The Z4M Coupe

[Leadfoot]

The brother-in-law has just order the new Z4M coupe. I know "MAD" isn't he. But he drives a M3 and just can't break the habbit. Oh yes what's that saying 'What do M3s and piles have in common - sooner or later every arse-hole gets one'

Anyway I tried to get him to go for the Cayman, but he thinks the Bemmer will be much faster down a twisty road. Yes quicker on the straights but noway down a demanding road.

What do you think. Is he making a right move or not?

[tailpipe]

Mad is the only word. The Porsche Cayman is just an awesome piece of kit. It goes better; is built better; and it'll depreciate less quickly.

That said, it is probably worth reminding your friend that both the Cayman and the Z4 coupe were developed in response to the Audi TT. The new TT is expected soon and will once again be a force to reckoned with in the category, not least because it has All-Wheel Drive. The V-6 version with DSG will be extremely brisk. While not ultimately as fast as either the Porsche or the BMW, it should be a very satisfying car to drive and own. It will also be considerably less expensive.

[Leadfoot]

Tailpipe, I knew what you're saying but a BMW man thinks of only one thing - speed. How easy it is to drive quicky, how reliable, how much value it retains are all things that are not important to them.

Why Autocar raves about BMWs I will never know. I have owned some, did a Rockingham track day and took the brother-in-law car for a spin and though it didn't quite match the times set by my S4 down a local road. I knew which one my hands were sweaty in and it wasn't the Audi. Some may say it's because that's the car I know, me I think it's because the limits are not as well telegraphed. You really have to concentrate in the BMW to produce the goods, in the Audi you could do the same one handed and talk to your passenger. Now if that what Autocar calls uninvolving so be it.

I know the cayman is a better car but it will be beaten from the lights by a Z4M coupe and to him that's what matters. Ask owner of a quick BMW and it their 0-60mph or 0-100mph times that they'll talk about. Not the fact that they are undriveable and dangerous in the snow and thing it shares with the porsche.

That a thing the car mags don't talk now do they. And for this reason I know the TT will be the better car, but only with the 300+ bhp talked about and hopefully with this new suspension and the 40/60 quattro drive the mags have been talking about.

That will be a car worth waiting for.

Now let me hear an amen.

[JaXx]

AMEN

[fastdrive]

I think make a great choose,because can have more fun to drive a
Z4 m coupe than a cayman
Anyway my next car,probabily a boxster s 05..
But the my current,Z3M coupe,beat the all past and future
Audi TT

[Leadfoot]

Fastdrive,

The old Z3m Coupe was a bad handling pig, it would go into oversteer without any warning and put you in the hedge. I reckon you must be posting from beyond the grave.

BMW only sold 10 of them the rest were replacements for the insurance right-offs.

Please guys back me up on this one.

[fastdrive]

8:20 --- 148.320 km/h -- Audi RS6, 400 PS/ 1815 kg (sport auto 03/01)

8:22 --- 147.749 km/h -- BMW M Coupe, 321 PS/1445 kg (sport auto 10/98)

Yes really bad car....
8:25 --- 146.851 km/h -- Audi RS4, 375 PS/1675 kg (sport auto 10/00)


8:42 --- 142.069 km/h -- Audi TT 1.8 quattro w. ESP, 225 PS/1461 kg, (sport auto 07/01)
look this page...
http://www.mz3.net/articles/203.html
The former owner drove the Nurdburgring in Germany on 8 min,14. That is fast. They also tested this car on the Hockenheim ring and timed it to 1,15,38 sec. To compare the Ferrari 360 Modena use 1,17,09, Porsche 996 GT3 use 1,15,08 and the Viper GTS (Euro) with 384 HP use 1,16,34 sec.
In next mount starting to tuned my car,and the very problem whit the stock car is the braking,whit a brembo calipers can be brake more and can change really the story,for the difficult to drive yes isn't a game,but the nice stay here
Now i hate the people tell it's my must be the best...
Yes many M coupe broken the rear mount,also many 996 3.4 blow the motor...
For exclatly are sold 3600 m coupe,it's good because my car was an istant classic whit a good future value,but it's not more important..
But the question is other,you think the audi tt can compete whit a porsche or bmw?
But sincerley an coupe based on a golf & skoda,dont tell me it's a different chassis! can compete whit the porsche in front off a restauraunt the saturday night not on the track...
Anyway i like drive and like more the experience to driving,the my M coupe give more experience more than an audi tt or other quattro cars

[Leadfoot]

Fastdrive,

When I say it's a bad handling pig, I'am using it in the same way as when one talks about TVRs. Both are very fast in the right hands, but for "Joe Average" they are dangerous.

3600 Z3M coupes where sold not bad. How does this compare to TT sales. If it was so much a classic why has BMW changed the looks of the new Z4 coupe, problem might have been the sales figure of this so called classic, people didn't buy enought of them. Look at the old and new TT it's a different story.

Yes the Z3M can powerslide with the best of them, but what use is this on the open road or a twisty one. The secret to good handling is giving someone not familiar with a car or the road and then see which car posts the quickest time.

