Anyone own or owned a Z3M Coupe?

[CHR1S1990]

I'm looking to buy one as a daily.

I do about a 20mile round trip Monday-Friday and want something that's reliable, looks cool, is quick and fun to drive.

Anybody any experience?

Looking at this one in particular:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3222150.htm

[e301988325i]

Nice choice! M-tax on all parts of course but you know that, I've no real idea of their value Vs your budget but I do know a few of the late models came with the 340bhp S54 (E46 M3 engine)!

I'm not sure how different they are to an E36 M3 which of course would probably be noticeably a lot cheaper to buy.

[CHR1S1990]

Hi Alex.

Well theres an S54 one on pistonheads too for £18,990, can't really justify the extra 10K for only a small increase in power, though im sure the s54 is quite light compared to the s50? Probably wrong.

Id have an E36 M3, if I actually liked them! I think e36's are pretty ugly, with the exception of a nice touring. Shame really as they can be picked up for a reasonable price, but they're not really as "special" as a Z3M either. Probably the main reason I went for an E30 in the first place, Id hate to pull up at the lights behind someone else with the same car! I recently started a new (office) job so I need something a lot more reliable and comfortable. The E30 can then go off the road and become a full time project.

Anybody have any ideas of S50 MPG?

[Morat]

S54 is also an iron block IIRC.

[mattrs]

Anybody have any ideas of S50 MPG?

Mid to high 20's unless you cane it everywhere!

[CHR1S1990]

I think I can live with that! Unfortunately that one on pistonheads is sold

[e21Jason]

I have one fro t end is e36 m6 evo inc the engine, body from the doors forward is z3, so parts are cheap used and if your decent with the spaners it mostly easy to look after.

Rear axle is unique (brakes are m3) so that's the only real expensive bit used. Like all my cars they need a bit of care to keep them sweet

[Kos]

Never owned one but driven a few

hooligan odd ball awesomeness, but deffo a weekend/toy

[mrLEE30]

As you see from my sig I had a coupe but with 3.0m54 lump. Great car but can be funny to live with. Rubbish if you are over 6foot, hard to get a good stereo in there as no place for speakers, at speed the rear window washer jet leaks due to vaccume effect- leaves your clean car with streaks all over it- and seems to attract car park dings for fun.

But I wish I never sold it and would have another one in a flash, quirky looks always draw attention and decent sized boot make it practical (but two seats obviously the issue)

My 3.0 went like hell, brakes good and handling is more on the "fun" side than razor sharp.

I reckon they will not loose value and could be BMW's last collectible car.

[mrLEE30]

cant resist!

[e301988325i]

and seems to attract car park dings for fun.

My old neighbour bought a demonstrator 2.8 Z3 from the stealer. It was vandalised repeatedly and as you say new car park dings everytime it's parked up, once to the point the clam shell had to be replaced after someone jumped up and down on it, I think it's the sort of car that attracts jealousy.

[mrLEE30]

Could be but the flared rear arch and no rubbing strips just seem to attract everything!!! Shopping trolleys, doors, keys etc etc. I became an expert with the touch up pen!!

Also note rear bumper is held on with breakable clips(even from low speed bump) , they are frequently repaired but the bumper never looks right, be wary of ill fitting bumpers.

[CHR1S1990]

Some good info, thanks for the input guys. And nice car! Looking around for another nice one now that one's sold!

[CHR1S1990]

Well after a long train drive I picked this up on the weekend:



stoked to say the least - stupidly fast and it is in great condition.

[e301988325i]

you'll never go back to the E30 after that!

[CHR1S1990]

I can't bare to part with the E30 alex! It's worth too much to me and too little to others! So if/when I restore it fully, it will have to be something pretty special!

[mrLEE30]

so much of the E30 inside this anyway, air vents for a start!!

cool car, best colour (henna red aside ), only thing i dont like is the lairey seats!!

top marks for a top car.

was it the right side of 10K?

[CHR1S1990]

it was the right side of 8K!!! extremely chuffed to say the least

[ross_jsy]

Lot of car for the money! I love them

[Peet]

Nice car

we have 2 now, just one of them cars that stands out

just keep a eye on the boot floor, a few have issues with the spot welds pulling out on the diff hanger, just cut mine out and replaced / strengthened it.

will keep my eye out for yours out and about

there is a few local, we have a siver one and a white one, my mate has a yellow one, there is a 2,8 left hand drive silver one in blackpool aswell, there is another blue one in blackpool

[LondonTom]

Great cars - one of the most fun bmw's I've driven.

[CHR1S1990]

boot floor was first thing I checked, all welds and seams look pristine. Yeah i drove past a blue one going through blackpool yesterday, had those silly Audi style LED running lights stuck on though

[CHR1S1990]

white's quite rare, AFAIK only maybe one in the UK?

[DanThe]

One of these at the track day I went to today, very handy it/the driver was!

[Peet]

boot floor was first thing I checked, all welds and seams look pristine. Yeah i drove past a blue one going through blackpool yesterday, had those silly Audi style LED running lights stuck on though  :mad:

Thats a good do then

Oh no some people have some random ideas don't they

white's quite rare, AFAIK only maybe one in the UK?

Yeah only one original white one, unfortunatly mine started life silver and has been sprayed

You on the coupe forum? Some good people n info on there.

[CHR1S1990]

Ive been browsing on the coupé forum but still need to register, thats where i saw that horrific boot floor which was ripped up

Its quite a strange feeling having a car which doesnt need (much) work on it. Its fast enough for me anyway. Only engine mods I would like to do in the future is a carbon airbox (proper one not simota) along with an alpha-n setup, and some free'er flowing back boxes. The car is too quiet for my liking, actually makes me miss the screaming m20 with the BTB 6 branch.

Other little niggley things to sort - the rear wiper, washer and demister dont work. From what Ive read, the wiring has probably snapped behind the boot trim - shal sort that out on the weekend. The VDO clock also seems to run slow.

[Peet]

The boot floor only gets drastic if left, haha i ended up cutting the whole floor and diff hanger out.



The carbon intake will be a good mod
Haha yeah they are a tad quiet in standard form, i've fitted a de-cat pipe to mine and its still quiet but has a bit more of a sound to it. My bro has a de-cat and sports boxes and sounds alot better.

Yeah there prone to break coming out the roof into the boot

[CHR1S1990]

how have you got on MOT wise de-catting it?

Only problem with airbox is the downtime of converting over to alpha-n. I use the car daily now. Oh and of course the price

[Peet]

They haven't been MOT’d yet so not sure how they will go on, but the garage that fitted it put mine on the emissions machine and it was under the limits it needed to be so will have to see what happens when it goes for its MOT.

Haha yeah bit of a pricy mod

[CHR1S1990]

well let us know how you get on with your MOT if you will, whats your username over on the coupé forum?

[Peet]

Will do hopefully it'll be ready to go in the next couple of weeks, user name is the same as on here (peet)