For the Z4 owners/knowledgeable types

Spuderoony

Spuderoony

Spuderoony

Associate
Joined
15 Jan 2004
Posts
1,463
Location
Doncaster
This car thing is getting ridiculous. I'm already a bit bored with the A3's (relative) lack of power since buying it at the start of May. I paid about 12,700 for it (06, 31k miles, 2L TDI S-Line, 3dr) after getting it down from 13,495 from an Audi main dealer.

I think the Z4 might scratch my itch. As some of you may know, I had an RX-8 for 3 months until May, when the fuel economy thing (just over 20 mpg combined rated?) became a bit much. A 3litre Z4 is rated at around 30mpg combined, which I reckon I could tolerate, and to be quite honest I've heard it's a much more rewarding drive anyway. Plus it's faster :D. I know the fuel economy isn't something to worry about too much on a car like this, yak yak yak. My pay goes up by 5k P/A from September, after a recent small promotion, so the higher fuel bills will now be a lot easier to swallow anyway.

This looks like the sort of deal I'm after - probably 05 plate, or 06 with high miles. I don't really want to put very much on top of the A3's sale price towards the Z4 - I'm allegedly supposed to be saving to move out. A grand or so at most.

Am I an idiot? Probably. Help a brother out, though. Also, being a teacher, I don't need my car so much in the next 6/7 weeks, so I need to shift ithe A3 privately then if I'm going to do this as it'll get me the most back. What should I expect? I've done 3k miles in 2 months, but because of the holidays I probably average out at a fairly standard 12-14k a year. A good 3/4s is motorway/60 limit roads.

Anything to look out for on a 4 ish year old Z4?
Would a warranty be advisable?
Is the one linked a good deal?
Reckon they'd take 12,500?

Fancy buying an 06 A3? :D

Any genuine help or comments appreciated folks, cheers.
 
Last edited:
If you can stretch to an '06 facelift Z4, do it. It looks much better without the terrible orange indicators and the 3.0 N52 engine is a significant improvement over the old one. It'll probably hold it's value better too.
 
Genuine interest in the A3 here...I'm looking for an A3 or Civic Type R at the moment, will drop you an email, if thats ok?
 
Last edited:
Feel free, yeah. It's in my trust. I've got plenty of high-res photos I can send on if desired.

Thanks for the advice, Scuzi, but I can't really stretch above 13k, else my plans to move out around Christmas/early next year will be scuppered.
 
Things to watch out for are:

Rear springs, drive at a low speed over bumps with the roof off or the window fully down (so you can hear better) and if there's a metallic clanking sound, then it's probably the rear springs. It's a common thing with all Z4's, cost is about £300 for new springs fitted I think, not a hard job to do yourself.

Roof motor is another area to look out for, sometimes the drainage holes get blocked and this causes the motor to eventually fail.

Other than those two points they're solid cars, have a look on the Z4 Forums. I get an average of about 32mpg and have had 36 out of it but not sure how I managed it (3.0L). :)
 
36mpg is easy enough :p
I cruise as fast as motorway traffic usualy allows on my daily commute and it varys between 33-37mpg usually.

Rear springs are the most common, but if the cars milage isn't too high, even if you have no warranty, you may be able to get a goodwill gesture from BMW. I had mine done for free last year, on an 04 with about 45k on the clock.

13k is pretty good for an 05 Z4, it has xenons and the best alloys ;) , but it is missing nice options like sports seats, multi function steeringwheel, satnav. These could be fitted at a later date if you wanted.
 
As has been covered above witha few extra points:

If the car has the 108 18" split rim style wheels (as in my sig) then the laquer will fall off and corrode badly, often cars have had the wheels changed under warantee or refurbed (tell tale is a painted outer lip vs original machine finished metal + laquer). I've seen dealer cars < 1 year old with signs of corossion on the wheels.

Small hose on the throttle body has a tendancy to split with age.

DISA valve can play up on the earlier M54 (2003-2006) models.

Sticky power steering on early models, not noticed it myself but apparently can have issues with the steering not self centering properly when its hot outside.

On pre 2006 facelift cars the roof can sometime not 'click' down when its fully opened, minor issue and can be solved with some adjustments to the roof and lubrication. This latch was removed on later cars as it was a PITA :D
 
Thanks for all these so far, gonna note them down in a text file.

What could I get for 13k at a dealership if, for some reason, private doesn't work out?
 
Any reason why you aren't going for a fully loaded 2003 plate for around the £10k mark?


I'd only spend extra if I was determined to get the facelift.
 
Typical girly hesitancy about owning a 6-year-old car, I guess. Plus I read somewhere that the first year or two had more problems?

Definitely can't afford the post-06 model.
 
Either buy a 2006 facelift or a 2003 prefacelift. There is no point spending more than a 2003 on a 2005 because its the same car. The N52 engine is not a 'significant improvement' (It is, as with all BMW engine updates, a minor evolution on the previous unit and most of the new power is at the top of the rev range hence the smaller than expected increase in torque) but it is nice to have.
 
[TW]Fox;14466238 said:
The N52 engine is not a 'significant improvement'
Click to expand...

Yes it is. An increase of 30bhp (13%) with a weight reduction of 10Kg and 12% increase in efficiency is a significant improvement. That constitutes a significant improvement.
 
Scuzi said:
Yes it is. An increase of 30bhp (13%) with a weight reduction of 10Kg and 12% increase in efficiency is a significant improvement. That constitutes a significant improvement.
Click to expand...

13% improvement on PEAK power. Go and look at the power/torque curve for both engines. The improvement is acheived in similar fashion to the move from M52 to M54 - more power at the top of the rev range and is why the M54 isn't night and day faster than the M52. The same applies from M54 to N52. Drops about 0.2 seconds off 0-60.
 
[TW]Fox;14467390 said:
13% improvement on PEAK power. Go and look at the power/torque curve for both engines. The improvement is acheived in similar fashion to the move from M52 to M54 - more power at the top of the rev range and is why the M54 isn't night and day faster than the M52. The same applies from M54 to N52. Drops about 0.2 seconds off 0-60.
Click to expand...

It is still a significant improvement. If the improvement was insignificant, BMW wouldn't have invested millions in developing the N52.

If your mum's Z4 (the one you refer to as "our Z4" or "the Z4") was the facelift model, I'm willing to bet you'd agree with me ;)
 
Which of these looks the best?

One - posted earlier in the thread. 05, 13k ONO, 27k miles
Two - 04, 12,995, 15k miles
Three - 03, 11,985, 25k miles
Four - 53, 11,990, 25k miles (but red is my favourite colour! Both on cars and in general)

So yeah, that's the sorta choice I got. Bearing in mind I should get all my money back on the A3 (thanks to 2 front tyres which are 3k miles old), I could have a bit left. This would just be tapped over to house deposit money, so it's not a requirement to spend it all.

Thoughts? I've picked the lower mile examples for the older reg ones to keep them relatively comparable - I don't mind buying older if the miles are low.

Also, considering the 18 month age gap between the top and bottom, does that mean that Z4 residuals tend to hit a flat bottom just underneath 10k, providing they aren't ridiculous mileage? With that in mind would the older ones be a better option money-wise?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom