, some of it's waffle :D

Finally got round to mentioning I picked up my Z4 M Coupe. My thoughts were mixed to start with, some my own problems and others with the car itself. I’ll try and draw some comparisons with the S2000 and others cars I’ve owned/driven in this review

Initially it seemed like a big engine strapped to a roller stake when comparing it to the Cayman S. The front end wasn’t very settled on lumpy roads and rocked from side to side as well as bobbing up and down. So I Installed a Strut brace, this settled it down a lot, making the front end less busy. It made steering better and the front and back end of the car now seemed better connected, a very worth while mod. The other problem was the clutch; I found it impossible to drive smoothly. I changed the CDV and now the car is much easy to drive at low speed. I’ll not go into it, but follow this link if you’re interested in the details. http://www.billswebspace.com/BMWCDVMod.htm

Now I’m extremely pleased with it. The engine is still the star of the show, motorway slip roads being the Z4 M’s party piece. It’s feels about the same as the Cayman S up to about 90-100, but after that the Z4 is quicker. Short shift as you get on the motorway and your doing 120, nail it and your doing 160 in 5th gear with another to go. High speed stability in a straight line feels more planted than the Cayman, but it doesn’t feel as sure footed with high speed lane changes. I’d already planned a trip to the Nürburgring before I bought the car, I’d only really driven the car from Oxford to Leeds when I set off to Hull to catch the ferry to one of the most notorious track in world, plus I hadn’t really driven any thing fast for at least 4 months. On the way to the Nürburgring we stopped off in Amsterdam for a Saturday night out. The motorway from the ferry terminal goes past Schipol airport, as we drove past the main motorway exit for the airport, 3 Mercedes taxi’s (one a AMG version) are all racing each other as they roar on to the motorway at over 100mph; their heading straight for my lane from the right, it was like a seen from the Bourne Identity, I’d just speeded up to overtake a car before the lanes narrowed from 4 lanes to 3, sort of a bottle neck. Had to come off the throttle, brake and ‘wang it’ to avoid the insane taxi drivers, the Z4 didn’t feel as stable performing this manoeuvre as the Cayman use to. The Cayman was better balanced and settled quicker, you’d knew what you had underneath you instantly with the Cayman. The steering isn’t as good either, in both terms of feel or slack; you could adjust the steering on the Cayman mid corner to the inch and feel exactly how much grip you still had left. The Z4 steering still feels sharp, like the S2000’s (as much as I can remember, it’s been 4yrs) but offers more steering feel than CSL, S2000 or M3, but would feel numb to an Exige S driver.
The brakes on the Z4 are from the CSL M3 and are very sharp, I’ve read they wilt on the track, but on the road and a few laps of the Nürburgring they were fine. Pedal feel isn’t as good as the S2000 or any of the Porsches I’ve had, but is there.

The general feel of the car is a of a pointy front end (thanks to the brace) with a good bit of power which has to measured out accurately, the car needs to be driven every inch of the road just like the S2000, the Cayman drives itself by comparison. You could stamp your foot on the throttle almost every corner in the Cayman no problem.

Mess up the notchy gear change and it’ll kangaroo until you get it under control. The lack of a decent motor for the last 4 months has made me rusty behind the wheel; the Z4 is the sort of car which shows up any sort of kack handedness. You’ve also got to match the revs properly on down shifts, or you nearly go through the windscreen too.

The car rides firmer than the S2000, Cayman, but is more compliant than my TVR Tamora. The Z4 M coupe is designed for the open road and I don’t have a problem using it every day, but some would, the Cayman more suited to a day to day stuff, it offers a compliant ride and a better view in every direction.

The Z4 is just more fun though, I had the back out more times in 1 hour on a recent drive than in 1 year of Cayman owner ship. The Beemer is best taken by the scuff of the neck and driven hard, it suddenly comes together on the open road and at the Nürburgring it was brilliant, it’s an often used cliché, but it was like a big go-kart. Back-end hangs out a bit, keep the power on and turn in to it and you’re launched out of the corner, I’ve never had a car which is so easy to control past the limit of rear grip.

Reading back my text, it seems like I prefer Cayman, the Porsche was more polished, refined, easier to drive fast, but the Z4 is trickier and more rewarding. The car is sort a half way house between Porsche and TVR. Porsche being smooth and the TVR being a bit too rough for my tastes, the Z4 strikes the right balance

I can see why the Z4 M Coupe hasn’t sold in massive numbers, it’s harsh, isn’t easy to drive and lacks space, the Cayman is smoother, offers more useable everyday experience, but Z4M Coupe is wilder, faster and more fun to drive, a proper old school thug.
 
Good write up, and as a former Boxster S owner I can agree with a lot of what you've said above
 
What a day :driving: Whitby to Helmsley to Masham (big MX5 meet on there!) to Hawes to Ingleton to M6 and home! Roof down til the M6 some great roads especially Ripon to Masham, virtually deserted. North Yorkshire has some of the best driving roads I've seen.
 
Boxsters are everywhere and you never escape the "he can't afford a 911" bollocks.. and for a good 911 they cost at least twice as much, so my votes always with the Z4 8)
 
Had two 2.7 Boxsters (new style) and they were great but underpowered. The 3.4 is brilliant though and handles much better than the Z4m (mid engined and all that). But the Z is much more raw and fun, I love it. Only thing that could persuade me away would be a 997S in GT silver ;)
 
alexman said:
Boxsters are everywhere and you never escape the "he can't afford a 911" bollocks.. and for a good 911 they cost at least twice as much, so my votes always with the Z4 8)
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Your under selling the boxster there I think

People who trot out the "can't afford a 911" cobblers are just trying to undermine a brillant car and best ignored
 
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