Decided against the S2000 and bought this in the end. The S2000 still remains a must have car for me at some stage:

I had never envisaged buying a Z4, in fact I had never envisaged buying a roadster either. After I sold the M3, I wanted to bide my time and think about what I wanted. I considered another fast bike and came so close to putting a deposit down for a new Fireblade 1000RR. Something held me back; maybe it was recent bouts of poor health, such as kidney stones and sciatica. I wanted a rest from cars, bikes and anything else that drained my wallet and battered my spine.

I then became interested in roadsters. I started looking at the Honda S2000, and worked my way through the various revisions, and finally ruled out anything older than a

 

I really do like the look of these, they really have grown on me.

Nice purchase !

 

Nice write up, and great spec (assume it's the 265bhp).

Looks like you've bagged yourself a bargain

 

Great pics and excellent write up.

Enjoy the car

Andy

 

Bargin car, looks great and enjoy, hopefully we are starting to see some sunny weather for a while so you can get that top down often also your getting good mpg there, round town I get about 20mpg from the 3.4 Cayman S and about 26-28mpg on the motor way but fuel consumption is not why we buy these types of cars its for some serious

 

Was about to wonder if you had bad back pain why you bought a hard riding Z4, then noticed it was the SE. I've not driven the SE. I'm guessing that's got a much better ride?

 

Its the 231bhp version... the 3.0si (265bhp) came out a little later IIRC.

Nice car, those alloys are the worst alloys I have ever had to clean (on our old 330 cab), they are a complete bitch!

Still think the b road handling is very suspect compared to the S, but a great car all the same. It's a very different driving experience and much more the cruiser rather than the raw sports car.

The engine is great though, but overall you should expect mid 20's. In the 2-3 years we owned the heavy 330 cab with an auto box we got 22.9mpg.

 

Strangely, all Z4's pre 2006 were SE's and all had sports suspension.

I think BMW added the Sport badge to get some more dosh by adding M Sport bits to the car. IIRC the suspensions is the same.

 

Thanks guys. It's really refreshing to have such positive feedback even though it's not a Honda. Just shows the majority of people on here are motoring enthusiasts and not bigots! Just out of interest, I got similar feedback when I posted my intention of buying a Honda S2000 on the bmwcarmagazine forum, of which I have been a member since 2003.

I too got about 22 - 23 to the gallon out of my 330ci Sport, which is the same engine as in this Z4. I actually find the ride to be a good balance. On some of the rougher twisties it can be a bit of a handful, but to be honest I don't really enjoy driving over pot holes so much. I much prefer a smoother twisty road such as the Snake Pass Glossop to Sheffield or the A339 Alton to Basingstoke road (one of my local favourites and one I always use to test a car out).

It's a great car with a nice balance of drivability, luxury / comfort and sound. I find the steering feedback to be about the same as the Honda. I still find it remarkable that the Honda is only one tenth of a second slower than the Z4 round the Top Gear track. That's a four cylinder 2.0 versus a 6 cylinder 3.0! Very good advert for Honda.

 

Great road for bikes too