Lotsa questions??

[elerner61]

Originally Posted by KevinC

Whatever you do, avoid the early cars with the very early SMG-1 auto-manual. I'm not a fan of any of the BMW SMG gearboxes, but that one in particular is a dog with fleas.

I'm a former Datsun Z-car owner too, and I trace my love of the early Z's - I had a '73 240Z and a '78 280Z back in the day - to my love of the Z4 M Coupe. It's about the closest thing to the original Z in appearance of anything that came afterwards.

These cars are so enjoyable with a stick that it almost hurts to think about it with an automatic (but I understand some people have very logical reasons).

Growing up my Dad and I both had a few Z's. That lumpy sounding exhaust...brrrrr....giving me chills thinking about it. Wish I had the money and garage space for another one (but they're prices are starting to go crazy these days...)

[Oldmcst]

Originally Posted by elerner61

These cars are so enjoyable with a stick that it almost hurts to think about it with an automatic (but I understand some people have very logical reasons).

Growing up my Dad and I both had a few Z's. That lumpy sounding exhaust...brrrrr....giving me chills thinking about it. Wish I had the money and garage space for another one (but they're prices are starting to go crazy these days...)

Those early Z cars were really nice on long distance drives. Mine road good as well as handled the curves. It was real floaty at hi-way speeds until I put the front spoiler on. It drove like it was on rails then. I can't imagine man handling a car today without power steering though.

[elerner61]

Originally Posted by Oldmcst

Those early Z cars were really nice on long distance drives. Mine road good as well as handled the curves. It was real floaty at hi-way speeds until I put the front spoiler on. It drove like it was on rails then. I can't imagine man handling a car today without power steering though.

Ha! I could have almost written your last post. I had the exact same experience. Once I put the chin spoiler on it was an arrow on the highway. That manual steering was definitely a rite of passage. I had the 4 barrel Holley conversion done to mine and it ran fantastic. Blasphemy yes, but the frustration of vapor locking on a hot Summer day was something I did not want to constantly deal with.

[Efthreeoh]

I think the effect of RFT on handling and tramlining is way over stated regarding the Z4. It's more suspension components and geometry. My car had new Pilot Sport RFT when I bought it used. After they were spent I switched to Pilot Sport AS3 non-RFT. It still tracks around like it did on the RFT. And hold on with two hands? Really? Nah.

OP, the Z4 has a wide stance with a short wheelbase, it tramlines. But it doesn't require 2 hands at all times to drive it.

[Huz-Z]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I think the effect of RFT on handling and tramlining is way over stated regarding the Z4. It's more suspension components and geometry. My car had new Pilot Sport RFT when I bought it used. After they were spent I switched to Pilot Sport AS3 non-RFT. It still tracks around like it did on the RFT. And hold on with two hands? Really? Nah.

OP, the Z4 has a wide stance with a short wheelbase, it tramlines. But it doesn't require 2 hands at all times to drive it.

I certainly don't want to be misleading so after reading your post over the lunch break, I left the X5 with its lovely hydraulic steering at home and drove back to work through town in the Z4, just to be sure.

So, yes, road irregularities can pull the wheel a bit - and I agree that a contributor to that is the steering geometry and the fact that its a small car with relatively big tires front (and back).

However, I think that if one were to search this forum for complaints about Z4 steering, the great majority would be from the non-M guys. Yes, part of that is the electric steering versus the M's much nicer hydraulic system. But its also the run-flat tires. In my case, I vividly recall driving my car across town one Saturday afternoon just after I got the car and being very alarmed at how strongly the car was pulling into road ruts, and the amount of effort and vigilance - yes with two hands - needed to keep the car going where I wanted it to go, instead of into oncoming traffic or someone's front lawn. It truly was scary at times.

It wasn't long after that when I installed the non RFT Hankooks. Massive improvement. Did it eliminate the problem completely? Perhaps not, but with conventional tires it only happened on fairly severely rutted or rough pavement and was much more manageable when it occurred. And instead of my prime focus being on steering the car and watching where it was going, I could relax - with just one hand on the wheel and enjoy the drive.

