To Ex-Hot Hatch drivers.

GP20 said:
Breaker said:
I love the looks of the Z4. Love the engine, the way it performs and I also love the interior..............but when I go out for a spirited drive there is something missing in the experience!!

Strange!! :o
Click to expand...

Yeah you're missing 75HP and the raspy noises under the hood/bonnet. :poke: :D
Click to expand...

No, I'm missing a supercharger sound!! :P

I'm going to have to test one of those new Ford RS Focus's. That may be an entertaining car!! :driving: :thumbsup:
 
Mini = RAGGABLE
Z4 = THOUGHTFULL

Let me explain, a monkey could drive a Mini quick. The Z4 needs to be driven with a bit more care, its risde means it doesn't abosorb all the bumps in the road so much, and the tail could always come out on you (providing you have the DSC off). So you cant drive it in the same way.
The Mini is going to extremely quick on any road surface, be extremely predictable and therefore a lot of fun without much concentration.
 
I had too had a Mini Cooper S, which felt like an occasion everytime I drove it due the supercharger whine a exhuast popping. I foolish sold it and bought an Auto CLK which was incredibly refined and smooth, yet unbelievely boring!

Then when mny 25th birthday was looming and the thought of cheaper insurance occured I decied to switch to the car I'd been hankering after since the launch - the Z4 Coupe.

It looks stunning, turns heads everywhere, even had people take photos whilst at lights in Knightsbridge, but it doesn't always excite me enough. I think perhaps it's because there's so much power and speed which I can't use legally on the road!

However, I do find it entaining to drive and envisage keeping it for many years to come. But I'm currently tempted by a Range Rover :(
 
I had a Mitsubishi colt gti that was an awesome car. It was just fast enough that you could overtake easily, had just enough grip that things didn't get too hairy on bends at speed and was just slow enough that you could really push it to its limits without doing insane speeds. If I could buy the same car brand new now I would do so in an instant.

With the z4 I love it to bits and it's so much more refined, but I know what you mean breaker! However I had my colt for 7 years so really knew how to throw it about. I can't treat my zed in the same way yet unless I want to end up in a tree.

I was planning on keeping the colt as a cheap runaround as I would have only got about £500 if I'd sold it. Typically only a week after buying the z4 it broke down with a bill of at least £650 expected, which wasn' quite the cheap runner it was meant to be. Its going today to someone else who is planing on racing it. I'm so sad to see it go! :cry:
 
With the roof up, not so much, too refined maybe.

With the roof down, it's fantastic down a fun back road. It just adds so much compared to a hot hatch.

That was the whole point I went for the soft top really, it adds so much more to the occasion when you go out for a blast.


Personally I found my hot hatches good when going for it, but as soon as you were not, they were just expensive versions of normal hatches. Seemed very flawed all said and done for the cost if you didn't use the performance alot of the time.

Won't ever go back to a hot hatch I don't think, just so one dimensional... ok, R26R etc will be fun, but so flawed as a hatch you may as well get a diesel Megane Sport and a 2nd hand Exige!

Dave
 
Mr Whippy said:
That was the whole point I went for the soft top really, it adds so much more to the occasion when you go out for a blast.
Click to expand...
Completely agree - when looking for a replacement for my last hot hatch, I was looking for something that gave a fun "experience", not being mainly about the speed and handling. Best way to describe it is an "experience" I think, and hence why I had things as diverse as a Clio V6, VX220 2.2, MR2 Roadster and ZM Coupe on my shortlist. Ending up with the Z4 was a very good decision.

I still see the appeal of some hot hatches for some purposes: folk that want a bit of fun but need practicality and one want to run one car. Luckily most of us Z4 owners aren't tied down by that, or have a second vehicle for those purposes.
 
I use to own a Mini Cooper S (the new one with turbo) and while it was fast and great fun there were a few things I didn't like:

- Torque Steer
- Wheel spin so couldn't always get the power down sometimes from rest
- Normal driving possition like any other hatch (but more intersting interior)
- Hard Top, I missed having the top down

I only kept it for 4 months before I sold it and got the zed, mine's only a 2.5 but is pretty similar in speed to the Mini Cooper S. Now I enjoy

- Looks (much more masculine than a Cooper S)
- Driving possition feels like a sports car so more special even at low speeds (you never forget you are driving a sportscar)
- Straight Six Engine
- Top down motoring just makes things so much more exciting and keeps you more in touch with the speed you are travelling.
- Rear Wheel drive so no problems getting power down or any torque steer.
- Balance the 2.5 ltr has 50/50 weight distribution so feels so much nicer through twisty roads

The only bad side is the hard ride quality but then the Cooper S wasn't exactly smooth riding.
 
