Quote:
Originally Posted by car62
Do you always have to contradict everything?
Point is, the Z3M has the earlier engine which is more prone to rod bearing problems than the later engine. The rear trailing arm IS an antiquated design and detracts from the high speed handling of the car. You can't compare road cars with soft suspension and lots of wheel travel to race cars that are two inches off the ground and have minimal suspension travel. Finally, the subframe failures on the Z3 are notoriously well known to the point that there are correction kits available on the aftermarket to try to strengthen the rear chassis. So there.
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No, I only contradict information that are presented as fact while there's usually another side to the story.
First, most of these subframe issues only start surfacing AFTER the Z3 has ceased production. And the fact still remains, the Z4 shares subframe design with the E46 and the E46 is now starting to show the same subframe issues that the E36 and Z3s suffered. So you can not entirely rule out the possibility that the Z4 may potentially suffer from the same problem. To make a blanket statement that the Z4 is better than the Z3 because of the subframe problem is PREMATURE at best.
And I used the rear trailing arm/MacPherson strut as an example. Just because a technology is old does not immediately made it poor. BMW has taken the MacStrut design and made it one of the best handling, best steering sedans ever. There's no disputing that. And if anyone were to tell me that my 350Z, which has double A arms upfront, a newer and supposedly far superior suspension design, than the MZ4 Coupe, steers and handles better than the MZ4 Coupe, I'd have a bone to pick with that as well. Heck the C6 Corvette, including the Z06 variants, still rides on LEAF SPRINGS. Anyone tell you that the Z06's antiquated rear suspension design should make it inferior should probably have their sanity checked. Now, there are certain advantages to the simple rear trailing arm design. If you'll notice, the S54 MZ3 Coupe is about 100 lbs lighter than the MZ4 Coupe. While structural rigidity has something to do with it (Z3 Coupe is 19,000Nm/degree of deflection, the Z4 Coupe is 32,000Nm/degree of deflection), the rear suspension being a simple rear trailing arm means the rear suspension on a Z3 is potentially 10-20 lbs LIGHTER and some of that is part of the unsprung mass.
And while I will concede that the fact that BMW refused to retrofit S54 MZ3s with the "fix" does not mean said problem will not plague MZ3 S54s, I still contend that there simply isn't enough spun'ed S54 MZ3s to indicate that particular S54 is more problematic. At least we haven't heard of any S54 MZ3s having engine mount troubles yet.
Look, I am all for wearing rose colored glasses when we each look at this whole discussion. I for one LOVE my MZ4 Coupe. I wouldn't trade it in for an MZ3 Coupe that is for certain. There are certain things the MZ4 Coupe does well compared to the MZ3 Coupe. It does HANDLE marginally better despite the additional heft (if that can even be used to describe a 3,200 lbs car anymore, when the typical 3 series weighs 3,550 lbs). However, when we start to put down the other car just to make our own look better? Not sure if I agree with that.