Maybe you have better roads where you are but here, the car was almost undrive-able in some parts of town with those #$%%$! run flats.

Anyhow - happy Friday - let's hope we all get some good seat time in the Z's over the weekend!

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Huz-Z

I certainly don't want to be misleading so after reading your post over the lunch break, I left the X5 with its lovely hydraulic steering at home and drove back to work through town in the Z4, just to be sure.

So, yes, road irregularities can pull the wheel a bit - and I agree that a contributor to that is the steering geometry and the fact that its a small car with relatively big tires front (and back).

However, I think that if one were to search this forum for complaints about Z4 steering, the great majority would be from the non-M guys. Yes, part of that is the electric steering versus the M's much nicer hydraulic system. But its also the run-flat tires. In my case, I vividly recall driving my car across town one Saturday afternoon just after I got the car and being very alarmed at how strongly the car was pulling into road ruts, and the amount of effort and vigilance - yes with two hands - needed to keep the car going where I wanted it to go, instead of into oncoming traffic or someone's front lawn. It truly was scary at times.

It wasn't long after that when I installed the non RFT Hankooks. Massive improvement. Did it eliminate the problem completely? Perhaps not, but with conventional tires it only happened on fairly severely rutted or rough pavement and was much more manageable when it occurred. And instead of my prime focus being on steering the car and watching where it was going, I could relax - with just one hand on the wheel and enjoy the drive.

Maybe you have better roads where you are but here, the car was almost undrive-able in some parts of town with those #$%%$! run flats.

Anyhow - happy Friday - let's hope we all get some good seat time in the Z's over the weekend!

I'm in mine today. I find the tramlining endearing and gives the car a lot of character. The first review I read of the Z4 Coupe in Bimmer magazine mentioned it. I still consider the E85/86 one of BMWs best it's ever built.

[Huz-Z]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I'm in mine today. I find the tramlining endearing and gives the car a lot of character. The frost review I read of the Z4 Coupe in Bimmer magazine mentioned it. I still consider the E85/86 one of BMWs best it's ever built.

I gotta agree completely! I don't plan to ever sell my car, I love it that much.

On the tramlining, I think I may be living in a town with perhaps the overall sh1ttiest roads in North America . And here's a weird thing - a buddy of mine has a 2008 3.0si but it does not have the sport package and it came with 17 inch rims. I drove it once and it drove beautifully - with run flats, no less! Totally freaked me out!

[wdb]

Re tramlining; the my 3.0si coupe did it, my Z4MC does not. While folks love to rag on the steering, I suspect it has as much to do with suspension geometry as anything. Plus the M has ~200 lbs more weight sitting on the front end in the form of the cast iron S54 lump!

[Oldmcst]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I think the effect of RFT on handling and tramlining is way over stated regarding the Z4. It's more suspension components and geometry. My car had new Pilot Sport RFT when I bought it used. After they were spent I switched to Pilot Sport AS3 non-RFT. It still tracks around like it did on the RFT. And hold on with two hands? Really? Nah.

OP, the Z4 has a wide stance with a short wheelbase, it tramlines. But it doesn't require 2 hands at all times to drive it.

IMHO, Wheel alignment is more important I believe. My present MX-5 was very twitchy on uneven road surfaces until I had it re-aligned. It was well within Mazda specs but after some tweaking it now drives very much better. Remember the old Pontiac Fiero? The ratio between tread width and wheel base was very low. A friend of mine had one and had no complaints until he drove it on slick roads. Almost undriveable. Like the proverbial "hog on ice".

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Oldmcst

IMHO, Wheel alignment is more important I believe. My present MX-5 was very twitchy on uneven road surfaces until I had it re-aligned. It was well within Mazda specs but after some tweaking it now drives very much better. Remember the old Pontiac Fiero? The ratio between tread width and wheel base was very low. A friend of mine had one and had no complaints until he drove it on slick roads. Almost undriveable. Like the proverbial "hog on ice".

I have a few thousand miles behind the wheel of a 1984 2M4, my brother bought one new. It got very light in the front end at speeds over 75 as I remember. It wasn't as twitchy as my Coupe.