Guys....

My brother owned one of these until he crashed it within 4 months. Massive oversteer in a straight line just accelerating
I remember him picking me up though when he'd bought the thing, and changing to 3rd gear at 75mph. Gobsmacking power/acceleration, juicy metallic engine note and beefy haunches. Pretty Estoril blue and attractive deep dish wheels.
It just didn't do it for me though, probably because its all "Anthea Turner" looking, and just a loony versioned Z3. I'm nearly sick when I see the front end of a Z3, plus it has the most non-descript tail on any sports car i've seen. Almost as boring as the boxster's rump. You don't see a great deal of them about, probably due to the wanting mpg and various vanos issues that can arise... making owners scared to dust them off and wheel them from their heated garages.
Was it one of BMW's greats? hardly (i think the suspension and overall handling lets the package down, with the addition of its garish front end and silly "gills") but its one of its quickest used car bargains out there.. and point to point, would obliterate an S. It's possibly just got too much power for the chassis, and bump steer was a-plenty on passengering in my brothers car.
I can't help thinking, that the owners of these cars must either just adore the badge (christ knows why), and care not about the qualities of, for example an S2000 or Boxster S. I don't understand the ownership of the Z3 M. Just don't "get" the car. Mate that up to the mish-mash switchgear which looks 80's & 90's mixed together, and a plethera of rattles from the lowered hood. I thought about one before looking for my S... for about 5 minutes I pondered. But I cannot like it, despite it being a rocket powered rollerskate.
What do you guys think of the car, and would you choose one instead of an S, just because its faster in a straight line?

 

I went for my S2000 to the Z3M for the reasons you point out. I wanted something quicker..... I kept it about four months and regretted selling the S. Mine was the earlier version with no TC and it was far too tail happy for me and never took it out in the wet. It was very quick in the straight line, but i dont think i was a good enough driver to really get the best out of the car. Think it looked good though....

 

I very much doubt it's that bad, there's usually more to these stories and it usually involves sterring inputs

I do get the impression this car was a stinker. A rare thing for BMW.

There's a fledging race series for the non-M versions and the last I heard they were having a lot of trouble getting them to handle.

The breadvan version supposedly came about because the engineers wanted to make the car that it should have been and the only way they could do it was to put a roof on it.

The vast majority of people wouldn't notice and I think it would still make a nice summer toy