old(ish) 911 or new(is) Z4

G

gadgetJunky72

Active member
 Peterborough
Hi Guys,

I sold my '06 911 early this, but am having real withdrawal systems. I've been looking at similar age convertible 911s and am finding them rather expensive for the kind of spec i want.

I was just wondering if anyone on here has experience of both cars?

Will any of the engines come close to the 911 performance (i had a 3.8l 997 C2S if that helps)?

I'm considering a Z4 because i used to have one before ('54 3.0l SE) and think that for the same money as a 6 year old Porsche i'm going to get the newest technology (dual clutch, iPod, decent sat nav) bmw have to offer in what i think is their nicest looking car at the moment.

Looking forward to getting your thoughts.

Cheers

Pav
 
A '54 plate Z4 and the current e89 Z4 are very different cars. The new car is larger, heavier and has a softer ride.

BMW says the sDrive35is does 0-62 in 4.8 seconds. The 35i is a little slower at 5.1 seconds with the DCT.

You should test drive a new Z4...

Can't help with comparing to a 911. I've never driven one.
 
I've just moved from a 997 TT Cab to a Z4 and they are worlds apart tbh, but you would have to expect that. My Z4 is 5 years older, covered 3 X the mileage and cost less than 10% of what I sold my 911 for.

The performance is significantly less, but I expected that and being an old, cheap car the Z4 isn't perfect and it's not as nice of a place to be inside but all things considered (other priorities for my money) I'm pleased having made the move although do miss the power of the Turbo from time to time.

A newer Z4 should be better etc so would be worth test driving one to make the comparison...
 
Naive comment coming up - never driven a Porsche, so dont know what I'm talking about, but:

Isn't the Z4 meant to compete in the same market segment as the Boxster?

Therefore, could part of the comparison be between your 911 and a Boxster?

Or is that total BS....I guess the only way is to drive one.
 
My two pence... my 35i and a Porsche Carrera 4S that I had for a short while;

Good Porsche points: Handling is superb, ride is good, Porsche Kudos, nice linear power, classic.
Bad Porsche points: expensive insurance, high cost of ownership, poor fuel economy, poor interior, takes an enthusiast to tell the Porsches' apart.

Good 35i points: Interior is good, power surges (turbos) which feels 'more' even tho it isn't, folding roof, better fuel economy, lower cost of ownership.
Bad 35i points: Ride isn't as good at the Porsche, Handling is not as good either (both likely due to run flats), depreciation is slightly worse due to non Kudos badge/brand.

So if its a car that you take out to thrash and enjoy on quiet roads or the track, Porsche. For an every day car, the 35i, hence my decision in the end.

I'll go back to Porsche one day, but for now, I'm happy where I am.
 
uuf361 said:
I've just moved from a 997 TT Cab to a Z4 and they are worlds apart tbh, but you would have to expect that. My Z4 is 5 years older, covered 3 X the mileage and cost less than 10% of what I sold my 911 for.

The performance is significantly less, but I expected that and being an old, cheap car the Z4 isn't perfect and it's not as nice of a place to be inside but all things considered (other priorities for my money) I'm pleased having made the move although do miss the power of the Turbo from time to time.

A newer Z4 should be better etc so would be worth test driving one to make the comparison...
Click to expand...
Is that you Scott? We met once at Evolve in Luton.
 
kevinmarkwhite said:
Naive comment coming up - never driven a Porsche, so dont know what I'm talking about, but:

Isn't the Z4 meant to compete in the same market segment as the Boxster?

Therefore, could part of the comparison be between your 911 and a Boxster?

Or is that total BS....I guess the only way is to drive one.
Click to expand...
Good point, although a decent Z4 is still is cheaper than a well specced Boxster.

What's the closest to an "M" Z4 as far as power goes (i'm assuming it wouldn't come close in the handling department)? Is it the 35i?
 
gadgetJunky72 said:
uuf361 said:
I've just moved from a 997 TT Cab to a Z4 and they are worlds apart tbh, but you would have to expect that. My Z4 is 5 years older, covered 3 X the mileage and cost less than 10% of what I sold my 911 for.

