My Dinan 135 was Totalled, Looking at Z4 M Coupe

[HOG4DNR]

As the title states, just wondering what fellow owners think of the Z4 M Coupe?

The car will be a daily driver, mainly city streets. I know most if not all of the positives of the coupe, but what would you consider some of the negatives?

Thanks

[dekaliber]

This question has been asked quite a bit recently. Scanning the past couple of pages would give you a good idea of the pluses and negatives. There's a good amount of info in the FAQ thread as well.

The consensus is that it makes a perfectly fine (and AWESOME) daily driver if you're willing to live with some compromises in practicality and comfort. It will easily entertain you as much as your Dinan 1er did.

[Samjam927]

How crappy are the city streets in Florida?

[KevinC]

The quality of your local roads is a critical consideration. Here in Phoenix, we have some of the best roadways in the country, bar none. Virtually all of the local freeways have been recently paved with rubberized asphalt and most are smooth as pool tables. Same for most local streets. I'm completely spoiled. When I return to my roots in California, I'm quickly reminded how lucky we are here, as the roads there are in horrendous condition. My Z4M Coupe beats me to death over there.

If you have great roads - go for it! Mine was my only car quite a while. But on crappy or really crappy roads, I'm not so sure I'd recommend it being a daily driver.

[Z3Z4MC]

Like any sport car, not so great for bumper-to-bumper traffic.
However, if your daily commute in Pampano Beach, FL is anything like Brevard, FL (especially Rt. 1), you will have a lot of fun driving to and from work each day in the Z4MC.

[Serious]

visibility and interior space (people fit fine but there is no where to put anything and still have access to it).

[Jbs]

visibility is fine unless youre trying to parallel park on the side of a busy street, but even that is pretty easy to get down if you do it a lot. only negative of the coupe is more drone than the vert with a loud exhaust (like my rpi) and the lack of the option to have a roof or not.

otherwise coupe ftw!


I dd mine too (400ish miles a week), its a very nice, pleasant car if you are not retired

[AWM3]

Originally Posted by Jbs

I dd mine too (400ish miles a week), its a very nice, pleasant car if you are not retired

Sorry I didn't quite follow the comment about being "retired". Was that some kind of a hating thing? Maybe I should sell my two BMWs and buy a Toyota Avalon?

[wzjra]

I dd my coupe in the land mine like roads of San Francisco and I love it.

[3002 tii]

Coming from a newer car I'd say try to find one without nav because its so old it gives the car an outdated feel. On this car the less tech the better imo, cleaner an simpler layout and the car just looks more raw

[r4gs]

sorry to hear of ur totaled 135i, a dinan at that, but u'll probably find the driving dynamics of the naturally-aspirated z4m quite different. i'm presuming u have/will do multiple test drives? also, u will definitely feel the loss of the two rear seats and then some in the front as the cockpit in the m coupe is very snug.

^+1 about keeping things as mechanically simple as possible.

[Serious]

Originally Posted by Jbs

visibility is fine unless youre trying to parallel park on the side of a busy street, but even that is pretty easy to get down if you do it a lot. only negative of the coupe is more drone than the vert with a loud exhaust (like my rpi) and the lack of the option to have a roof or not.

otherwise coupe ftw!


I dd mine too (400ish miles a week), its a very nice, pleasant car if you are not retired

I've never driven a car with worse visibility than the z4 M, I really don't know how you could call it fine... I mean you can live with it but it's pretty terrible to be honest.

The tall front fenders and low seating position keep you from seeing out over the sides of the car, and the sloping roof keeps you from being able to see pretty much anything other than the car directly behind your license plate. Also it has no 3/4 visibility on the drivers side and very little on the passenger side, but at least the side mirrors are good.

Overall I feel pretty blind driving my car, which is easily my biggest complaint, but that adds to the excitement and racy feel of the coupe... but I could definitely see more out of the recent f430 I drove which should say something if the coupe is worse visibility wise than a rear engined ferrari.