I doubt the Z3 will top the list of any group of cars and not a list with equally powered Audi with quattro. By the way having drove both on the Z4 and M3 on the track it's the Z4 2.5L is quicker so don't think because the Z3M coupe has more power than the new TT that it will be quicker around the Nurdburgring.

[Klint]

I'd go for the Z4 M Coupe, but go for the de-badges option, BMW really have screwed up on the badging of this car...

The Cayman is a quick car, but I can't imagine it being the most fun out of the two on the track... Plus Porsche is going abit nuts with their options list, so to spec it well can cost you (or your borther in law) a fair bit of Euroes.

[Klint]

Originally posted by Leadfoot
Fastdrive,

The old Z3m Coupe was a bad handling pig, it would go into oversteer without any warning and put you in the hedge. I reckon you must be posting from beyond the grave.

BMW only sold 10 of them the rest were replacements for the insurance right-offs.

Please guys back me up on this one.

In defense of BMW, didn't the original Audi TT do this? Remember the re-call and additional rear spoiler?

I wouldn't exactly call the Z3M Coupe a handling pig, it's just more of a demanding drive, this creates a connected drive that is more rewarding.

[Leadfoot]

Guys, if you are going to bring up the refit to the TT, I would agree that the aerodynamics were wrong. But after the refit it was great. On the road you need a car to be predictable and this is what Audi does best. I owned a TT quattro and raced my fair share of cars including M3s and even with being down on power, they were always easy to keep up with.

On a track you don't see pro racing driver 'showboating' eg. powersliding, neat driving is what wins on the track and even more so on the road.

You think I dislike the Z4, but you're wrong, it's just that it's not as good as the Cayman S and I reckon the new TT ( the 300+ bhp model that will come later ).

Read EVO and see what they say about the M6 and RS4 around the high speed bowl and then you will know what I mean. The M6's dsc light kept coming on, I wonder why. The RS4 the model of refinement, and the only car which did it max on 3 laps with easy.

But I can't let the dig at audi slide without a reply. Engine failures for the M3, M5 (new model) and tranny failures, does any of this ring a bell.

BMW and Audi drivers are like chalk and cheese, and that's the way it should be.

[Speedou]

Originally posted by Leadfoot
The M6's dsc light kept coming on, I wonder why.

BMW's DSC light is flashing too easily. I have been driving e39 540i on limitter and some little bumb on road make that light coming out. It really didn't do anything (or I couldn't just feel it) and car was very easy to drive (even after that I turn DSC off). The DSC is just little bit too sensitive. I have noticed that Audi's ESP light doesn't come out that easily. It even some times do something and still the light doesn't flash.

And I don't really know was that the point on evo or anything else just my 2cent

[Klint]

From my experience of driving BMWs on the limit, ASC/DSC can intervene without the light coming on.

It's there for safety and it's a good system in my opinion, although it can't defy physics, but neither can Audi and quattro.

It doesn't really make a BMW a shitter car than Audi because the ASC/DSC lights comes on more frequently.

BMW continually developes it's products and has become one of the leaders in engine development, because of this there's bound to be teething problems or bad batching of products from suppliers.

[Speedou]

I'm driving a lot 330xi and I never keep that system on, because it's just is too sensitive, but that is my fathers car and I really think it's good for him

[Leadfoot]

Guys, reading the magazine, but what says in short is of all the cars it tested that day with speed ranging from 140 - 180mph only the cayman and the rs4 were easy to drive at the max and the rs4 by the sounds of it, by quite of way the easiest.

Some scared the testers shitless, I might add that the M6 was not one of them but it said that the high speed bowl though not bad was to bumby for the M6 and the dsc kept coming on.

It's top speed was 162mph which it did in 5th gear amazing, two more gears to go. The RS4 do 163mph for 3 laps, no other car did this. You would have to write to the editor to answer why, but they had make is big thing of this in the mag.

[fastdrive]

hahaha
i create big diatribe
Anyway i choose
1 :the cayman,mid engine can be better in all situation.
2:the z4m coupe,more fun and powerfull,but the look dont like more
3:the new tt,i drive many times the my brother a4 3.0 tdi quattro,umm goes fine and give more security but dont give emotions to drive,ok it's a complety different car to an TT but the quattro sistem is the same?
Anyway i like rear driving,see my sign
The my personal choose in this class goes to boxster s,my next car,better chassis good motor, and wind on the air
Ps. i dont know how work the dsg becuase my car dont have it ,it's old school drive for only mans
The important it's goes fast

[Leadfoot]

Fastdrive,

By the way, the brother drive a Boxster S (New model) great car and way better than the old TT, apart from then it snow, at which point it's a bitch.

The brother-in-law drive an M3 current model, for me personally it's too tail happy to drive with conviction on the road and be 100% safe. The Z4M might be the same, same basic layout and M-diff.

You may like this type of driving, but it's not for me or most Audi driver because if they did would they not all drive BMW and not Audi. And that is why the TT did and will out sales the Z3-Z4. BMW has got it wrong, stop trying to beat Porsche with a sportcar cause it just will not happen. Do what Audi has done with the TT and not try, make it different.