The performance is significantly less, but I expected that and being an old, cheap car the Z4 isn't perfect and it's not as nice of a place to be inside but all things considered (other priorities for my money) I'm pleased having made the move although do miss the power of the Turbo from time to time.

A newer Z4 should be better etc so would be worth test driving one to make the comparison...
Click to expand...
Is that you Scott? We met once at Evolve in Luton.
Click to expand...

That's me, guilty as charged! :)
 
Maniac said:
My two pence... my 35i and a Porsche Carrera 4S that I had for a short while;

Good Porsche points: Handling is superb, ride is good, Porsche Kudos, nice linear power, classic.
Bad Porsche points: expensive insurance, high cost of ownership, poor fuel economy, poor interior, takes an enthusiast to tell the Porsches' apart.

Good 35i points: Interior is good, power surges (turbos) which feels 'more' even tho it isn't, folding roof, better fuel economy, lower cost of ownership.
Bad 35i points: Ride isn't as good at the Porsche, Handling is not as good either (both likely due to run flats), depreciation is slightly worse due to non Kudos badge/brand.

So if its a car that you take out to thrash and enjoy on quiet roads or the track, Porsche. For an every day car, the 35i, hence my decision in the end.

I'll go back to Porsche one day, but for now, I'm happy where I am.
Click to expand...

I guess I'm making a comparison E85 to 997 TT Cab, but my 997 was only £100 more a year to insure (yet was worth 10 X the Z4, was achieving only 3mpg less (but had more than double the power), was utterly reliable in the 3 years I owned it and the interior was nicer than the E85......having not been in an E89 maybe I'm being a little harsh, but having had 2 911's I don't get it when people say they're expensive to own as mine just weren't......
 
gadgetJunky72 said:
What's the closest to an "M" Z4 as far as power goes (i'm assuming it wouldn't come close in the handling department)? Is it the 35i?
Click to expand...


35is. A used 35is might be hard to find. According to Howmanyleft, there were 127 of the Z4sDrive35is licensed at the end of 2011.


Edit found one on PH --> http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3930754.htm

Usual disclaimer: I don't know anything about the seller, the car or why someone would be selling a nearly new top of the range Z4.
 
uuf361 said:
Maniac said:
My two pence... my 35i and a Porsche Carrera 4S that I had for a short while;

Good Porsche points: Handling is superb, ride is good, Porsche Kudos, nice linear power, classic.
Bad Porsche points: expensive insurance, high cost of ownership, poor fuel economy, poor interior, takes an enthusiast to tell the Porsches' apart.

Good 35i points: Interior is good, power surges (turbos) which feels 'more' even tho it isn't, folding roof, better fuel economy, lower cost of ownership.
Bad 35i points: Ride isn't as good at the Porsche, Handling is not as good either (both likely due to run flats), depreciation is slightly worse due to non Kudos badge/brand.

So if its a car that you take out to thrash and enjoy on quiet roads or the track, Porsche. For an every day car, the 35i, hence my decision in the end.

I'll go back to Porsche one day, but for now, I'm happy where I am.
Click to expand...

I guess I'm making a comparison E85 to 997 TT Cab, but my 997 was only £100 more a year to insure (yet was worth 10 X the Z4, was achieving only 3mpg less (but had more than double the power), was utterly reliable in the 3 years I owned it and the interior was nicer than the E85......having not been in an E89 maybe I'm being a little harsh, but having had 2 911's I don't get it when people say they're expensive to own as mine just weren't......
Click to expand...


Hence the point about my two pence, because these are the things I found in my ownership experience. In Sheffield/Manchester where I owned these, the cost difference between the 35i and Porsche was 200% on insurance (here the 35i is £1000 PA, the Porsche is in excess of £2000 PA to insure). In other areas of the country this will be very different.
 
