It's good to hear from someone who's not blinded by the popular support for the MX5. Yes it's a nice two seater but that's it IMHO. My son had a Honda S2000 for a while and I drove it a few times. It's remarkably fast with 200bhp from its 2 litre 4 cylinders, but it is unrefined. The best part from my point of view is the engine (I'd have loved one in my now departed Westfield) which screams into stratospheric revs and fed through the best gearchange/gearbox I have ever encountered, makes for a proper fun drive. But in south-east England the opportunities to exploit these unique features are few and far between and will risk your licence disappearing. The mid-range torque is mediocre.
The Honda is a rust bucket and has its quirks which take the gilt off it to a great extent, whilst any of the six-cylinder Z3 cars is a smooth magic carpet in comparison. Under-rated thanks to a certain walking ego on TV, the Z3 range has long been criticised by many who have never ever sat in one, let alone driven one. I took mine of a track day one December because my son was going with his Z4M Coupé and it was too damned cold for my Westfield. The Z3 (2.2i Sport unmodified since manufacture) handled really far better than I had any right to expect. Understeer easily became controllable oversteer with judicious power application, and the straight line speed was quite respectable too. My major criticism, which would apply to any car of its humble market aim of road use, was the brakes. They worked well enough in respect of stopping power (DSC off or they'll overheat simply trying to control the driver's sideways action fun) but not for long. After two or three laps the pedal was to the floor and I had to sit out the rest of the session. They recovered for the drive home, but I would hesitate to do a track day again without some serious upgrades. As a matter of fact the Z4MC brakes were found lacking too and have now been replaced with a 'big-brake kit' along with numerous other track oriented mods. It drives track days in New South Wales blistering heat nowadays, son loves it that much.
Good choice OP, and Good Luck with your new car.
The Honda is a rust bucket and has its quirks which take the gilt off it to a great extent, whilst any of the six-cylinder Z3 cars is a smooth magic carpet in comparison. Under-rated thanks to a certain walking ego on TV, the Z3 range has long been criticised by many who have never ever sat in one, let alone driven one. I took mine of a track day one December because my son was going with his Z4M Coupé and it was too damned cold for my Westfield. The Z3 (2.2i Sport unmodified since manufacture) handled really far better than I had any right to expect. Understeer easily became controllable oversteer with judicious power application, and the straight line speed was quite respectable too. My major criticism, which would apply to any car of its humble market aim of road use, was the brakes. They worked well enough in respect of stopping power (DSC off or they'll overheat simply trying to control the driver's sideways action fun) but not for long. After two or three laps the pedal was to the floor and I had to sit out the rest of the session. They recovered for the drive home, but I would hesitate to do a track day again without some serious upgrades. As a matter of fact the Z4MC brakes were found lacking too and have now been replaced with a 'big-brake kit' along with numerous other track oriented mods. It drives track days in New South Wales blistering heat nowadays, son loves it that much.
Good choice OP, and Good Luck with your new car.
(This is a complicated smile.)
