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Six Years With a 35is

Specific discussion about the E89 2009 Z4 (sDrive35is, sDrive35i, sDrive30i, sDrive23i)
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Garvin
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Garvin » Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:02 pm

Having now just waved goodbye to my second 35is I thought I would provide a personal view on the two cars, each driven for 3 years:

Engine : Superb 3.0 litre twin turbo. Plenty of torque and power right throughout the rev range with no turbo lag issues. Very smooth and, coupled to the specific exhaust on the 35is, provided just the right amount of sonorous enjoyment with enough woofle, crackle and pop on the overrun without being too boy racerish. It provided just about as much 'oomph' as could be used on public roads - I never wanted for more and it's overtaking ability is second to none.

Transmission : Both seven speed DCTs were excellent and never gave any worries over six years. Not quite as smooth and quick as the Audi DSG/S-Tronic offerings but the difference is very marginal. Lack of an LSD is the most serious issue (see handling later).

Steering : Very accurate but not a tremendous amount of feed back, most feedback was provided through the seat! Sport modes 'firmed' up the steering but provided no more feedback.

Suspension : Adaptive suspension with 19" rims, even on RFTs, are well matched. Excellent compromise between handling and ride and further stiffening up in Sport modes are not really necessary. Major problem is the tendency of the rear wheels to hop sideways on low speed tight turns when the road surface is uneven/broken. Personally I believe this is down to the RFTs stiff sidewalls inability to cope rather than any basic problem with the suspension set up.

Brakes : Powerful and well weighted and never gave any problems or fade issues when used 'in anger'.

Handling : Too tail happy. Even at low speeds any application of power with any steering applied needs to be exercised with caution. When the tail wags it is not progressive and needs to be caught quickly. The first car was very prone to this as well as lighting up the traction warning lamp when giving it 'the beans' in a straight line on dry surfaces. The second car was much improved in this respect. I put this down to improvements in the RFTs even though both cars rode on Bridgestone RE 050A RFTs. I believe an LSD and performance non-RFTs would go a long way to solving this issue. Some motoring reviews flagged up understeer of the Z4 as a problem - I never had any understeer issues.

Build Standard : Both cars had the same issue where the front bumper/valence never lined up completely with the front wings with variable panel gaps. The bits that are visible are well designed and look good but delve into the inner workings of the car and the design/build down to a cost become more obvious. Not a tremendous problem and better than most but nowhere near the build quality of the Audis I have owned. The paint finish on both cars was not good, both had an orange peel finish on close inspection that has been the worst on any new car I have owned (and that is quite a few including those from more humble manufacturers).

Reliability : Pretty good. The only issue on the first car was the micro switches of the folding hard top - fixed under warranty. The only problem on the second car was a cracked rear wheel - again fixed under warranty.

Comfort : The cabin is a nice place to be. Both cars had extended leather and always looked and felt 'the part'. I had the top of the range multimedia/satnav and speaker systems in both cars and thought them extremely good. The iDrive input is not as good as a touch screen input but functionality was never a problem. The iPod interface via the USB port is about the best I have experienced in any car. DAB radio was also excellent. Seats are very comfortable and supportive with a full range of adjustment. Coupled with the fully adjustable steering column an extremely comfortable driving position was possible and six hour drives were never a problem. If the Sport modes could be selected from the gear lever the cabin would, IMHO, be perfect. Roof down motoring at motorway speeds was always comfortable with minimal buffeting and conversation with passengers/listening to radio etc. was never a problem.

Consumption : The first car covered 31.5k miles and provided an overall average of 27.61 mpg and drank oil at the rate of 13.7k miles per litre. The second car covered 29k miles and returned figures of 27.23 mpg and drank oil at the rate of 16.5k miles per litre.

Overall : A cracking GT car but a few dynamic improvements required to make it a great sports car. I thoroughly enjoyed my six years with the 35is. Finally, this is the only car that Mrs Garvin was really sad to see go - she was even up for me keeping it alongside the Mustang!
Last edited by Garvin on Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Considering Ordered Received 35is - Melbourne Red / Ivory White with lots of bells & whistles. Deep Sea Blue replacement 35is now also departed. Replaced by something more brash, more powerful and American!

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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Busterboo » Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:22 pm

Informative, enjoyable and encouraging.

