What makes a Z4M mint?
- Thread starter flimper
- Start date
Would echo it's entirely condition related, rather than spec.
If you want to be a pedant - mint would be.. factory fresh or better. That doesn't exist in 10 year old cars.
I would argue 'mint' is 'the best condition a car could be considering it's age. And on that basis, tehre's probably also a difference between mint and 'properly looked after', as mint would probably demand some level of 'barely used' to even be possible. Unless you consider a well maintained example with no expenses spared 'mint', and accept that things happen but the mint'ness is a product of how well the owner maintains stuff.
For example - if wheels get scuffed, (which is pretty much impossible to avoid in 10 years of ownership unless its driven at weekends on blasts only, and garaged 24/7 .. but then you could argue it's not mint as it hasn't been properly exercised) they get fully stripped, repaired, repainted .. versus a quick bodge job repair.
If/when i come to sell my car - it'l be in what i consider 'mint' condition, as it gets used, but things get damaged, but i repair them fully and maintain it correctly. I wouldn't want someone buying a car off me unless it was in the best possible condition, and they were aware of it's entire history. I actually expect my car will be in better condition when i sell it than when i bought it 3 years ago! But despite this - to achieve some people's ideas of 'mint' would be impossible.
If you want to be a pedant - mint would be.. factory fresh or better. That doesn't exist in 10 year old cars.
I would argue 'mint' is 'the best condition a car could be considering it's age. And on that basis, tehre's probably also a difference between mint and 'properly looked after', as mint would probably demand some level of 'barely used' to even be possible. Unless you consider a well maintained example with no expenses spared 'mint', and accept that things happen but the mint'ness is a product of how well the owner maintains stuff.
For example - if wheels get scuffed, (which is pretty much impossible to avoid in 10 years of ownership unless its driven at weekends on blasts only, and garaged 24/7 .. but then you could argue it's not mint as it hasn't been properly exercised) they get fully stripped, repaired, repainted .. versus a quick bodge job repair.
If/when i come to sell my car - it'l be in what i consider 'mint' condition, as it gets used, but things get damaged, but i repair them fully and maintain it correctly. I wouldn't want someone buying a car off me unless it was in the best possible condition, and they were aware of it's entire history. I actually expect my car will be in better condition when i sell it than when i bought it 3 years ago! But despite this - to achieve some people's ideas of 'mint' would be impossible.
flimper said:
They look so much better without sat nav!
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
dan yeates said:flimper said:
They look so much better without sat nav!
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
I think the way the nav screen sits and moves is the best bit about the interior except the steering wheel. Although the nav is poor its functionality for DSP telephone and car information is worth having it for IMO.
If you want a decent nav system and connectivity you have to remove the air vents for a double din which is what 90% are today.
The single dins seem to be a thing of the past. A double din also looks stupid in a Z because its not a standard size with its rounded corners.
tomscott said:dan yeates said:flimper said:
They look so much better without sat nav!
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
BMW Z4 M 3.2 Roadster by Daniel Yeates, on Flickr
I think the way the nav screen sits and moves is the best bit about the interior except the steering wheel. Although the nav is poor its functionality for DSP telephone and car information is worth having it for IMO.
If you want a decent nav system and connectivity you have to remove the air vents for a double din which is what 90% are today.
The single dins seem to be a thing of the past. A double din also looks stupid in a Z because its not a standard size with its rounded corners.
on the flip side, you could argue its a 2 seat sports car no need for over engineered gadgetry, which is what a traditional 2 seater is all about, the fun factor, not watching what MPG your getting on a run
It was ok. I had sat nav on my 3.0i. But I much prefer the Z4M with the Dice iPod interface. Plug my iPhone into the cradle and use Spotify and Google Maps. Instant traffic alerts, rerouting around traffic and road closures, accurate real time ETA etc. Plus I prefer the cleaner lines to the dash personally.
jamie_z4 said:tomscott said:
on the flip side, you could argue its a 2 seat sports car no need for over engineered gadgetry, which is what a traditional 2 seater is all about, the fun factor, not watching what MPG your getting on a run
Or you could argue that having tech in the car makes it more usable and more of a joy to be in than just a hoon at the weekend. Especially if you do long trips like across Europe for example where you cant help but sitting on motorways. I find that sticking the phone on the dash is an eyesore and reduces visibility and you have wires on the dash. I agree that a phone is a million times better than integrated systems but again if your in Europe you cant use google maps anyway without using lots of expensive data or swapping sims so you need another device such as a sat nav to get you where your going... Swings and roundabouts.
