Where is the volume control on these seats?

I am more into understated cars. You'd never know it by these pictures. This interior was a barrier to my purchasing the car. Over the last few weeks I've learned to like it.

In the interest of full disclosure this interior is not really as red as it looks in this picture.
The top picture has a more realistic shade of red.

I've seen the Estoril Blue version of the interior and this is the Imola Red version.

Here is a site that has all of the Z3 interior colors.
This link has many of the M Roadster interiors.

Why Buy A 13 Year Old Car?

The Short Answer
I'm asked this question frequently. My newest vehicle is a 2002 BMW 530. It was purchased two years ago. My oldest vehicle is a 1997 BMW 328 convertible purchased about six years ago.

The short answer is that there are two reasons:

1. It gives me an opportunity to buy a car I could never have purchased new - a dream car.
2. It's much cheaper to own an older car.

Chart is from "Automotive Life Cycle Economics and Replacement Intervals"

Notice that if you trade in your car every three years you pay $.36 per mile(in 1985 dollars, $.72 in 2010 dollars). If you average 10,000 miles per year that's $7200 per year.
If I buy your 9 year old car and drive it only three more years I will pay $.21 ($.42 in 2010 dollars) per mile or $4200 per year.

The Longer Answer
What matters is not how old it is but how many miles it has and how well it has been cared for. I have been able to buy a car, particularly a BMW, that has about 90,000 miles on it and drive it for another 90,000 miles with low maintenance cost.

I've discovered that most people will sell a car approaching 100,000 miles at a very reasonable price. There is a psychological barrier to owning "high milage" cars.

I believe that this mentality comes from history. Not too long ago cars that had 100,000 miles on them were about to need a major engine overhaul. 150,000 miles on a car was considered amazing even into the 1980s.

At some point car makers started making cars that easily lasted longer than 150,000 miles. Today, even the cheapest cars available will run for 150,000 miles.

The disconnect between the psychological barrier to owning "high milage" cars and the fact that a well cared for car will last a very long time provides an opportunity for me to purchase a car I could never afford new and drive it for half of it's life.

Tire Upgrade - Check!

Getting all the parts where they need to be.
The new wheels were delivered to my home. I wanted to see them and be able to ship them back if there was a problem. The wheels are a slightly different color than stock. I specifically asked originalwheels.com if they matched the stock color, they said yes, they were wrong. It is very close. There might be a future wheel painting project to get these wheels all the same color.

The tires were shipped directly to the shop so I had to get the wheels to the shop. With the wheels carefully packed into the passenger seat off I went.

I had four new tires installed on two new (to me) wheels and an alignment.
The new tires look like this.

The grooves in the middle of the tire are huge.
I left the shop during a strong rain. The tires are new and won't reach maximum traction for many miles but I had no trouble in the rain.

I shouldn't have been surprised at how much quieter these tires are than the snow tires - but I was. My high expectations have been met - so far.

A note about noise in an M Roadster.
These are not quiet cars. The dual exhaust is made to be heard. In 98 the top did not have a head liner so there is nothing but a layer of cloth between your head and rushing wind. Even smooth running tires won't make this car what most people would call quiet.

The Right Tires

The Challenge:
The car came from the previous owner with:

• Front
• 225/45 ZR 17 Kumho Ecsta
• Cracked sidewalls indicating dry-rot. It does not look severe but I've had bad experience with dry-rot and I'd rather not risk a tire flying apart on a car that carries no spare.
• Rear
• 235/45 R 17 Mastercraft Glacier-Grip II
• The tires are not the right size- they are suppose to be 245/40
• There were holes in the tire for studs

It rides terrible (compared to another M Roadster I test drove and compared to my expectations) with this tire combination.

The local independant BMW repair shop I purchased the car from offered to swap out the tires with some Michelin Pilots they had in stock but I wanted the front and rear tires to match and I like to do research on tires so I took a discount on the car rather than take the tires.

