Think I may have to sell my Z4MC for something more sensible

M

MarkW

Member
 Solihull, UK
Unfortunately, I have had a love/hate relationship with my Z4MC since I've had it, but it's my fault not the car :(

I think it is the best looking car I have owned, I love the performance, the engine, the classic looks, the specification, and still can't think of a similar car I'd rather own for the money. I even think the fuel economy and running costs are reasonable for such performance.

However, my problem is that I suffer from a bad back and neck pain, and no matter how I try to adjust the seat, I cant get comfortable and am in discomfort after a short period of time. I think it is mostly the seat position, but the hard/bouncy ride on most surfaces doesnt help much either.

When I bought the car, I was going to work on the train, so it was really for evenings/weekends and pleasure. Now I have moved locations I have a 30-40 minute commute to work each way, my back has got worse, and I'm getting to a point where I'm not looking forward to the drive.

The car is coming up to 3 years old in 2 months, so was considering purchasing a full BMW warranty, plus it will need an MOT so my thinking is if I'm not enjoying the benefit of it now would be a good time to change.

I'm therefore considering a few more 'sensible' cars, and trying to come up with a shortlist. My key requirements are:

Seats I can get comforatable in (plus Heated)
A more compliant ride
Decent performance (say 0-60 under 7.0ish)
Reasonable economy
Cheaper Road Tax
Not a depreciation disaster
Quality Brand
Fully loaded - i.e. Leather, Nav, Bluetooth, Xenons, 18"s etc
Not cost much more than the value of my Z4MC (say max £25k)

At the moment the only cars ive come up with are:
- Scirocco 2.0TSI (DSG)
- Golf GTI Mk VI
and my current favourite - BMW 123d Coupe - seems fast and frugal, and most reports i've read are very positive.
Any other suggestions?

Im going to test drive the Scirocco, and a 123D on Saturday.

My local dealer has a nice 123d for £23,850 - would be interested what people think I could get that for, and what they would offer me against my Z4MC - November 2006/56, 25k, Titanium Silver/Black Nappa/Sat Nav/Bluetooth/CF Badges.

As a comparison, the same dealer has a June 2006/06, 26k, Imola/Black Nappa/Bluetooth but no nav up for £24,350. Therefore the forecourt price of my Z4Mc is likely to be higher than the 123d I am looking at, though I realise they need to make a profit.

I'm hoping I like the 123d, and the seats/ride arent to hard (Its an M Sport), if not its the Scirocco or back to the drawing board.......
 
Hi Mark,

I don't know if this would be a solution for you, but have you ever considered perhaps installing aftermarket seats in your car? Seats such as Recaro etc.? Granted, these are generally "racing" seats, but I have sat in some that are very comfortable indeed. If spending a couple thousand dollars (or like 3k in pounds right?) isn't too much, you might give it a thought.

Good luck with whatever.
 
I think BullShitting, sorry - SittingBull will be able to tell you about his new 123d...............

The new sirocco look horrid IMO, and you'll simply blend in with a golf....... Keep it as a weekender and get a runabout for your commute mate :thumbsup:
 
What about a Mk 5 Golf Gti Edition 30 with 5 doors and all the extras - fits the criteria .... and are quite a bit quicker than the normal GTi (+ can be remapped easily to 300bhp in a way that is nice and manageable ; I know I have one and it is a great car!)

I am just going the other way to a Z4M from my Edition 30 on Saturday but the Golf has proved faultless and in the mildly remapped form I have it is very quick indeed - but most importantly it is very useable and controllable power.

I can't recommend one highly enough and you would find it with much more useable power than a normal GTi or Scirocco !! Economy is 28-35 for me + tax currently £215 for the year.

Have a look at one - you won't be disappointed if you are considering the other VW's .... oh, and their std spec compared to the normal GTi is greater.
 
Most cars these days ride hard... anything non-M BMW that is slightly sporty will ride horribly on RFT's anyway.

If you want a nice comfy car just get a big depreciated Citroen :D

Dave
 
The 530d's I drive at work with run flats certainly have a worse ride than the Z4M .... they jump all over the road - distinctly unpleasant at times :|
 
such a dilemma :|

the two cars youve already got on your shortlist are the only two that would appear on mine too...
 
I test drove the scirocco before settling on the Z4. I thought (to my untrained senses) it was a great car - comfy but involving ride, well built interior, adaptive suspension that automatically kick in and aggressive front but reasonably unassuming over all looks. Not to mention good fuel economy and not too low driving position.

My problem was it was far too expensive. VW refused flat to give any more then £500 off the list price on the insistance it will keep its resale value. Only when they quoted the personal contract purchase they valued the car at about 46% value in 3 years. And the second hand market is rediculous - they tried to sell me a year old scirocco for just £1.5k less then new price! I told them I wont pay anymore then 18k and they never called back again. And all that without many options you'll get on Z4 - no leather, no climate controll on non GTs, not even flat tire indicators. I calculated by the time I bring a new 170bhp disel up to the same option spec (parking sensor, bluetooth, leather seats & interior, heated seats, metalic colour, 6-cd changer and flat tire indicator, tinted mirror) as mine it would cost me in excess of 25K. Oh and still 1.4sec slower then my humble SE at 0-60mph

My mate has test driven and ut money on Mk VI Golf GTI and says the car is fantastic for the very same reason as you mentioned above. But there again he has 911 carrera for fun car so I think he sees Golf as a run around.........
 
Difficult one. I suffer neck pain also although it has eased off a lot recently. I had this in the 3.0Si also and it seemed to of peaked since owning the M and is slowly improving. Just a few days ago I hurt my back when changing gear on a bumpy road. The ride is more comfortable than the Si was but under hard acceleraration on a rough road it seems to suddenly "dig in" with a bump sometimes.

I might consider a second cheaper BMW next year for commuting. I quite liked an old E46 TD SE Compact I owned for comfort(16" none-runflats) and wouldn`t mind picking up another if i can find one in good condition. Storage great also, consider one of these if you don`t mind an older car
 
RX-78 said:
I test drove the scirocco before settling on the Z4. I thought (to my untrained senses) it was a great car - comfy but involving ride, well built interior, adaptive suspension that automatically kick in and aggressive front but reasonably unassuming over all looks. Not to mention good fuel economy and not too low driving position.

My problem was it was far too expensive. VW refused flat to give any more then £500 off the list price on the insistance it will keep its resale value. Only when they quoted the personal contract purchase they valued the car at about 46% value in 3 years. And the second hand market is rediculous - they tried to sell me a year old scirocco for just £1.5k less then new price! I told them I wont pay anymore then 18k and they never called back again. And all that without many options you'll get on Z4 - no leather, no climate controll on non GTs, not even flat tire indicators. I calculated by the time I bring a new 170bhp disel up to the same option spec (parking sensor, bluetooth, leather seats & interior, heated seats, metalic colour, 6-cd changer and flat tire indicator, tinted mirror) as mine it would cost me in excess of 25K. Oh and still 1.4sec slower then my humble SE at 0-60mph

My mate has test driven and ut money on Mk VI Golf GTI and says the car is fantastic for the very same reason as you mentioned above. But there again he has 911 carrera for fun car so I think he sees Golf as a run around.........
Click to expand...

That's exactly the problem with the Scirocco, most used ones are fairly standard spec, and like you say to spec one up with all the kit you are looking at over £25k :x
 
MarkW said:
My local dealer has a nice 123d for £23,850 - would be interested what people think I could get that for, and what they would offer me against my Z4MC - November 2006/56, 25k, Titanium Silver/Black Nappa/Sat Nav/Bluetooth/CF Badges.

As a comparison, the same dealer has a June 2006/06, 26k, Imola/Black Nappa/Bluetooth but no nav up for £24,350. Therefore the forecourt price of my Z4Mc is likely to be higher than the 123d I am looking at, though I realise they need to make a profit.

I'm hoping I like the 123d, and the seats/ride arent to hard (Its an M Sport), if not its the Scirocco or back to the drawing board.......
Click to expand...

Anyone have any views on what would be a good p/x price for my Z4MC as above? If they wont do a good deal, I may well sell privately - the cheapest one on Pistonheads is £23k
 
Proabably not what you're looking for, but the older model X5 is cheap as chips, an incredible ride and the seats are more akin to armchairs. quick if you want at <6 seconds for the top end models <8 for 3.0 Huge spec on most.

Downside is the high tax groups, and drinking fuel, unless you go diesel, but 5 doors, loads of space and still looks good. The tradeoff of less depreciation (as they've already dropped low) low purchase price, higher tax and fuel, plus bombproof build all makes it balance out.

I find it a perfect counterbalance to the less practical Z4
 
Might suffer from the same issues about hard ride and uncomfortable seats as your Z4M, but what about a 130i? Not too big a drop in performance, more seats/practicality, reasonably economical, and I'd hope that a BMW dealer would give an existing BMW owner a decent-length test drive - I'd guess you'd be sensible to take ANY car you're considering for an extended test drive, 2hrs+ to ensure you're actually able to get comfortable in the seats, etc.

Other than that, a mk5 golf gti would be where I'd be looking. Much better ride than other hot hatches I've been in, and - the handling of the Megane 225 aside - the best all-round hot hatch too.
 
On Scirocco/Mk VI golf this site I found from autotrader seems to be dirt cheap, even on a new car.

http://www.motorprovider.co.uk/

Not sure how genuine they are though. Remember if they sound too good to be true.....
 
One pointer is that large alloys with low profile tyres will always give you a much harder ride than a smaller alloy with a more compromising profile.

Try putting a 17" alloys on instead and you will feel the difference already. Although I appreciate the Z4MC's damping is quite poor in general as well.
 
funkdude said:
One pointer is that large alloys with low profile tyres will always give you a much harder ride than a smaller alloy with a more compromising profile.

Try putting a 17" alloys on instead and you will feel the difference already. Although I appreciate the Z4MC's damping is quite poor in general as well.
Click to expand...


I`m not sure the suspension or damping is poor. I feel it would be well suited to track use, and is therefore compromised on the road. I thnk BMW would have done a lot of development of it. When I find a smooth road (a rarity I know) with some nice corners the car feels fantastic.
 
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