Intetesting article on PH

motco

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Yes I read that too. I'm surprised at their assertion that Z3M cars are dearer than Z4Ms are. The Z3M Coupé is certainly prized in good condition, but why not the equivalent Z4M Coupé? My son has the latter and he's modified the suspension and brakes to allow high speed track usage, sipped it to New South Wales where he now lives. Apparently the rarity in Australia makes it worth a bomb!
I'll do a bit of research on prices here for 3s and 4s.
 

ExMX5owner

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Yes I read that too. I'm surprised at their assertion that Z3M cars are dearer than Z4Ms are. The Z3M Coupé is certainly prized in good condition, but why not the equivalent Z4M Coupé? My son has the latter and he's modified the suspension and brakes to allow high speed track usage, sipped it to New South Wales where he now lives. Apparently the rarity in Australia makes it worth a bomb!
I'll do a bit of research on prices here for 3s and 4s.
Any Z3 or 4 is worth significantly more in Australia. I have considered buying another from the UK and shipping it, It would still be viable, corrosion seems to be an issue in the UK, mileage an issue here. "Just down the road" in Australia has a very different meaning in the UK..:). I very nearly convinced my wife that buying @gookah 's one was a good idea.. :)
 
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GazHyde

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Bought mine for £10k and if you want a keeper for that kind of money then you are going to spend almost the same again to get it up to standard. Or just buy it, drive it for a few years and break it for parts worth almost double what you paid. That said, with all cars of that age even the "mint" ones aren't and need it all doing. I'd recommend a Z4M to anyone now I've got one, just get ready to start emptying your bank account.

Z Coupe models are generally more expensive than the equivalent roadster, and the Z3's coupes worth more. I'm not sure why the Z4 Coupes don't make the big money, but the classic car market (which the Z4 hasn't reached yet) is a fickle market.
 

IanA

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PH called it The Brave Pill but going by the experiences of those who commented, most of the "upgrades" involve service parts anyway. If you're going to do any sort of mileage you'll need to replace tyres, shocks, etc at some time.
I'm biased through owning two Z3s but I'd always thought that the Z4 was a better car but not necessarily a nicer car to drive. It sounds as if the suspensions weren't properly tuned at the factory and so the "crashy ride" syndrome was born.
 

GazHyde

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most of the "upgrades" involve service parts
Most are for sure such as bushes, shocks etc which require replacement as much for age as well as mileage. A high mileage M of any type just needs more fettling from my experience. We know that any M5x engine will be bullet proof, M4x likely will need a head gasket, but S54's have bearing shell issues - and those now tend to be classed as an every 80k service item. Probably be fine without changing them (mine were starting to wear at 123k) but spinning one probably means a new engine at £9-10k.

The Z4M shares a fair amount of bits E46 M3 and the E46 generally, and I find from visits to the M3 forums we have the same levels of anxiety. I've changed the rear prop coupling because those wear and now I'm looking at new drive shafts while tracing down another common drive train clunk. Power steering pumps are incredibly rare to fail but mine did, and I replaced it with an M3's from a low mileage breaker and that failed as well.

At 130k it's it's just expected high mileage problems and some fare better than others! That said I've seen low milers in worse nick than some of the big mile ones we see in the shed.
 
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