Planning to buy, but confused... need advice from owners

B

Bleen

Member
Hello!
I'm new here in the forums :wink:
I currently drive a p.o.s. car and I decided I'm gonna go for a z4 soon (say, probably 2~3 months or so).
I'm starting to research the market here in the US but for the amount I'm willing to spend, I'm not finding what I want...
Let me explain:
I'm looking for a used vehicle (roadster)
I want to spend 20k (not more than 1~2k more if possible)
I want a 3.0
I want the nice little sport button
I want the convenience package
I want a manual
I would only get a black roof
I don't like the light blue, red, or white paint colors
I don't want anything with more than 50ish K miles
I dislike the wooden trim

So in a perfect world that would work, but I'm not finding what I want. The main problems seem to be either the engine size or the sport package, as I COULD go for an automatic if everything else is right... I think.

Now comes my questions:

Automatic owners, can you seriously shift with the automatic? Right now mi POS car is an automatic and it seriously sucks. I'll be happy to go for an automatic if I were told by owners that you can up and downshift *almost* like a manual. I don't mind the slight lag, I just want to be able to control the shifting.

Sport button: I've read in reviews that it's fundamental, but is it so? Can anyone clarify how this works and why it's worth it?

2.5 vs 3.0: Yes I know the numbers, but how noticeable is it? The 2.5 is so much cheaper... but I'd hate to go with something that doesn't deliver just to save 2 or 3 grand.

I'm basically asking for opinions from people that have DRIVEN the car, as I'm just starting to shop around and need to know how much I'd need to finance before going forward.

Excuse me if some of these questions were asked before, I couldn't find them if they were. Feel free to point me to other threads.

Thanks a lot!
 
Hi Bleen,

Welcome to the forum !!

I have an '06 so unless gas prices go to $15 (maybe $10) a gallon, that'll be a bit much. I'd offer that you check out the S2000. For me, it didn't work for my height. It has plenty of hp and road grip along with mpg along with considerable respect on the road as a sports car. Of course , just my opinion. Good luck in your search. ...dean
 
I think there are a few questions you should ask yourself. Do you plan on keeping the car for a long time? What do you plan to do with it? Use it daily? Or for the track? Or both? What's your personality? Do you need the lastest, greatest all time? Are you planning on making modifications? After thinking about these few things, here's my $0.02. First, I have a 2003 2.5i and paid about 23,000 2 years ago and it was fully loaded...every add on available except the upgraded radio.

For the price you're looking at, I'll assume you're going to get an 2003 or 2004. For these years, you'll have the the 2.5i or 3.0i, with 184hp and 225hp, respectively. You'll also get a 6sp in the 3.0 versus a 5spd in the 2.5.

About the power...I've driven my 2.5i and a 3.0si (2007 model with 255hp) quite a few times as I was worried that I should have gotten the 225hp 3.0i. There was very little noticalbe difference in power and accelleration at low speeds (under 60mph). It was detectable but just barely which was reassuring considering there was a 70hp difference. I was expecting a very large difference. But it just wasn't there. So I'd guess you'd really have a hard time noticing a difference of only 40 hp from the 2.5 to the 3.0. Again, this is at lower, city speeds. You may notice it more when accelerating from say 65-80mph. My thoughts are 2.5 is plenty. If you want more, I think the only way to go would be the M version. Plus BMW does a great job of gearing the vehicles so they accelerate quickly and feel very fast.

My only regret with the 2.5 is the 5 spd manual. It would be nice to have the 6th gear for highway driving. But don't let "6 speed is more fun to drive mentality" fool you. If you want fun and want to shift more often, then you'll love the 5spd as you have to shift to a higher gear to go the same speed as with the 6 speed. there's lots more explanation of the gear here in a post I started after I bought. http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1214

The sport button is great. Knowing what I know know, if I had a choice between a non-sport 3.0 and sport 2.5, it would be a tough call. I think I'd still go with the 2.5 with sport as the wheels look great, the throttle response and steering with sport are fantastic, plus the car is lowered.

Don't settle for an auto if you want manual!!! That's one thing I think you'll regret that for sure. Not that there's anything wrong with autos...I just think you'll be disappointed if you want the fun of shifting and pushing the car at higher rpm.

Hope the helps you a bit. Good luck!
 