I'm all about balancing performance, ride, and bad weather traction. I was looking forward to finding the right tires to meet my needs.

We do have snow so my plan is to:

• Keep the snow tires for winter driving
• Purchase two rear wheels and put something street oriented on them
• Get rid of the front tires with something that matches the new back tires.

Imagine that, a world class sports car with a matching set of tires.

The Tires:

After spending some quality time at http://www.tirerack.com/ I decided on a set of Continental ExtremeContact DW. This car is my daily driver to and from work so I need a good blend of ride and handling. All the reviews looked good to me.

The Wheels:

I purchased two rear wheels from http://www.originalwheels.com/. The are no repaired or imitation BMW wheels. They are BMW original equipment in excellent condition - I suppose from a crashed MZ3 somewhere.

9 inch wide

They will spin them when they put the tires on and we'll see how straight they are...

My experience has been that tires make a huge difference in how a car drives. I have high expectations.

About the Car

General

• Exterior Color: 309 - Arctic Silver Metallic
• Interior Color: Q6IM - Imola Red
• Transmission: 5 Speed Manual
• Curb weight 3086 lbs
• Weight distribution with driver, f/r % 51/49
• One of 3296 M Roadsters made in 1998
• One of 8536 M Roadsters made from the first one in 1998 to the last one in 2002

Engine  

• Engine type 3.2 liter DOHC 24-valve inline-6 (S52)
• Bore x stroke 3.40 in. x 3.53 in.
• Compression ratio 10.5:1
• Horsepower (SAE) 240 bhp @ 6000 rpm
• Torque 236 lb-ft @ 3800 rpm
• Fuel Premium unleaded
• Fuel economy 19 mpg city, 26 mpg highway
• Acceleration, 0-60 mph 5.2 seconds

Wheels  

• Wheels, front 7.5 J x 17 cast alloy
• Wheels, rear 9 J x 17 cast alloy

 

Beginning the Journey

The Car

With 90,000 miles and 13 years it has a few issues:

• Snow tires were installed on the back by a previous owner.
• Tires on the front are showing signs of dry rot.
• The Z3 sagging glovebox problem
• Driver side door speakers don't work. All the other speakers function.
• Trunk shocks have broken connectors
• HVAC illumination for night driving is not functioning
• Passenger seat is stuck in the fully raised or up position
• Both seats have the Z3 sliding seat problem
• Illuminated stick shift knob does not illuminate when the lights are on.
• Air conditioner / air recirculation buttons do not illuminate when turned on.

In spite of all this it's a great ride.
I'm looking forward to fixing these problems and reporting on what was done as a way of giving back to the Z3 online community.

Background

For as long as I can remember I've been interested in cool cars. The thing about cool cars is that they can be a challenge to work into real life. Suppose I had a mint 67 Camero, it would not make sense to me to drive it back and forth to work every day. Something like that should be preserved and kept low milage. Driving it every day would wear it out.

My first BMW was purchased because I wanted a convertible. At the time I wanted a Miata but my wife added the requirement to my automobile purchase that the car must have four seats eliminating a Miata from the list. While scouring used car lots in the area for a four seat convertible I ran across a 1988 BMW 325 converible in cinnabar red. It had 80,000 miles on it. After much research I found that parts weren't as expensive as I had thought and the cars were known to go 200,000 miles. They were only asking $6,000 for the car so if it ran for a few years without reliability issues it would be cheap transportation.

The test drive sold me on the car and it became the first of five BMWs I've owned over the last 10 years. All of them have had at least 80,000 miles when I purchased them. All of them, so far, have been driven at least another 100,000 miles before selling it.

• 1988 325 convertible, 5 speed manual, sold with 180,000 miles
• 1997 328 convertible, 5 speed manual, still running with 196,000 miles
• 1997 540 automatic, sold with 180,000 miles
• 2002 530 automatic, still running with 120,000 miles
• 1998 M Roadster, 5 speed manual

My experience over the last 10 years has been that BMWs are cool cars that are built to be driven every day.