Came from a 206GTi which was fun, but the z4 is more fun for me :D

added bonus of wind in the hair (while I still have some...) too :thumbsup:
 
Used to own an 04 Clio 182 Cup before getting my Z. In terms of power the Z totally destroys the clio in a straight line with its 300bhp. Problem is I still miss my Clio as I felt a lot more confident throwing that around the bends as it was very light and responsive (plus no chance the tail will pop out and make you crash). I think for me it's going to a totally different set up of car as that bonnet takes a bit of getting used to going round corners at speed plus I have never experienced a RWD car until I got my Z.

Was in two minds about getting another Clio as a 2nd car as they are up for sale around £4-5K and maybe a Caterham R300 but ended up getting a small track car to see if that would help, as I don't want to sell my Z either to get the cash. Hopefully it will but won't know until first track day which should be in March when I sort the brakes out on the car :)
 
I did think of that last month! I don't really like the facelift MINI but they had a 7 month old white JCW S with the full JCW package including the body kit and piano black and cream interior! Tempting!! :P
Don't get me wrong, the Z4 is a fantastic car to look at (coupe! :P ) and to drive and it's streets ahead in class. I just miss ragging that MINI around sometimes!

Actually, I was thinking last night, I wonder if it's one of those things where you think you remember what car was like but in reality it may not have been as good as you think you remembered (bit like an old relationship).

Also I have had a MINI since 2002 (had 3 of them) so I got used to them.

I still know a few with MINI's. Maybe I should get a drive in one to do a proper comparison now I have had the Z for a bit. I have a gut feeling though that I will be keeping the Z4! :wink:
 
In my younger days i had a 205gti 1.9. It was quick, nimble and very raw It also lacked refinement, and the creature comforts of todays cars, which i think maybe the reasons for cars like the Z4 for maybe not being as exciting to drive. The 205 also felt quick when being driven at speed. The handling was fantastic in the dry, you could carry so much speed into the bends. But in the wet it was very tail happy, and on one cold wet January night i pushed it too far and ended up spinning off the road and smashing into a tree at high speed, almost killing myself. :cry: A painful lesson learnt, dont regret having it though.
 
I recently test drove a new John Cooper Works Mini Cooper S and it was great fun, very fast, loads of low down torque, great brakes but you still have loads of torque steer which is why I sold my Mini Cooper S for the Z as I got fed up with not putting the power down and just spinning the wheels. If you can put up with these faults then they are fantastic fun but also quite expensive and there do seem to be a few worrying quality problems with them (noisy engine from start up).
 
Yup, lift-off oversteer is the only real issue with the 205 GTI's handling. As you found out the hard way!
 
Always a good idea to start off with a slightly slower rwd car. I went from the EP3 CTR which was great fun to an Rx8 and learned a different way of driving, slower in but much much faster out.... :driving:

Now on the Z4MC its like starting all over again, it is a different beast to the Rx which was a dream to slide around very controllable and very forgiving. The Zed bites! The Rx had better rubber than the continentals on the Zed though.

You really need to get on track to learn the car so it becomes predictable and then I'm sure it will be much more fun than driving the FWD trolleys.
 
senwar said:
Its called the ///M engine...... :poke:
Click to expand...

That was my first thought TBH!

I've had a number of quite fruity cars over the last couple of years including a clio 172 and 2 RS Meganes. The clio 172 was a chuckable little thing and a lot of fun, likewise the Megane is quite nimble too but the Z4M blows them away. For a 1500 KG car it changes direction pretty quickly. You need to take it by the scruff of the neck to get the best out of it though. It can be a little lacking if you drive it anything like sensibly :)
 
Previous car was a Golf Dieseal, normally aspirated so yeah the Zed has got a fair bit more spark than that! :D

If I compare it to some of my former sportier vehicles -
MR2 mk1...not a lot of "go" but pretty decent for a 1.6, always drove it on the ragged edge and it was a hoot...Zed has a similar fun factor without the "shite I'm going to die" element of the Toyota.
MR2 mk2...hmm, nice, much quicker than the mk1 but lacked thrill factor.
2wd Cosworth...awesomely quick, realistically probably not significantly quicker than the Zed...totally lacked character, it was a Sierra!!!!!!!!!!
Yamaha R6...incredible, more thrills than any car...ridiculously quick.
Yamaha R1...fast on a cosmic scale...it was the 1998 model with bags of torque and similar power to a 2.2 Z4, ate newer 1000's for breakfast on track :) .....last seen throwing me down the Pembrey start/finish straight at 120mph, destroying itself and me in the process 8)

Love the Zed, probably the best all round car Ive owned...one of the nicest all-round cars Ive driven (if you ignore the horrific suspension setup).
Classy, reasonably practical, rapid, reliable... :thumbsup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom