Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bread
Not sure if BMW has done any better on this, but when my Z3 M Coupe got to 14 years old, parts support was pathetic. Mostly coupe specific parts, but even M specific parts were either not available or a long wait to get them from Germany. Owning an older, rare-ish BMW has a lot more risk than just having an M3 or just about any Porsche or Mercedes.
It's also hard to overlook advances in passive safety that just weren't around when the Z4MC was out. And tech and convenience features. I think if I were using the wayback machine I'd grab a 997.2 from that era or a Cayman R. The small trunk of the Z4MC and high door sills never worked for my preferences. It sure was more predictable at the limits than the Z3MC though.
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Hence the GENIUS that is the Z4 M Coupe. Everything on that car was parts binned. There's only a handful of Z4 M Coupe specific parts. The front control arms are from the E46 ZHP. The rear suspension is entirely lifted off of the E46 M3. The rest of the body panels are all Z4 except for the roof, hood, and hatch. All internal parts and pieces are all interchangeable with the run of the mill Z4. There's NOTHING specific to the Z4 M Coupe except the steering rack (rebuildable), ECU (can use aftermarket), and the aforementioned body parts (some are available through aftermarket as well).
Yes the car is old. But nothing that breaks on the car today that can't be fixed using aftermarket or OE parts, and since the E46 and Z4s were plentiful, aftermarket support tis strong enough that you CAN still get replacement parts easily. The only thing I've encountered that gave me some trouble, was surprisingly the sunglasses holder (exclusive to Z4 Coupes).
The advances in passive safety all takes away the joy of actual driving. Lane change assist, autonomous driving...etc, none of that belong on a SPORTS CAR. Neither does electronic assisted steering (the Z4 M Coupe has the Servotronic hydraulic steering rack from the E36 M3, except redesigned to have a much faster ratio). All the pertinent safety features, like curtain airbags, weight sensitive airbags, ABS, DSC, battery disconnect, etc, they're all present on the Z4 M, and the newer cars aren't any more "advanced" in those fundamental driver's aid.
I do concede the Z4 M Coupe has a trunk that's not designed to be used by normal humans, especially with that huge hump that houses the battery. To be honest, the Corvette pictured below has 11 year's worth of technological advancement, and the only thing I miss between the two cars (from a technology and feature perspective*) is Apple CarPlay.
* Well...That and almost 2x the torque (465ft*lbs vs 265ft*lbs) that comes on at 1,000 rpm vs 3,500 rpm.