Cheburator
Member
I bought the Z4MC in April because I needed a car for the Nurburgring. My usual steeds - a race Porsche 928 and a VW Golf Mk2 were being rebuilt so I paid a visit to Mr Lovett in Swindon and walked out with the cheapest Z4MC in the whole of Europe at the time. :lol: The car had 3.4k on the clock and was nicely run in for me... :evil:
Since then I have done 13.5k miles with one oil service, one intermediate fluid change (engine, gearbox and diff) performed by myself, two sets of carbopads at the front and a set of textar rears. The car has done more than 150 laps of the Ring, a track day at Combe and also took me and SWMBO to the South of France and Cornwall with our bodyboards.
The positives first - the chasis is great. BMW has done wonders to make the stock suspension to work so well. The damping is just right and the rebound is spot on.
I still don't get all the magazines talking about it being unsettled over bumpy surfaces - I think that if it inspires confidence at the Ring, it must be OK. Also contrary to what a lot of people here say I don' t see the need for a front strut brace. The car needs a lot more camber though. 20 laps of the Ring were enough to feather the outside of the Conti's, which are trully awuful. The good thing is that the car is very easy to steer on the throttle - initial understeer could be quickly balanced out by using the gas pedal.
The brakes in standard form are shoddy, but show me an ///M car with good ones... Carbopads from http://www.ring-racing.deare easily the best option. I have not even bothered with changing the hoses or the fluid - they stop the car pretty well after the new pads were fitted.
I would not talk about the drivetrain - it is superb - any engine wich can spin to 8000rpm, and then pootle in London traffic, and not use any oil between changes is superb. Performance in a straight line is stonking - many times I have played with friends' CSLs and 996 GT3 and the Z4M would happily stay with both till the 165mph indicated limiter kicks in. Fuel consumption has been firmly stuck in the high 27-28mpg and once I got 31mpg on a run to Germany through the night. Trackside I get around 10mpg
The negatives: built quality is shoddy. I have owned other ///M cars before and the Z4MC is badly put together in comparison. I guess it runs through the industry, but the quality of the materials is well below the one used on my E30 320iS or one of the Porsches. No rattles or squeaks yet, but I doubt that the Z4MC will survive to 220k miles as my Porsche did before it was turned into a race car...
What will happen to YF06HLP now that it probably has the highest mileage in the UK amongst the Z4Ms? Well, a set of Porsche brakes is going to be fitted all round, the seats are being changed for a set of Recaro PP trimmed in black leather with ///M stitching and I am trying to get a harness bar for the TRW harnesses. Do you get my drift? :rofl:
Since then I have done 13.5k miles with one oil service, one intermediate fluid change (engine, gearbox and diff) performed by myself, two sets of carbopads at the front and a set of textar rears. The car has done more than 150 laps of the Ring, a track day at Combe and also took me and SWMBO to the South of France and Cornwall with our bodyboards.
The positives first - the chasis is great. BMW has done wonders to make the stock suspension to work so well. The damping is just right and the rebound is spot on.
I still don't get all the magazines talking about it being unsettled over bumpy surfaces - I think that if it inspires confidence at the Ring, it must be OK. Also contrary to what a lot of people here say I don' t see the need for a front strut brace. The car needs a lot more camber though. 20 laps of the Ring were enough to feather the outside of the Conti's, which are trully awuful. The good thing is that the car is very easy to steer on the throttle - initial understeer could be quickly balanced out by using the gas pedal.
The brakes in standard form are shoddy, but show me an ///M car with good ones... Carbopads from http://www.ring-racing.deare easily the best option. I have not even bothered with changing the hoses or the fluid - they stop the car pretty well after the new pads were fitted.
I would not talk about the drivetrain - it is superb - any engine wich can spin to 8000rpm, and then pootle in London traffic, and not use any oil between changes is superb. Performance in a straight line is stonking - many times I have played with friends' CSLs and 996 GT3 and the Z4M would happily stay with both till the 165mph indicated limiter kicks in. Fuel consumption has been firmly stuck in the high 27-28mpg and once I got 31mpg on a run to Germany through the night. Trackside I get around 10mpg
The negatives: built quality is shoddy. I have owned other ///M cars before and the Z4MC is badly put together in comparison. I guess it runs through the industry, but the quality of the materials is well below the one used on my E30 320iS or one of the Porsches. No rattles or squeaks yet, but I doubt that the Z4MC will survive to 220k miles as my Porsche did before it was turned into a race car...
What will happen to YF06HLP now that it probably has the highest mileage in the UK amongst the Z4Ms? Well, a set of Porsche brakes is going to be fitted all round, the seats are being changed for a set of Recaro PP trimmed in black leather with ///M stitching and I am trying to get a harness bar for the TRW harnesses. Do you get my drift? :rofl:
