Z4-forum.com

This post may or may not help anyone considering the prospect of M4 ownership .
No regrets buying it but no regrets seeing it go either .
In 12 months i covered just 1400m with 250 of those miles being the drive home from the south coast so 1150ish in a year , not a lot for me when generally 2500-4000m id expect to cover ( its a 3rd car / weekend use only )
They are a beautiful thing to own , for me one of the best looking Bmw coupes of all time but a sports car they are not .
No matter the bhp the sheer size of them prevents any feeling that they can be driven through the twisties & bends with any real feel or feedback , it actually makes the E89 feel nimble by comparison .
For the majority of my miles it was driven like you would a 5 series , wafting along looking at the scenery to feel any momentum takes licence losing speeds .
Once again like my 35is ownership the DCT left me underwhelmed & disconnected & i;m convinced the 8spd ZF box in our F11 is better .
Fuel ? well they like a drink of the good stuff that's for sure , best behaviour required to see over 30mpg with the average everyday pootling around being around 20mpg.
VED currently £330 for 12 months up to 2017 - after 2017 its a whopping £520 pa .
Buying & selling : lots of choice but lots of hammered examples , they are approaching 10 yrs old now ( mine was a 2015 ) but bought wisely no reason they should cost mega money to keep on top of .
Replacement brakes all round would be £1k ish so worth particular attention to condition , oil service & brake fluid i had done before selling , that was £170 at a Bmw indy .
Heads up display , Harmon Kardon sound & carbon roof are pretty much a must to have , otherwise can prove difficult to find a buyer when the time comes . ( carbon roof is standard but sunroofs were a option , with sunroof you lose the carbon )
Tyres are subjective but are always going to be pricey with the size of them , for the 3rd time i was unfortunate to buy a car with a virtually fresh set of PS4S fitted they really are one of noisiest tyres i have ever come across . mine was on the 20 inch 666M comp wheels so you would expect some noise but i fitted a set of winter rubber on 19s for a short time & the difference was like driving with the windows up V windows down.
So what to buy after a M4 ? in the past 10 years my weekend cars have gone from £7k Si roadies , £9k Si coupes , £12k - £13k ZMRs , £14k 35i E89 , £15k TTRS & £20k 997 Carrera4 : the M4 i paid £25k for .
Do you get more pleasure the more you spend ? in my case absolutely not so rather than tick another box of cars id like to own ( 981 Cayman ) i've done a complete about turn & gone back down the ladder recently purchased a 15 plate mk7 Golf Gti manual lets see how many weekend miles i manage in 12 months .

I'm 2 years in with my F82 M4(DCT) and I've done 16k miles in it now and I still love it. It is my daily though and I have the manual 370Z Roadster as my weeland car. As a daily the M4 has been the best car I've had(I really disliked the E92 M3 as a daily in comparison).

I've really enjoyed looking at all your photos on insta of the M4 as well Andy.

Wishing you all the best with the Golf GTi.

A fantastic daily driver i bet Lee , currently covering 20k pa in works Navarra i am very envious
What do you think would replace it when time comes ?

I really don't know Andy and that is the trouble! I do really like the idea of a G82 M4 xDrive to replace it in an ideal world, but they are still too expensive for me though.

I've thought about something like the Merc A35, but I don't honestly know. It is such a brilliant all round performance car I reckon, and it is only the ride(too harsh) in it that I grumble about really.

Golfs - I have never been without one since I was 19. For me the best combination of driving car and usable space. Obviously manual gearboxes only.

I enjoy the different cars in different surroundings , love the X5M for the long distance cruising like now being with it in the Cotswolds in the snow.

mr wilks wrote: ↑Thu Mar 09, 2023 4:42 pm They are a beautiful thing to own , for me one of the best looking Bmw coupes of all time but a sports car they are not .

I personally don't think BMW have ever really made a 'sports car'. Maybe the Z1 is the closest?
I recently sold my 440i (M4 lite?) and agree with the sentiments in the revue. Big, heavy cars with plenty (too much?) of power and clever engineering and electronics to make them useable does not float my boat, as it turns out.
I was looking at F83s when I bought mine, but glad I didn't go there TBH.

Golf GTi is more of a 'sportscar' than any 3,4 or even Z4 could ever hope to be IMHO. GT, yes. Fun 'B' road weapon; I don't think so.

Pondrew wrote: ↑Thu Mar 09, 2023 7:19 pm

mr wilks wrote: ↑Thu Mar 09, 2023 4:42 pm They are a beautiful thing to own , for me one of the best looking Bmw coupes of all time but a sports car they are not .

I personally don't think BMW have ever really made a 'sports car'. Maybe the Z1 is the closest?