I love my auto and YES you can shift it up and down. It's fantastic IMHO.
I have 2.5i sport and I love it. Plenty of power!

PS: S2000 is not even close to Z4. I wouldn't even think about it.
 
Bleen said:
Now comes my questions:

Automatic owners, can you seriously shift with the automatic? Right now mi POS car is an automatic and it seriously sucks. I'll be happy to go for an automatic if I were told by owners that you can up and downshift *almost* like a manual. I don't mind the slight lag, I just want to be able to control the shifting.

Sport button: I've read in reviews that it's fundamental, but is it so? Can anyone clarify how this works and why it's worth it?

2.5 vs 3.0: Yes I know the numbers, but how noticeable is it? The 2.5 is so much cheaper... but I'd hate to go with something that doesn't deliver just to save 2 or 3 grand.

I'm basically asking for opinions from people that have DRIVEN the car, as I'm just starting to shop around and need to know how much I'd need to finance before going forward.

Excuse me if some of these questions were asked before, I couldn't find them if they were. Feel free to point me to other threads.

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

Just my input on the 3 specific questions:

Automatic is really a personal issue. Of auto's I've driven it's a beauty and I'd not swap for a manual on this car. Shifting is easy with steptronic and I even retrofitted paddles to create a unique experience. There is some slight delay (less in sport) and the software prevents shifting down too soon, where you could push it harder to rev up on a manual. Autos on low powered cars suck but on the bigger BMW's they are great. Combine it with the larger engine and sport button

Sport button is a must. makes the whole experience when pressing on so much better. from mapping to tightening the steering (reduced assistance), throttle response, etc.

3.0 is a quantum leap up from 2.5 in real world driving (as is the 2.5 from the 2.0 and the ///M from the 3.0). Both are great engines but the difference is noticable The price premium is there for a reason in terms of performance and all the little extras that 3.0's carry.

Hope this helps
 
Bleen, Welcome to the wacky world of Z4 owners!

I see you have gotten some excellent answers above. I have previously owned a 2003 2.5i (185hp). I recently traded it in for a 2008 3.0si (255hp). Both with sport button. I agree 100% with azroadie's comments above!!! The only difference I see is that when I raced my buddy who has a porsche in my 2.5, passing 55mph his bumper would be slightly ahead of mine, and now in the 3.0 my bumper is slightly ahead of his. I really can't "feel" the difference. That said, there IS a slight difference and I do enjoy the little bit of extra hp about 5% more than before. I LOVED my 2.5i and had so much fun in it and if I were in a position where I needed to save the extra $5K I would go for a 2.5 again without hesitation!

As for the 5sp vs. 6sp. I love them both. In my opinion, the only thing you get out of the 6th speed is comparable mpg at highway speeds with the bigger engine. Normal everyday driving I only use 4 of them anyway in both engines... 1st to get me going, 2nd to get me up to the speed I desire at the fastest rate possible, overdrive for cruising, and 3rd for passing. I have found that I don't even use 5th gear in the 3.0i. 4th gear only gets used in the neighborhood. It is more fun to go from 6th to 3rd for passing in the 3.0 cause it's an easier shift ergonomically than from 5th to 3rd in the 2.5.

Again, Welcome to the forum! Good luck with your search! Keep us posted how the search is going, eh? 8)
 
flyboyaj said:
... 1st to get me going, 2nd to get me up to the speed I desire at the fastest rate possible, overdrive for cruising, and 3rd for passing. I have found that I don't even use 5th gear in the 3.0i. 4th gear only gets used in the neighborhood. It is more fun to go from 6th to 3rd for passing in the 3.0 cause it's an easier shift ergonomically than from 5th to 3rd in the 2.5.
Click to expand...

Best description of 2nd gear ever! I guess others love 2nd as much as I do :-)
 
Excellent, excellent answers! Thanks a lot! :-)
I usually take forever to buy something (research, research, research), but this is taking some of the guesswork out of the equation.. I guess I'm not gonna go for the 2.5, mainly because if I get it, I'll always be wanting to get a 3.0... the M is too much for my budget though. I won't completely discard it until I test drive one though.
I'm still undecided about getting an auto or not, truth is that the auto IS easier on everyday driving, and 90% of my driving experience is on automatics, but then again...
I practically don't commute! I live 1.4 miles from work, sometimes I drive, sometimes I just roll downhill in my scooter. I live right next to the mountains in Pasadena so even if this will be my only vehicle, it'll almost always be used during the weekends to go up the mountains.
Now I know I need to get the sport package, for some reason a LOT of the cars I've seen don't have it! :(
I'm not even considering any other vehicle, I've been doing research for months and everything led back to the Z4. I'm not getting anything else. :bmwvhonda:

I have a couple of more questions:

The M seats, I don't dislike the regular leather seats, but the M seem better, more grippy... is there a lot of difference? Would you go for standard seats?

Is it very expensive to put clear blinkers on 03~04's? I love how the car looks but the amber blinkers on the headlights I'm lukewarm about. I think the clear ones look so much better.
FYI, I've never ever done anything to a car (other than changing the door handles on my POS car), and even if I work in the automotive industry, I'm pretty ignorant about car internals, etc, so I'll probably have a mechanic do it (or maybe a fellow forum member show me?). Other mods i'll consider are clear brake lights IF I don't get one with red seats (which would be awesome), and maybe fitting the audio controls in the steering wheel if I get one without it.

Again, thanks for the answers, they've been really informative! :thumbsup:
 
Bleen said:
the M is too much for my budget though. I won't completely discard it until I test drive one though.
Click to expand...
May not want to do that unless you have fully cleared it with your budget,,,,the //M is very addictive. People tend to pull out their wallet after driving one :wink:
 
more answers:

///M seats are way better than standard. More grip and support unless you are a big guy then they may be too tight. Retrofit is difficult as they are scarce. I did a retrofit to ///M dream red leather and it's perfect, but they are almost impossible to find :(

Clear indicators is a possible but you need to find a 2005 prefacelift with clear of the same design. They too are rare. Post facelift will not fit without specialist skills NBTW - go for Xenon - far better. Don't count on being able to do this mod.

Rear brake lights and steering wheel buttons are easy retrofits.

Sounds like you are close to a decision - just need to find one...
 
ovrkll said:
Bleen said:
the M is too much for my budget though. I won't completely discard it until I test drive one though.
Click to expand...
May not want to do that unless you have fully cleared it with your budget,,,,the //M is very addictive. People tend to pull out their wallet after driving one :wink:
Click to expand...

Bad wording on my part. I meant I won't discard a 2.5... there is no way in hell I can afford an M :cry:

About the clear indicators, does BMW sell them? or the only source is the aftermarket? how much should I expect to pay for those?

Reason I'm asking is that at this point it seems to be either an 2.5 05 with clear indicators or a 3.0 03.

Thanks! :-)
 
You can't buy the front indicators separately, they come as part of the light unit, so you need to replace the whole headlamp, which was in the original accessories brochure. If you really want them, Graeme was selling his car and he has upgraded them, maybe he'll swap them for the old ones if he still has them and sell you them separately http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4534

IIRC the clear lights are about £400 :scratchhead:
 
Wondermike said:
IIRC the clear lights are about £400 :scratchhead:
Click to expand...

Mike - that's about right for standard halogen, but EACH. The xenon version are £750 Each. I know as I priced them up a few months ago before my conversion job
 
Bleen, congrats on narrowing your choice to the 3.0. Seems you've made it for the right reasons. The sport package was important for me and also, a manual transmission. I've always had MT's primarily, to get the most out of the engine. If you'll be doing some up/down mountain driving, I suspect you'll enjoy havnig the MT.

BTW, nice commute distance !! Probably the shortest I've heard. Good luck locating and finishing up the purcahse. We look forward to pictures of the new rig.
 
Oh that's nothing, a coworker lives roughly a block away! :D But yeah, I'm the 2nd one closest to the office. :lol:
I think when I have the Z4 I might wake up an hour earlier, drive up the mountains and back, then go to work :P

Right now I have my eye on a silver 3.0 '03, for roughly $22k. 35k miles, manual, sport pkg, with the awesome red seats (not M seats, but they'll just have to do). It even has a navi, which it's a huge plus for me since I hate putting external add-ons in my car. Just hope they don't sell it before I can buy it.
Do you guys think it's a good value? Also, I'm not used to buying cars, do you think I could negotiate a couple of grand off? How much cheaper than the advertised price have you gotten your car?

I didn't think I'd consider a silver one but it actually looks outstanding with the red seats! I love how it contrasts. Cross your fingers for me!
 
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