Guidance on a Z4M coupe

[Lower]

Hi all,

I'm new on here and am looking to purchase a Z4M coupe. I've been driving Honda S2000's for the last 7 years or so and am looking for the next step. The Z4M coupe seems to be a very good progression!

I've found two cars that i like. Both 56 plates, both with very low mileages (11k and 13k) but with different specs.

There is a £1k price difference between the two, and i can't decide if the additional options are worth the extra money so some advice would be appreciated.

Firstly, the more expensive car seems to have some stretched leather on the drivers seat base. I'm not sure if the leather itself has stretched or whether the foam underneath has given way, but is this common? Could i get it easily fixed?

The option differences between the cars are that the more expensive car has satnav, bluetooth and the BMW professional sound system. It also has the carbon dash.

I'm not fussed about the satnav as i already have a Navman and certainly wouldn't pay £1k extra for it. But the bluetooth would be good and i'm sure i'd appreciate the stereo.

But does having satnav bring other benefits and does it really add value to a second hand car?

All comments and advice very much appreciated.

[gannet]

welcome

sat nav makes it easier to sell on when the time comes, but I know what you mean. Bluetooth phone easier to use if you have the sat nav built in - ie rather than having just one line to display phone numbers or have more...

both sound nice

[Darren M]

I always say buy the car you want rather than what others may want. So what if you get the little bit less when you sell it or if it takes a bit longer to sell. It's all a bit of a gamble anyway, peoples requirements in the future might be different. If Clarkson or some motoring mag in the future says old BMW satnav is crap that'll devalue it anyway - ha ha. If these cars are to be future classics I really think a higher demand will exist for cars without satnav. Unfortunatley IT gadgets quickly become out of date/obsolete these days, I really can't see people in 15 years time for example being concerned about having some old crappy satnav fitted so if planning to keep for the long term I wouldn't even consider sat-nav.
I'm with you on the saynav, it's expensive and I don't like the ruined dash look by having it there. However, the carbon dash is M specific while the other optional dash designs were also availble on non-M's and I think most people seem to prefer the carbon dash in the M so that is good to have and being M specific adds to the cars 'special' appeal. And bluetooth is useful but depends on your phone/social business needs.

I would also say don't be put off by higher milage cars, especially if looking at the early cars now (2006).Buying a higher milage well cared for car could save you a good few £ and be in just as good condition as some harder driven city dwelling lower milage cars, but look out for broken rear springs! Mine's closing in on 50k miles now and drives fabulously and i'm sure will easily do 200k+ miles before any major work/rebuild and I'm confident of that because I know my driving habits .

Good luck in your search and please post pics and info when you make a purchase

[AlanJ]

Welcome to the Forum - there's a pre purchase check link in my signature which may assist when your looking.

[Angus McCoatup]

Hi there - welcome to the forum.

Not sure about the seat issue - sorry.

I don't have the satnav in mine but, as said above, I understand the screen also displays phone number details and information about your music.

On the music; the extra and rather sizeable speakers behind the seats that come with the professional system do make a big difference over the basic system. You do lose a bit of storage space, but I'm not sure how useful / practical the 'behind-seat' storage would have been.

Also on music; cars built after a certain date have an auxilliary input tucked away on the fascia under the a/c controls. Although mine was registered in Jan '08, it was a Sept '06 build, so doesn't have it. It would have been nice to have been able to plug an iPod in without having to retrofit something. This can be done, but I'm not savvy enough abut these things to advise.

Carbon dash is really nice. As mentioned above, it is exclusive to the M, and seems the most desirable.

Other options that I have in mine that might be worth thinking about are: cruise control (great for speed-camera monitored temporary speed limits), rear parking sensors (although a small car that you sit in the back of,rear vis is not brilliant so they do come in handy - fronts are available also and would be useful too because of the long, dipping bonnet), heated seats (opinion seems divided - only used mine a few times and wouldn't have regarded it a showstopper if the car hadn't had them, but they do work well and are very nice on a cold day) electrically operated foldy-up exterior mirrors (found this handy when I had 2 cars in the garage and it was a bit of a squeeze) Isofix in passenger seat (not used by me but I've heard of cases where it's a must-have - comes with a key-operated switch to disable the passenger side airbag and an indicator light on the l/h side of the transmission tunnel).

Have you driven one yet? I only ask because I lusted after an S2000 for ages and had a few drives in them before going for the BMW. The Z4M doesn't have anything like the quality of gear change the S2000 has, and I think this can often be seen as a significant stumbling block by people thinking of making the change.

I think both are great cars with a 'special' feel about them. In the end I went for the BMW mainly because I'd always wanted a car with a straight-six engine and, oh, what an engine it is

Happy hunting

[Z4coupebeaver]

Re the seat - I'm afraid it is not an easy or cheap fix. Live with it or be prepared to spend a lot of money sorting it. Z4 leather is not the best I'm afraid and for some reason it stretches to give the baggy look.

Sat nav is a bigger bonus than you think. Do you want to faff about sticking your navman on the window and be woried that someone is going to break in for it? Re the point about the value of satnav in 15 years time - a 70s classic with an 8 track cartidge player is worth more than one without and the BMW sat-nav is part of the car so will always be a sought after option.

Regarding the mileage - you are getting into underused territory which is not good. have the cars had lots of short cold runs. Have they stood for months with the everything not moving and starting to sieze up. Every car I've had with low miles for the age has been trouble. Knackered battery, stiff controls, stiff door hinges, sticking components, excess engine wear. I'm still drawn to low mileage cars but common sense tells me that rgular longer distances is better.

