I feel cars are meant to be driven. If you want something to look at go buy a painting! My 08 135i has about 15,000 on it but its my daily driver (My commute is less than a mile!)
Have to agree I couldn't agree more. When we purchased our 02 M3 in August of last year it had 33,000 miles on it. I couldn't see how someone would not want to drive such a car, we now have 41,000 on it with huge smiles all the time. The same with the Z4MC.
It's time for the Home. . . Mister Bunch o' Numbers say: I'd call this the kind of thing that would allow you to sign him into Golden Acres and get his power-of-attorney. . . As for the low-miles Z3: depends on the price, of course. At the House O' Dinan, it is not difficult to put on "$6,000 worth of Dinan," but some parts is more usefuller than others. You may actually have a Z3 that handles! In regard to driving versus sculpture: The roadster is not ezzackery the most useful family car. In my case, since I live within walking distance of Trader Joe's and the Rock Bottom Brewery, and we use the 335i for Costco runs, you might think the roadster would sit on the Battery Tender for months at a time. But somehow I seem to be averaging about 10,000 miles a year. Oh, yeah: Oktoberfest. There's THAT. . ..
Well here's an update. The '99 is proving to be a rather difficult buy (owner doesn't know he wants to sell) and coupes are way more rare plus they carry a premium. So... We have decided that a roadster (both Z4 and Z3) is a worthy candidate especially when there are way more out there. Plus we feel that for our needs a roadster is a possibility. Not to mention you basically the same car (minus structural rigidity of the coupe) for way less money. There are even several roadsters for sale within minutes of our house so we actually got to go look at them (wed have to buy a coupe without personal inspection) So those of you with roadsters... how are they to own etc? Do they handle comparably to the coupes? of the four options which would you rather own? Chris
I cannot attest to the Z3 but the Z4 Roadsters and Coupes are neck and neck in the handling department. There is a difference in handling feel between the Z4 (non-M) and the M. The non-M has electric steering. Some like it, some do not. I do feel that the electric steering leaves a little on the table in the 'connected to the road' department. Since I have both a non-M Roadster and an MC, I can tell you that there is a difference in steering feel between the non-M and the M. Even my wife can tell and the Roadster is her's. The trouble with all this discussion is this: It is just chatter. The ONLY way you will resolve this is to go drive all the cars you are interested in and make a decision. Its the only way to be sure you pick the right car for YOU. Don't get all rapped up in specifications. It's the drive that matters..........
The Z4 structure is MUCH stiffer in torsion and bending. You can tell it the moment you back-to-back drive it versus a Z3...it is a much more substantial, i.e. modern, design both from a structural stiffness standpoint but also from a crash protection standpoint. Here are the torsional stiffness values in N-m required per degree of torsion. Note that the Z4 roadster is almost 3 times stiffer in torsion. Now note that the Z4 coupe is more than 2 times stiffer than the Z4 roadster. BMW Z3 Roadster 5,600 Nm/deg BMW Z4 Roadster: 14,500 Nm/deg BMW Z4 Coupe, 32,000Nm/degree I would keep looking and buy the Z4 M-coupe -- there seem to be a fair amount of them around.
Yea, I brought those numbers up on the first page of this thread, though I could not remember the numbers for the Z3 or the MZ3. The OP cannot seem to make up his mind. Buying cars like these that have limited production numbers can take a long time, but you have to make a decision on one or the other just to get off first base.... It's about the drive..............
Z3 or Z4 redux I will say that for me-and perhaps only for me-the safety and confidence of the roadster trumps my love for the cozy confines of the coupe. I'm referring to top-down mode, of course, which gives me a clear view of everything around me. (Situational awareness is absolutely essential around these parts, where if you're only doing 80, you will be passed on both sides.) As for the handling and stiffness of the Z4 versus the Z3: night and day. The other element that has added to my confidence in the M roadster is my return to the sport of eating up tires on an autocross course. The Joy Of Sideways actually has a practical facet: It allows me to find the limits of adhesion, and lets me practice returning from the territory beyond those limits.