[dekaliber]

Originally Posted by Serious

I've never driven a car with worse visibility than the z4 M, I really don't know how you could call it fine... I mean you can live with it but it's pretty terrible to be honest.

The tall front fenders and low seating position keep you from seeing out over the sides of the car, and the sloping roof keeps you from being able to see pretty much anything other than the car directly behind your license plate. Also it has no 3/4 visibility on the drivers side and very little on the passenger side, but at least the side mirrors are good.

Overall I feel pretty blind driving my car, which is easily my biggest complaint, but that adds to the excitement and racy feel of the coupe... but I could definitely see more out of the recent f430 I drove which should say something if the coupe is worse visibility wise than a rear engined ferrari.

True, visibility took a bit of getting used to even coming from an RX-8. Fortunately, you're seated so far back in the car that you don't really have much of a blind spot. It's a lot easier to judge distance behind you than in front of you.

As for the nav, I wouldn't knock it too much. The interface is pretty outdated but it's handy to have a second display that can display much more information than what the one line on the instrument cluster can show. Plus, it provides a much better interface if you are playing MP3 CDs or have an integrated ipod.

[chanzs]

Notchy 1st and 2nd gears.

[AWM3]

Notchy gears - Royal Purple Synchromax
Poor visibility - Multivex mirrors.

Sometimes being old has its advantages - you are more informed about how to fix simple problems that seem to perplex people in their twenties.

[gatorfast]

I live in the same area as you and daily drive my m coupe. It makes a great dd and is plenty comfortable for me. I get complements on it all the time too which is pretty neat. Im constantly driving for work and having a sports car makes the driving much more enjoyable

[Serious]

Originally Posted by car62

Notchy gears - Royal Purple Synchromax
Poor visibility - Multivex mirrors.

Sometimes being old has its advantages - you are more informed about how to fix simple problems that seem to perplex people in their twenties.

IMO royal purple isn't very good, the OEM stuff is far superior in the long run. Go read some reviews of royal purple after 10-20k miles.
The mirrors are really the problem, it's the sloping roof and tall front fenders, convex side mirrors don't really help there.

Also since the z4 M coupe is still a BMW that guarantees that the dealers suck.

[AWM3]

Originally Posted by Serious

IMO royal purple isn't very good, the OEM stuff is far superior in the long run. Go read some reviews of royal purple after 10-20k miles.
The mirrors are really the problem, it's the sloping roof and tall front fenders, convex side mirrors don't really help there.

Also since the z4 M coupe is still a BMW that guarantees that the dealers suck.

Wrong and wrong. You left coast people just don't know when to shut up. The Multivex mirrors are very helpful with the blind spot in the rear, and as far the Royal Purple Synchromax, just do a search on the BMW forums and you'll see the kind of improvement people are reporting with it.

[Serious]

Originally Posted by car62

Wrong and wrong. You left coast people just don't know when to shut up. The Multivex mirrors are very helpful with the blind spot in the rear, and as far the Royal Purple Synchromax, just do a search on the BMW forums and you'll see the kind of improvement people are reporting with it.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=...hl&hl=en&pli=1

Royal purple was 12th out of 14 gearbox oils analyzed. Feel free to run that crap in your car all you want. I'll stick to what the best automotive engineers in the world recommend, BMW's factory stuff.

[johanness]

I ran RP in my SRT-8 and it was considered one of the best by that crew (for engine oil) Far superior than the stock Mobile-1 synthetic. Not sure about gears tho.

[Serious]

Originally Posted by johanness

I ran RP in my SRT-8 and it was considered one of the best by that crew (for engine oil) Far superior than the stock Mobile-1 synthetic. Not sure about gears tho.

They have a good marketing dept. Sadly marketing and quality don't always go hand in hand.

Answer me this is if RP is just great stuff how come no major manufacturers use it as OE fluids?

Not to be a downer on certain car scenes but the american car/muscle car scene is one of the worst for supporting quality aftermarket parts... where k&n CAI's and magnaflow exhausts are considered quality mods you know quality isn't the first concern for the muscle car modder.

[HOG4DNR]

The roads are great, the drivers suck.