Id have to fight the corner for the ZMR , had 3 , 2 of which had Normandy miles with me & i couldn't have asked for a more "sports car " feel when the car was clearly capable of more than my driving skills could manage .
The Si roady also has a great capacity to entertain & you don't necessarily have to be breaking limits to enjoy it .
The reasons i didn't consider going back to either were a difference now in criteria for a weekend car , 2 seaters don't comply

Pondrew wrote: ↑Thu Mar 09, 2023 7:19 pm

mr wilks wrote: ↑Thu Mar 09, 2023 4:42 pm They are a beautiful thing to own , for me one of the best looking Bmw coupes of all time but a sports car they are not .

I personally don't think BMW have ever really made a 'sports car'. Maybe the Z1 is the closest?
I recently sold my 440i (M4 lite?) and agree with the sentiments in the revue. Big, heavy cars with plenty (too much?) of power and clever engineering and electronics to make them useable does not float my boat, as it turns out.
I was looking at F83s when I bought mine, but glad I didn't go there TBH.

Golf GTi is more of a 'sportscar' than any 3,4 or even Z4 could ever hope to be IMHO. GT, yes. Fun 'B' road weapon; I don't think so.

Yes and they definitely aren't sports cars I agree. I see them more of a performance Coupe/GT type of car. The performance of the M4 is my favourite bit about them, and they basically have the same performance as my old TVR Cerbera 4.5(the M4 does 0 to 60 in 4.1 seconds/0 to 100 in 8.6 seconds), but the M4 starts and works when you want it to though!

I've got the 4 year big service next week on mine(spark plugs etc) and I've been quoted £960 at my local main dealer! The brake fluid service and normal oil service isn't too bad on it in comparison though.

Mine is showing 29.3 mpg overall since I've had it and that is very decent given the performance I reckon. I only got 26mpg out of the E90 330i I had in comparison for reference overall.

Had a F80 M3 last year. Loved the looks of it, grew slightly bored of the deep growl exhaust.
However, got rid of it after 6 months.
Had to have the worst gearbox in a car I’ve ever owned.
Put the car into drive or reverse and nothing happens.
You have to tap the accelerator to engage the gear. This made parking on slopes painful.
Great looking car ruined by awful gearbox.

That is the joy in the channel tunnel as well. When they want me to forward a few more cm and I can’t do that. No role function in the gearbox

I have just seen this after purchasing an F83 - again a weekend toy, did around 1500 miles in 9 months in my zed so not t bothered about fuel, Ii know servicing is not cheap but will be using a good indy rather than Sytner for certain.

I also want more of a wafter for the grand kids to ride in these days rather than a weekend blaster but I am sure I can still have a little fun when needed

I need an auto (Knees on an ole git playing up) so the DCT will be fine for me although the ability to roll would have been a good feature as all my other autos had this (I know it an automated manual box not fully auto).

Looking forward to the experience and intend to keep the car for four or five years.

I had an F82 M4 for a couple years and loved it. The presence it had and look on the road were great. It was definitely more of a GT car, had a great 1500 mile trip around France and it absolutely devoured the miles. Lots of smiles too . Servicing and tyres were not cheap and ran on 99 RON, but you don’t buy an M car expecting small bills.

Fancy the G82 M4 Comp xDrive, but still can’t get over that front.

Well a year has passed by swiftly & so have a few logbooks the GTi proved a great buy , did 3k in 5months with 2 euro trips then sold £2k up so what next ? my eye was drawn to a A5 coupe , lovely car visually & after a remap was plenty quick enough but i couldn't get on with the cheapness of the cabin trim + after the Golf it wasn't as practical either so that went in December & had a complete change around in household motoring .
Sold the faithful F11 ( 5 touring ) bought Mrs W a Countryman & at the same time bought a 6series Gran Turismo for no other reason than its brilliant we both love it , full of spec , rare , comfortable & build quality is supreme , bettering a F series was never going to be easy but after looking at various Mercedes E class , CLS , Audi A6 A7 Bmw are way ahead right now in my opinion .
Now back to the Countryman , my what a disappointment love the quirky looks of it & the spec list has virtually every option ticked but the 2.0d autobox is a woeful combo , so its on its way & replaced yesterday with another Golf , this time a "Q" car model in the rare form of mk 7 300 bhp "R" estate with DSG box .
Lets see what the rest of the year brings .

Lot of changes

Funny to see that you kept the first M license plate, did you keep the socks as well?

I make that £340 in DVLA fees alone!

The A5 does look a pretty car; much better than an F32 series IMO.

I do like the R estate. I would have had one, if only they looked a little more 'R'.