The bluetooth is useless. It works but anything above 30 and nobody can hear you. Last night, I was motoring down the M6 at 4000rpm (do you like how I indicate how fast I was going without incriminating myself on a public forum) and then had to sloww down to under 50 to phone in a takeaway order. Even then, Stavros struggled to hear me.

The carbon dash is down to personal taste. I love it but then again, I like the aly and turned aly dashes too. I'd even go for a wooden dash in a fit of bad taste so you're better off not asking my opinion on dashes.

Re the sound system, all Z4 sound sytems are rubbish and will spend most of the time off or maybe low for traffic info.

I would say go for the cheaper car. It will be harder to move on but will give you 98% of the pleasure of the other car for about 13 tanks of petrol.

The only other thing I would add is that most Z4M buyers expect a high level of spec but buy what you want - not what others might want in the future.

[sjj84]

I agree with buying what you want rather than the next buyer.
As for the spec, personnally I like as many gadgets as possible, whether it be in the car or at home, so I would go for the one with the nav. It makes it much easier to use the bluetooth and you can also get an ipod adaptor called an 'intravee' which works really well with the screen.

[Daffy]

The leather can be fixed with a hit air gun or hairdryer, it'll take naught but an hour.

[Animal]

Re the seat - I'm afraid it is not an easy or cheap fix. Live with it or be prepared to spend a lot of money sorting it. Z4 leather is not the best I'm afraid and for some reason it stretches to give the baggy look.

Sat nav is a bigger bonus than you think. Do you want to faff about sticking your navman on the window and be woried that someone is going to break in for it? Re the point about the value of satnav in 15 years time - a 70s classic with an 8 track cartidge player is worth more than one without and the BMW sat-nav is part of the car so will always be a sought after option.

Regarding the mileage - you are getting into underused territory which is not good. have the cars had lots of short cold runs. Have they stood for months with the everything not moving and starting to sieze up. Every car I've had with low miles for the age has been trouble. Knackered battery, stiff controls, stiff door hinges, sticking components, excess engine wear. I'm still drawn to low mileage cars but common sense tells me that rgular longer distances is better.

The bluetooth is useless. It works but anything above 30 and nobody can hear you. Last night, I was motoring down the M6 at 4000rpm (do you like how I indicate how fast I was going without incriminating myself on a public forum) and then had to sloww down to under 50 to phone in a takeaway order. Even then, Stavros struggled to hear me.

The carbon dash is down to personal taste. I love it but then again, I like the aly and turned aly dashes too. I'd even go for a wooden dash in a fit of bad taste so you're better off not asking my opinion on dashes.

Re the sound system, all Z4 sound sytems are rubbish and will spend most of the time off or maybe low for traffic info.

I would say go for the cheaper car. It will be harder to move on but will give you 98% of the pleasure of the other car for about 13 tanks of petrol.

The only other thing I would add is that most Z4M buyers expect a high level of spec but buy what you want - not what others might want in the future.

I don't understand the negative feedback of the sound system i think its great.
I get a thumping bass massaging my back i certainly don't feel the need to upgrade the system now i have the car.
I can see 6 speakers and have no DSP is this std??

[dgm]

I've got to agree regarding the sound system, I've got the Logic 7 and thinks it's more than acceptable. Whether or not I would have paid the price for it as a new option is a different matter but I didn't and find it works well. If you've experienced the Harmon Kardon upgrade on the E46 M3 then you'll know what a poor value system sounds like. Compared to that Logic 7 is top end.

[original guvnor]

The bluetooth is useless. It works but anything above 30 and nobody can hear you. Last night, I was motoring down the M6 at 4000rpm (do you like how I indicate how fast I was going without incriminating myself on a public forum) and then had to sloww down to under 50 to phone in a takeaway order. Even then, Stavros struggled to hear me.


Re the sound system, all Z4 sound sytems are rubbish and will spend most of the time off or maybe low for traffic info.

I wouldn't agree with either of these comments.

Bluetooth works absolutely fine in mine at motorway speeds and the DSP is excellent as far as I'm concerned.

[Lower]

The leather can be fixed with a hit air gun or hairdryer, it'll take naught but an hour.

Could you elaborate on what's involved and what can be achieved

[Wondermike]

Lower, for me, getting nav, hifi, bluetooth and carbon leather for a grand is worth it, assuming everything else is equal.

I don't have nav, there have been many discussions on it before. My car has carbon leather and DSP, but if I could have had those items above for an extra say £5-600 then I would have paid it.

Both cars have 100% had the 1200 mile service? How many owners on each?

[sjj84]

I've got to agree regarding the sound system, I've got the Logic 7 and thinks it's more than acceptable. Whether or not I would have paid the price for it as a new option is a different matter but I didn't and find it works well. If you've experienced the Harmon Kardon upgrade on the E46 M3 then you'll know what a poor value system sounds like. Compared to that Logic 7 is top end.

I had Harmon Kardon in both my previous M3 and 330Ci, the system was OK at best but that's all. The basic system really is appauling. Logic 7 in the Z4 is a vast improvement.

[Lower]

Have you driven one yet? I only ask because I lusted after an S2000 for ages and had a few drives in them before going for the BMW. The Z4M doesn't have anything like the quality of gear change the S2000 has, and I think this can often be seen as a significant stumbling block by people thinking of making the change.

I think both are great cars with a 'special' feel about them. In the end I went for the BMW mainly because I'd always wanted a car with a straight-six engine and, oh, what an engine it is

Happy hunting

I drove one yesterday.

Gearchange is not quite as good as the S2000, but then that has the best gearchange i've ever used. I was perfectly happy with the Z4M gearchange though on the test drive and thoroughly enjoyed the whole car.

i bought the first s2000 for its engine. The Z4M engine is even better and the whole car is a step up from the S2000.