tomscott said:jamie_z4 said:tomscott said:
on the flip side, you could argue its a 2 seat sports car no need for over engineered gadgetry, which is what a traditional 2 seater is all about, the fun factor, not watching what MPG your getting on a run
Or you could argue that having tech in the car makes it more usable and more of a joy to be in than just a hoon at the weekend. Especially if you do long trips like across Europe for example where you cant help but sitting on motorways. I find that sticking the phone on the dash is an eyesore and reduces visibility and you have wires on the dash. I agree that a phone is a million times better than integrated systems but again if your in Europe you cant use google maps anyway without using lots of expensive data or swapping sims so you need another device such as a sat nav to get you where your going... Swings and roundabouts.
Brodit dash mount - perfect solution.
dan yeates said:tomscott said:jamie_z4 said:on the flip side, you could argue its a 2 seat sports car no need for over engineered gadgetry, which is what a traditional 2 seater is all about, the fun factor, not watching what MPG your getting on a run
Or you could argue that having tech in the car makes it more usable and more of a joy to be in than just a hoon at the weekend. Especially if you do long trips like across Europe for example where you cant help but sitting on motorways. I find that sticking the phone on the dash is an eyesore and reduces visibility and you have wires on the dash. I agree that a phone is a million times better than integrated systems but again if your in Europe you cant use google maps anyway without using lots of expensive data or swapping sims so you need another device such as a sat nav to get you where your going... Swings and roundabouts.
Brodit dash mount - perfect solution.
Comes with free data?
I h-a-t-e stand alone systems, they always fall off, lose reception and are generally pants (and I have multiple).
pvr said:dan yeates said:tomscott said:
Brodit dash mount - perfect solution.
Comes with free data?
I h-a-t-e stand alone systems, they always fall off, lose reception and are generally pants (and I have multiple).
You can download Google maps for use offline, but obviously you wouldn’t get traffic etc. When I toured Europe I downloaded the Tomtom app for all of Europe and it was great. I’m just not really a fan of integrated sat nav systems. We don’t even have sat nav in our M135i! I had it in my Porsche, used it once, thought it was rubbish, so continued to use my phone.
I think for a car to be 'mint', the underside should also look in very good condition.
Especially if I see UK cars' underside there is always so much rust and aluminium corrosion. The UK weather is very hard on cars (and maybe cars are garaged less in general).
So either a car that has always been garaged and has seen very little rain driving, or having been restored; so beadblasting aluminium parts and beadblasting and painting of steel parts like subframes, diff housing, motormounts etc etc.
If you look at the underside of a car you can really see what kind of life it had.
Most people take lots of time and money to clean and polish the body and engine bay, but the underside hardly gets any attention.
Especially if I see UK cars' underside there is always so much rust and aluminium corrosion. The UK weather is very hard on cars (and maybe cars are garaged less in general).
So either a car that has always been garaged and has seen very little rain driving, or having been restored; so beadblasting aluminium parts and beadblasting and painting of steel parts like subframes, diff housing, motormounts etc etc.
If you look at the underside of a car you can really see what kind of life it had.
Most people take lots of time and money to clean and polish the body and engine bay, but the underside hardly gets any attention.
GuidoK said:
agree. underside tells you all you need to know...
i cant pretend mines like this because i did it.... its just 12k miles and not much use. The underside of it looks pretty god damn clean... some minor pitting on the alu parts but its pretty much as it left the factory, the rear diff section has all the stickers and markings etc from the factory and is really nice to see zero corrosion and all the stock paints on the different parts in tact and shiny , id guess theirs not many left like this. its a real pleasure to behold the underside of it. My couple year old cars look very different underneath, the daily drive for the cars in the uk is really hard on a cars general condition. Mint imo should relate to condition.
Download Navigon to your phone & its all plain sailing all throughout Europe!tomscott said:jamie_z4 said:tomscott said:
on the flip side, you could argue its a 2 seat sports car no need for over engineered gadgetry, which is what a traditional 2 seater is all about, the fun factor, not watching what MPG your getting on a run
Or you could argue that having tech in the car makes it more usable and more of a joy to be in than just a hoon at the weekend. Especially if you do long trips like across Europe for example where you cant help but sitting on motorways. I find that sticking the phone on the dash is an eyesore and reduces visibility and you have wires on the dash. I agree that a phone is a million times better than integrated systems but again if your in Europe you cant use google maps anyway without using lots of expensive data or swapping sims so you need another device such as a sat nav to get you where your going... Swings and roundabouts.