Thinking about an E89 Z4, any advice is welcome

R

rhyslprice

Member
 Carmarthenshire, Wales
Hi there,

This is my first post. Been doing a lot a research around Z4s and have wanted one for a while. I think I've decided that the E89 30i would best suit all my needs but just wanted to ask a few questions as to whether people think the same.

Does anyone daily drive these cars? Luckily I like in a small town where I can walk to work in 20 minutes, so a car isn't always needed (unless its pouring down, which in Wales tends to be a lot). In the past year of my current car (Alfa Romeo Giulietta) I've only driven just over 5,000 miles. I also rarely have passengers and if I do tends to just be the one.

What is maintenance like? I do most of it on my car at the moment, which somethings are in the most ridiculous places, but I make it work. Just wondering if this is the sort of engine, suspension, brakes etc that can be worked on from a driveway.

Thanks!
 
rhyslprice said:
Hi there,

This is my first post. Been doing a lot a research around Z4s and have wanted one for a while. I think I've decided that the E89 30i would best suit all my needs but just wanted to ask a few questions as to whether people think the same.

Does anyone daily drive these cars? Luckily I like in a small town where I can walk to work in 20 minutes, so a car isn't always needed (unless its pouring down, which in Wales tends to be a lot). In the past year of my current car (Alfa Romeo Giulietta) I've only driven just over 5,000 miles. I also rarely have passengers and if I do tends to just be the one.

What is maintenance like? I do most of it on my car at the moment, which somethings are in the most ridiculous places, but I make it work. Just wondering if this is the sort of engine, suspension, brakes etc that can be worked on from a driveway.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum, you’ve come to the right place for information and help in spending your hard earned cash, the E88 is no harder than any other car to work on, intact because of the long front end there’s more room to work than a lot of cars. The only difficult part s the convertible metal roof, but there again you can get plenty of advice on here if you do get a problem. One piece of advice would be to buy a decent code reader.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. :thumbsup:

The 30i seems to be quite rare, probably because the 23i was the base model when the E89 was launched and there were the 35i and 35is at the top of the range.

23i and 30i have the same N52 engine but one is 2.5 litre and the other is a 3.0 litre so running costs, potential issues, etc. are the same.

I really liked the N52s in my E86s so when I was looking for an E91 I made sure I got one with that engine, but it seemed a bit tame hauling a 3 Series Touring around, so a year later I replaced it with an E90 330i which is much more lively and I've had it 6 years now. Even on 127K miles it still performs brilliantly and it is my daily driver, but as I'm no longer working I only do about 3,500 miles a year in it.

If they have a weak spot it is the electric water pump which will die at some point and cause overheating within about a mile. OE Pierburg ones seem to cost about £250/300 so long as you don't buy from BMW!

How long they last is like a bit of string. Can be at 60K, can be at 100K, so some people fit a new one to avoid the hassle of being stranded as it's unlikely you'll need another one.

I'm past the age where I want to be lying on the drive spannering and luckily I have a great BMW Indy quite close by, but there is much more room in the engine bay of a Z4 than my E90!
 
Hi,

Thanks for the insight. I've definitely noticed a lot more 23i's but hoping I can find a decent 30i anyway. Not in any rush and want to find the right one and hopefully it can be a long term car.

E90 330i's are beautiful cars!

Will definitely keep an eye out for the water pump then, thanks!
 
If it is likely to be a keeper I'd hold out for a 30i. If you bought a 23i you might spend a long time wondering "what if"....!

Never thought of my E90 as beautiful, it's just my daily Shed. My E86 is my beautiful car.

Water pumps are just something to bear in mind maybe as a haggling factor, but if you find a car that has had one recently that's a bonus. I don't think they are too difficult to replace and there may well be a guide in the "How To" pages on here.

Good luck finding the right one. :thumbsup:
 
Having a 23i, i would go for a 30i.
Get a bit more punch with very little increase in mpg.
Also try both manual and auto first.
 
flybobbie said:
Having a 23i, i would go for a 30i.
Get a bit more punch with very little increase in mpg.
Also try both manual and auto first.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input, I was looking at the mpg figures and it did seem like there was little downside to the 30i. Do you have an auto or manual? And what are your thoughts? I was more concerned with having to faff around with the transmission fluid on the ZF 6HP 19 so thought I'd be safer with a manual but I could be wrong. I do next to no stop start traffic driving really.
 
raymond.harper said:
Check the wiring and hydraulic lines to the roof, which are expensive to fix if they go wrong
Click to expand...

I did see a few images of frayed wiring, so I will keep an eye out. How would you tell if there was issues with the hydraulic lines?
 
rhyslprice said:
raymond.harper said:
Check the wiring and hydraulic lines to the roof, which are expensive to fix if they go wrong
Click to expand...

I did see a few images of frayed wiring, so I will keep an eye out. How would you tell if there was issues with the hydraulic lines?
Click to expand...
It is a long post; there are pictures, but do not click on them! https://e89.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976373
 
raymond.harper said:
rhyslprice said:
raymond.harper said:
Check the wiring and hydraulic lines to the roof, which are expensive to fix if they go wrong
Click to expand...

I did see a few images of frayed wiring, so I will keep an eye out. How would you tell if there was issues with the hydraulic lines?
Click to expand...
It is a long post; there are pictures, but do not click on them! https://e89.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976373
Click to expand...

Don’t click on pics on a link you’ve submitted…?? Errr…… :?
 
OP, welcome to the forum. If not mentioned yet, you definitely should get the ///M version. They're rare and massively brilliant.

:driving:
 
john-e89 said:
raymond.harper said:
rhyslprice said:
I did see a few images of frayed wiring, so I will keep an eye out. How would you tell if there was issues with the hydraulic lines?
Click to expand...
It is a long post; there are pictures, but do not click on them! https://e89.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976373
Click to expand...

Don’t click on pics on a link you’ve submitted…?? Errr…… :?
Click to expand...
The remote-hosted pictures take you to a "different" site. The ones that have been uploaded are OK, but the remote ones are a bit dodgy.
 
raymond.harper said:
john-e89 said:
raymond.harper said:
It is a long post; there are pictures, but do not click on them! https://e89.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976373
Click to expand...

Don’t click on pics on a link you’ve submitted…?? Errr…… :?
Click to expand...
The remote-hosted pictures take you to a "different" site. The ones that have been uploaded are OK, but the remote ones are a bit dodgy.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
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