BMW Z4 test drives... some thoughts and questions
- Thread starter Raider
- Start date
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
I would say heated seats are more of a luxury than a neccissity. I've had the top down on the MX5 all last week during these stupidly cold temps we've been having and I haven't even had to have the heater on full blast! Brrrrrilliant.
I've never really seen the point of heated seats. After about 15 minutes they become really uncomfortable.
I would highly recommend xenon headlights as the standard halogens are quite poor. There are plenty of cars out there with them. Why buy one without and then do a ***** modification when you can have the factory configuration with auto levelling for no conceivable extra money?
I would highly recommend xenon headlights as the standard halogens are quite poor. There are plenty of cars out there with them. Why buy one without and then do a ***** modification when you can have the factory configuration with auto levelling for no conceivable extra money?
Because:
a) It's not quite as simple as 'no conceivable extra money'. When speccing a new car, sure. When buying a used car it is more difficult as there are many more without them than there are with. By insisting on it you end up ignoring perfectly good cars and restricting choice
b) Retrofitting to something like a Z4 is not '*****'. On many (Not all, but I'm sure the Z4 is one of them) BMW's the physical headlight unit is the same whether there are Xenons or not (Check the back of a non Xenon projector fitted BMW and you can see the screw holes for the Xenon ballast brackets). This means that, once retrofitted, the light output and performance is identical. It is rather different to fitting them to a Saxo.
c) Auto levelling is fitted to new cars because badly alligned Xenons are more dazzling than badly alligned Halogens and most people in this country are idiots who won't ever both to adjust the headlight hight to account for car loading. Auto levelling does NOT level the lights on the fly to account for changes in road conditions/bumps/etc. It is simply to account for the loading of the car, something you can quite easily do yourself when you load the car up by using the control in the cabin. The Z4 3.0i' will already have headlight washers.
[TW]Fox;13279422 said:
I'm pretty sure my lights auto level on the fly, the beam projection appears to change noticeably when the car varies in pitch.
You make it sound like there aren't any good examples with xenon headlights. There are loads out there. Better specced cars are more likely to have them and at the OP's budget, he can pretty much p[ick and choose any spec he wants. It's not like he's looking for a bottom of the barrell '03 car.
He probably wants a facelift car with the better engine.
I can assure you they don't. Whilst they may attempt to, it won't have much if any real world effect because the system simply cannot respond quick enough when driving. It's primary functioning is to ensure accurate beam projection when the car is loaded.
When I was looking less than 50% had Xenons specified.
Exactly my views. May be biased I suppose but think I'd be peeved spending £18k and my next door neighbour coming home in a £10k Z4 the next day.
Is it worth £8,000 though? Especially with the new shape coming out very soon, it's just going to be an old shape Z4 like mine.
That depends entirely on what the OP wants. The styling changes although subtle make a nice difference and the engine is quite a significant improvement but whether it's worth £8k more is entirely up to the OP.
I wouldnt say the engine is a 'significant' improvement more a natural evolution of an already decent power unit. The improvements come in the same way they came from M52 to M54 - increased rev limit, leading to more power higher up the rev range but it's hardly night and day and shaves only 0.2 seconds off the 0-60 time.
Clearly its a superior engine but it's not £8000 superior and there is no 'significant' about it, IMO anyway.
Clearly its a superior engine but it's not £8000 superior and there is no 'significant' about it, IMO anyway.
Agreed down to personal preference but you could get a really nice 03 car and have £8K in the bank, I know what my choice would be!
With the replacement around the corner you will still have an "old shape" Z4 and it will depretiate like a stone, where an 03 car has already lost most of it's money.
With the replacement around the corner you will still have an "old shape" Z4 and it will depretiate like a stone, where an 03 car has already lost most of it's money.
Last edited:
[TW]Fox;13279739 said:
We've had this discussion before.
Evidently our definitions of the word "significant" differ greatly. Many including me consider the N52 a significant improvement over the M54 given the weight saving, efficiency, power delivery, power increase and the nicer noise. It's not like they stuck a new map on it and fired it out as a new engine.
The facelift looks a lot better too, mainly because it doesn't have those horrible orange indicators.
It's up to the OP to decide whether or not he wants to spend the extra money. It depends on how long he plans to keep the car, how many miles he intends to put on it and most important of all, whatever he wants. If he wants the newer car then fair play to him.
Aye, the past 6 months has been absolutely shocking. I think my car has lost about £15k in less than a year, probably closer to £20k if you take a trade in price
Although I try my best to look at is as though I got a bargain and was able to afford it 8-9 months earlier than I was expecting. If its value drops to £5k in 2/3 years time I will cry. The car will be 8 years old with around 70k-80k miles on the clock.