A 900 mile bonding journey with my new M coupe

[MIKe86]

Congrats bud.

Funny, you're the 2nd person within a week that I've met/read that didn't realize the cup holders rachet. The other guy (who shall remain nameless hehe) bought his car new and found out this weekend haha!

Btw, hope you clipped that trunk release back up. You don't want it getting caught and scratching your gate or bumper when trying to close it.

[Nikki]

Originally Posted by MIKe86

Congrats bud.

Funny, you're the 2nd person within a week that I've met/read that didn't realize the cup holders didn't rachet. The other guy (who shall remain nameless hehe) bought his car new and found out this weekend haha!

Btw, hope you clipped that trunk release back up. You don't want it getting caught and scratching your gate or bumper when trying to close it.

I found out about that on my first Z4 I think about a year later when I was showing my friend saying "OMG my cupholders are SO useless" and then he ratcheted it in to hold the small bottle I had in the cupholder and I just looked at him like and said "Are you a wizard?"

[tjank123]

Congrats! Nice photos! Especially on the Skyline.

[Shipkiller]

Originally Posted by MIKe86

Congrats bud.

Funny, you're the 2nd person within a week that I've met/read that didn't realize the cup holders didn't rachet. The other guy (who shall remain nameless hehe) bought his car new and found out this weekend haha!

Btw, hope you clipped that trunk release back up. You don't want it getting caught and scratching your gate or bumper when trying to close it.

The cup holders don't ratchet? They must be broken. The cup holders on both of my Zed's do....

[MIKe86]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

The cup holders don't ratchet? They must be broken. The cup holders on both of my Zed's do....

Oops! Got me. Ya know what I meant mang!

[Nikki]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

The cup holders don't ratchet? They must be broken. The cup holders on both of my Zed's do....

LOL I just reread that and realize it says "didn't". I think he means they do?

[beta]

Mine ratchet but very weakly. Was thinking if they ratcheted more forcefully (actually holding your drink) they might be more useful.

[ZStig]

or if you replaced them with a leather strap contraption. Personally, I don't use them on anything over 12oz

[txz4]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

Congratulations.

As Rick says, yes, a long trip to get acquainted with the car is a must. My own 1200 mile trip from TX to VA was great...even though it was Feb. and I was outrunning snowstorms...

You will defiantly have fun with this car.

Funny, i did the exact opposite trip...1500 miles for me tho.

The O.P.s trip seems x100 better! gorgeous scenery!!! the drive i took was pretty much flat and straight.....and through that big rainstorm a few weeks ago

[crfine88]

Excellent Write-up

Thank you for sharing your journey with us and welcome to M coupe ownership.

Nice color too

[bucko521]

Awesome trip....great write-up, wonderful shots, and happy owner...what else do you need? (two perhaps...lol)

[beamon]

Great story and pictures! Glad to see another M coupe in Chicago. I rarely see any others on the road.

[ChicagoHokie]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Great story, fantastic pictures, and congratulations on the car! That's a beauty!

It needs a Zpost sticker! You can get one from Nikki--they're inexpensive and very cool!

35 MPH on that that first section of road? I'd be out of my freakin' mind!

The GPS issue is probably a Nav disk issue where the disk is out of date. I'm guessing the original Nav disk is still in there? Might not be worth it to buy a new one, but the 09+ has a lot more data from what I've read.

They call it a glove box for a reason! You can fit exactly one pair of (small) gloves in there!

I don't like the screen popping up either (especially at night) when I touch the radio. The screen should stay down. I wish there were a mod for that. (Probably a software hack, not something I have any clue about.)

I had a similar experience to your when first driving the car with the back end doing the same thing, and was off to a car control clinic a few weeks later. It's a very capable car and the short wheelbase contributes the respect we need to give it.

Another thought--from what I understand in taking to tire experts, wider tires are great for dry grip but add a tendency towards greater hydroplanning in the rain (think pontoon) and of course wear just makes that worse. Stock rears are 255 and fronts 225--which may be a more optimal width (in addition to the right compound) for heavy inclement weather + bad roads. Something to keep in mind in places that see a lot of rain or where the car is a DD....

You are right on the tire size. The wider the tire the lower the contact pressure to higher the risk for hydroplanning. The car actually has a leaky line to the power steering pump and I am guessing that it could be link to the pump working hard due to the larger tires compared to stock.