Thank you very much.
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Paulr » Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:26 pm

How about build quality, did the cabin always feel tightly built, no squeaks and so on?
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Garvin
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Garvin » Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:26 pm

Cabin was fine on both cars - no squeaks or rattles.
Considering Ordered Received 35is - Melbourne Red / Ivory White with lots of bells & whistles. Deep Sea Blue replacement 35is now also departed. Replaced by something more brash, more powerful and American!

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Six Years With a 35is

Post by buzyg » Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:35 pm

A good read. Enjoy the mustang. :)
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Marlon » Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:47 pm

A very informative review for anyone considering a move to the top of the E89 tree :thumbsup:
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by tomscott » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:08 pm

Great read, still considering one.

My main observation of E89s is how badly the interiors wear. The only cars I've been to look at at low milage, the black leather doesn't show as bad but the colours especially. Marks, scuffs and scratches. Im sure easily sorted but didn't fill me with confidence.

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Six Years With a 35is

Post by john-e89 » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:17 pm

Sums them up perfectly, a fairly powerful very nice GT roadster.

Enjoy your Mustang. :thumbsup:
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by z4all » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:32 pm

did you ever think about remapping ?

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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Marlon » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:42 pm

z4all wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:32 pm did you ever think about remapping ?
I think your answer is here :cry:

Too tail happy. Even at low speeds any application of power with any steering applied needs to be exercised with caution. When the tail wags it is not progressive and needs to be caught quickly. The first car was very prone to this as well as lighting up the traction warning lamp when giving it 'the beans' in a straight line on dry surfaces.
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by enzed4 » Sun Jul 16, 2017 7:05 am

Good, honest user review - thanks very much. One of these has popped up locally - probably the only one anywhere near where I live (all of them seem to be 23i or 28i I think). Very expensive here, and probably a lot of risk if something goes wrong with the roof - I think an extended warranty might cover it, but they're expensive as well (and require you to have servicing done at specific places).
I would love to follow it up, but there's just not enough 'fat' in the budget to allow for any problems that might occur.
Cheers. :thumbsup:
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by GBZ4 » Sun Jul 16, 2017 8:30 am

Thanks for this Garvin, it's a very informative read and full of insight. I was glad to read that you accepted RFT's are not perfect and do not need to be replaced as soon as you take ownership of a Z4.

I decided that I couldn't wait for a Mustang GT V8 and got a 440i M Sport Plus instead, maybe next time. Hope you enjoy it as much as you have enjoyed the Zed's :thumbsup:
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Garvin » Sun Jul 16, 2017 8:53 am

Marlon wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:42 pm
z4all wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:32 pm did you ever think about remapping ?
I think your answer is here :cry:

Too tail happy. Even at low speeds any application of power with any steering applied needs to be exercised with caution. When the tail wags it is not progressive and needs to be caught quickly. The first car was very prone to this as well as lighting up the traction warning lamp when giving it 'the beans' in a straight line on dry surfaces.
For me the 35is doesn't need a remap, it has plenty of power/torque that even as stock cannot (or needs to) be fully exploited on public roads very often. It is quite fast enough in a straight line as it is. IMHO the best modification that can be made would be fitment of an LSD as this would certainly help quell the traction control lamp, tame the rear end and allow it to be significantly quicker through the twisties and increase driver enjoyment.
Considering Ordered Received 35is - Melbourne Red / Ivory White with lots of bells & whistles. Deep Sea Blue replacement 35is now also departed. Replaced by something more brash, more powerful and American!

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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Busterboo » Sun Jul 16, 2017 10:51 am

Marlon wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:42 pm
z4all wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:32 pm did you ever think about remapping ?
I think your answer is here :cry:

Too tail happy. Even at low speeds any application of power with any steering applied needs to be exercised with caution. When the tail wags it is not progressive and needs to be caught quickly. The first car was very prone to this as well as lighting up the traction warning lamp when giving it 'the beans' in a straight line on dry surfaces.
Garvin I believe ... performance non-RFTs would go a long way to solving this issue.
I agree with Garvin. On non-RFTs at correct pressures, my 35iS isn't tail happy.

On RFTs, it was.
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Six Years With a 35is

Post by Z4M-2006 » Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:15 pm

Decent tyres sorts out any grip issues.

RFT's are so hard that they easily spin up in all situations,bin them ..

You can still powerslide the 35is in a controllable way,the ediff does work its just not like a locker,or as good.

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