We had an older 996 series 911 a few years ago which we ran for just over 3 years as our only car. Two trips to Le Mans and a 2,000+ mile around Europe taking in the Swiss alps and it didn't miss a beat all the time we had it.

Lot's of possitives for the 911, especially the later 997 variant which has a better interiror and more classic 911 looks. Dynamic chassis with great driver focused handling, lovely sounding engine when it's on full song, especially with a sports exhaust.

Cost of ownership is higher for consuambles, with rear tyres lasting around 5,000 miles if you drive it like it asks you to (they do encourage the little devil on your shoulder to drive a little faster). Insurance is expensive and parts can be very expensive.

You definitely would want a warranty for peace of mind, we had one for our 996 as rear main seals had a habit of failing, luckely ours was okay.

We looked at some late model 996 C4S and early 997 C2S models, but settled on the current Z4 as it was something a bit different, has a cool interiror, plus you get the best of a coupe and covertible with the metal folding roof. My wife has also got used to driving an auto and the PDK 911s are still a little out of our price range at the moment.

I think everyone should own a 911 at some time, I'm sure we'll get another one sometime in the future, once we've finished spening money completing our house.

Steve.
 
If you only got 5K out of the rears then you have an extremely heavy right foot or something was wrong with the car or you were using Toyo R888's

One of my friends who had a mapped 996 Turbo which was driven extremely enthusiastically got 7K out of his rears.

Driven normally (with the odd track day and 'Ring trip thrown in) mine lasted 18K miles on both the 996 and 997, which is not unusual....
 
I have to agree that as far as cost of ownership goes the 997 wasn't that much different than the higher end bmws that i used to own and don't expect it to be that much different to a E89 Z4.

The difference is in the purchase price. Just getting the same kind of toys in a 911 as the new shape Z4 offers puts the Porsche out of my price range. Saying that i'm surprised that the car in the PH advert above doesn't have sat nav. Do most people not spec this?
 
Lack of Sat Nav would put me off that car completely, for resale purposes if nothing else.....even my '03 has Sat Nav and a (now) non-functioning analogue TV!

I know what you mean about the price differential.

When I traded down I was looking at 3.2 S Boxsters and of the same age as my Z4 they were at least 50% more expensive so went with a change......
 
gadgetJunky72 said:
Saying that i'm surprised that the car in the PH advert above doesn't have sat nav. Do most people not spec this?
Click to expand...

That car does have the rare design pure balance interior with uprated sun-reflective Merino leather.


Navigation is an expensive option. It was way down on our priority list.

You can add the semi-integrated Navigation Portable Pro. We did. It is a custom mount and wiring harness for a high end Garmin Nuvi. The sounds from the Nuvi play over the car stereo.
 
Hi Guys,

So i finally ended up with an E89 Z4. Need to get some pics up, but the spec is as follows:

2009 '59 Z4 35i 7,000 miles
Deep Sea Blue
Ivory White Nappa leather
Pure White design package
sports seats
fine anthracite trim
Light alloy style 296 19" wheels
DCT
Extended storage (still doesn't seem like theres that much storage)
heated seats
front+rear PDC
Profession Navigation
ConnectDrive Assist and Online (no idea what this is)
Bluetooth phone prep+telematics

A pretty good spec all-in-all. Just wish it had iPod integration. It does have an aux-in (no usb) so that'll do for now.

It doesn't feel as fast as my old 997, but it's so nice to have up-to-date technology and a manufacturers warranty.

Cheers

Pav
 
Congratulations sounds like a good spec, mileage looks great. Any plans for it? If you get her flashed you should find its significantly more spritely than a C2S :)
 
Sounds a lovely thing....

Just for the record.... I have gone from a 2001 996 cab to a 2006 Z4M roadster and the Bmw pretty much kills the 996 in every department..

Handling was better on the 996 when on the edge,but considering thats probably 1% of actually driving time its not to be worried about..

996 insurance was £852
Z4M insurance £455

I could go on and on.........lol....
 
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