Those are the 2 reasons I am currently planning on going back to the stock tire sizes. I know the wider tires give you better grip in the dry and the lower profile tires make the turn-in response faster, but automotive engineers spend a lot of time tuning for the stock components (incl tires)... We'll see where I stand when I order them.

Thanks for the tip.

[damikmak]

Great write-up! On the issue of the cup holder...it works great once you figure it out. Another great piece of german engineering. It actually grips any size cup but I let that be one more cool thing about our cars for you to check out. Congrats and enjoy.

[ChicagoHokie]

It's cool to see that so many people did a similar 'fly-and-drive' to get their Zs. I suppose that the M coupes (and probably the M roadsters) are rare enough to where one actually has to travel to buy the right one. See discussion in the 'Cult Classic' thread.

Happy to get part of the Club. The car is awesome.

[nlink720]

Congrats.

I can't believe the owner sold that car though. I know him and rode along in that car once. He treated it like it was his only child and I had the feeling it was inseparable. It made me want to get a coupe and trade in my convertible . . .

Welcome aboard

[yakswak]

Sweet story Hokie! I also did a fly-and-drive but mine was only from Orange County back to SF by way of 101 through Santa Barbara. Unfortunately not enough time to drive up Hwy1 all the way through.

Enjoy the car!!

[beta]

Ok I take it back, my old Z4 had cup holders that ratcheted weakly. In the //M the cup holders ratchet permanently (until you reopen it). Not sure if the old cup holders were bad or what, but these are no longer crappy and are in fact awesome

[DarkstarZero]

Originally Posted by nlink720

I can't believe the owner sold that car though. I know him and rode along in that car once. He treated it like it was his only child and I had the feeling it was inseparable. It made me want to get a coupe and trade in my convertible . . .

Hey Noel! I didn't know you were on this forum. I really miss the car. Out of all the cars I've ever owned, a 95 M3, 02 M3 SMG, Merc-Benz C32 AMG, the M Coupe was far and away my favorite - next to the 95 M3 (OBD I!).

I really wish I could have kept it but it felt like sacrilege every time I drove it in traffic on the terrible roads of 66 and 495 to and from work. I felt like I was destroying a perfectly good and rare M Coupe. For that reason it sat in the garage while the old 530 became the daily driver... but that felt even worse. At this point in my life, I need a car that can sit comfortably in traffic on my day to day commute and still be able to go to the track, autocross, and my Skyline Runs - A car that I can enjoy all the time, no mater the situation, that's the M3. If my job was still a few miles down the road (instead of the now 40 miles into DC) I would have kept it for sure.

I'm really glad the car went to a fellow enthusiast! Here's some of my suggestions; The GruppeM is unreasonably expensive so unless you happen to come buy a used one which is very rare, mine sold in less than 30 minutes at 1am on like a Tuesday, I'd just get a used or new AFe. The RPi scoop is a must if you get an Intake and you're ever planning on driving over 80MPH, such as at the track. It makes a very noticeable difference for accelerations between 80-100MPH and even more so for 100-120MPH. Beyond that, you already have all the other must-have mods I'm surprised no one has noticed the front reflector delete. As far as I know, there's only two cars in North America with that mod

You have to make another post after your first BMW CCA event! A driving school in this car is a must!

[dekaliber]

Great post! I really wish I could have taken a trip like that with my M coupe, but I ended up getting lucky and finding it about 20 miles away.

As for the glove box, I only use it to hold my registration and insurance cards! You can buy a first aid kit box and install it under the seats for more storage. I have one under the driver's seat and it provides another nice option side from the center console, which is awkward to reach into.

[BMW Maniac]

Congrats! I bought my interlagos blue/black carbon fiber interior Z4M coupe in Chicago in 2009 and drove it 5+ hours back to Louisville....

and from coming from a E36/E30, the cup holders in the Z4M are awesome in my opinion! They grip tight, and can be hidden!

[itsregie]

Congrats on the purchase. Beautiful car and pics! What camera are you using if you dont mind me asking? The Z is so much fun to drive, I just wish I had the nerve to have a nice long road trip like that, but not having a spare just worries me too much for some reason.