I guess I get to be the 1st Z8 post. Saw the car pictures from the Tokyo '97 car show and and got a press kit. Put a deposit on what was being called a "Z07" at Classic BMW in Richardson, Tx. in May of 1999, based on rumors in the auto magazines. Deposited $2000 and agreed to pay sticker, an unknown amount at the time. In late '99 got invited to a private sneek preview of the James Bond movie "The World is Not Enough" featuring the car, by then known as a Z8. Also got a nice 1:12 scale model, posters, etc. In the spring of 2000, first saw one in person at the Dallas Auto Show, and later that year, saw a press car when Sports Illustrated was at the Nurburgring doing a story on the BMW driving school during my 5th trip to the school. (The story ran Jan '01, about a dozen pages - no swimsuits.) My car (serial number ...596) was delivered on the vernal equinox in March of 2001, after nearly 2 years of waiting. Tracked it once, at Motorsport Ranch (three 20 minute outings). It ran fine with the big dogs (Lambos, Vettes, Ferrari 360s, 911s, etc.) I've never had it above 145. The main BMW Z8 test driver and one of our 'Ring instructors told me it will go right up to 186 (300kph) with the software limiter removed and the hard-top on. Motor Trend March '01 cover story says it will do 0-60 in 4.2 sec., and Car & Driver the following month says it out cornered, out-accelerated and out-stopped the F-360, which was the benchmark criteria promised to the BMW board by the designers. After 7 years and 2 months, I'm at 40,000 miles. Wrote the original article in Wikipedia - now heavily edited. Personalized plates "Z ACHT". Never had a major problem - just lots of little stuff like failed radio, a/c condensation leak, detached seat backs, broken glovebox door latch, and one burned out neon tail light ($1,900 - warranty). Only mods are a UUC short-shift kit and swapped the positions of the Speedo and Tach. Keep it shod w/run flats so that I'm never stranded, I get royal treatment at the dealer, based on a special book BMW NA published internally called "Service Guidelines for the Z8" (and becaues the fact that Classic BMW are good guys anyway. It's good to be the king. On the evening of August 8th, myself and 7 others will have their cars loaded out of Classic BMW (now in Plano, Tx) for the Pebble Beach / Monterey car weekend. We'll fly out, pick up the cars at Peter Pan BMW in the Bay Area, and join ~34 others for gar-guy heaven. Come join us for the send-off. American Driver magazine will be there for the photo-op, before they head out to California themselves. Just remember: 8 Z8s at 8/8/08 at 8:08:08pm.
Small Community There aren't too many of us out there. I have #888 (which would have been even cooler at your Texas launch). Your post was looking lonely out here so I thought I would say hi. I also placed a blind deposit on the car. Since it was going to be about a two year wait, I cut a deal with the dealership and bought a 99 M Roadster which I drove until the Z8 came in. They took the roadster back for almost what I payed for it. They are good guys (DeSimone BMW, NJ). I now have about 25,000 miles on my car. Most of that was put on in the first two years. After that, I started becoming more aware of the potential for some idiot to hit the car and have used it less. Have had some of the same problems you mentioned. Seat back, one of the neon tail lights is out (but of course, I'm out of warranty) I am a collector and have a few Bimmers (2 - 850 CSi's, 2002 tii, etc.). We'll see if any of the other 2000 owners pop up here.
Z-8 Inquiry Can someone educate me about the production years of the Z-8 and approximately how many were produced? Resales are impossible to locate!!
Z8 Production About 5400 cars were made, originally limited by the life of the "soft tooling" that made the Tokyo '97 show car. About half wee impoirted to the US, and half to R.O.W. Production started in 2000. The first Z8s arrived in the US in August of 2001. The sheet metal tooling actually lasted longer than the M5 production run, with which the Z8 shared a motor, so the last 555 were made in 2003 as "Alpina Roadsters", technically not Z8s. They had an Alpina-tuned V8 from the X-5, 20 inch wheels, softer suspension and an automatic transmission (not SMG). In 2002, the car had the JD Powers top spot for retention of resale value, (they probably wern't tracking Ferrari 360s) but these days an 8-year-old 40K mile Z8 that stickered for $132K can be had for ~$75-85K.
I love the Z8 and hope to have one eventually. I rode in a Z8 here about 6 years ago.The guy who owned it had to wait until somebody sold it(some Hollywood movie producer). Simply put , these cars are beyond my budget currently however ; I would be happy to accept any donated Z8 that is no longer wanted
Monterey Hysterics Well, if you're headed for Monterey, you'll want to be part of the first all-BMW concours, sponsored by the Central Cal Chapter (click here for information). There were, what, 35 Z8s at Monterey last year?!
I have a 2003 Z8 Alpina #243 of 555 with just under 4000 miles on it. I love the car and the looks it gets as most people don't know what it is. I am looking forward to this years Octoberfest in Georgia. I hope to see other owners there. This week I am headed to Barber Motorsports outside of Birmingham to watch the Porsche 250 and other sports car races. There is a great BMW corral each year and I will be bringing the Z8 for the first time.
We would sure like to see as many of you Z8 owners as possible at ZFest 2013, August 29 through September 1 in Greenville, SC. It is always inspiring to see the best car BMW ever made. Share the joy with us lesser mortals. Registration is now open. You can visit zfest.com for more info.
Jesus: Five years to get this far with this thread?! One reason I love La Jolla is that occasionally I get to blink my lights at a red Z8 with cream interior. Want bad. I follow them occasionally on eBay just for fun; the only ones that seem to trade hands very often are silver. You can get tired of silver even on a Z8.
