zroadster.net

After over sixteen years and 85,000 miles the car is holding up very well. Apart from the mechanical work over the years the only cosmetic work carried out was a wheel refurb a year ago.
All dents and chips accumulated over the years are still on show.

It really says something about BMW build quality.


The interior has aged especially well:


Original exhaust system:

Original roof and rear windscreen:

Will the new 5 last as well?

Wheels have come up nicely:


To show it is no fluke. My wife's car, albeit with only 43,000 miles is holding up equally as well:


Well done BMW.

What great looking cars - I can see why you're so pleased with them.

Lovely looking cars Tilly, I was surprised to see the ///M is a LHD, was this through choice or lack of availability of ///Ms at the point of buying? (just being nosey).

Brian H wrote:Lovely looking cars Tilly, I was surprised to see the ///M is a LHD, was this through choice or lack of availability of ///Ms at the point of buying? (just being nosey).

This is a German prelaunch car manufactured in Feb 1997. I was at the time living in Switzerland and was invited to the launch on the ZM by my local garage. However, we were in the process of moving back to the UK. We were bringing our 5 touring and 3 cabrio back so I thought that I would wait until we had settled into this country and get a right hooker. As fortune had it my car was sold by BWM to a British lady working in the EU in Brussels who shipped it back to the UK where I bought it. The rest is history. The other Z is a RHD.

The only real problem with a LHD car is taking tickets or paying at a parking barrier. Overtaking is very rarely a problem.

Almost did a double take when I saw your car. Its a mirror image of mine except for the hood.

Lovely, lovely car - but then I would say that

Where did you have the wheel refurb done?

Phil wrote:Almost did a double take when I saw your car. Its a mirror image of mine except for the hood.

Lovely, lovely car - but then I would say that

You maybe biased Phil but I could not possibly disagree.

Went to ATS Euromaster for the tyres and they organised the wheel refurb. I believe that they used Chips Away in Crawley.Cost for the four was £296 including VAT.

Thanks for that - didn't realise Chips Away did wheels.

I see pics now.

Nice car and color combo! We're pretty much twins, save for the fact that you have about 170hp more than me.

Oh yeah, and left hand drive, FTW!

barbancourt wrote:I see pics now.

Nice car and color combo! We're pretty much twins, save for the fact that you have about 170hp more than me.

Oh yeah, and left hand drive, FTW!

You have obviously spent a lot of time and effort on you car. Would love to see some larger pics. It looks great. Now you will just have to extract some extra horses. Believe me it is well worth it.

Tilly wrote:

barbancourt wrote:I see pics now.

Nice car and color combo! We're pretty much twins, save for the fact that you have about 170hp more than me.

Oh yeah, and left hand drive, FTW!

You have obviously spent a lot of time and effort on you car. Would love to see some larger pics. It looks great. Now you will just have to extract some extra horses. Believe me it is well worth it.

Thanks, but I can't take the credit for the looks. I bought it with the wheels on it already on it. I've owned it for a little over a month now and for that time period, I have done quite a bit.

Storm Motorwerks shift knob, e-brake, cigarette lighter blank
Strong Strut front strut brace (textured black)
New front tires
Did the amplifier bypass modification
Infinity speakers up front

I have larger pics, but I need to take some updated ones with the recent upgrades I did.
http://postimg.org/gallery/s5jndzy/

It's a 2.0, and I'm probably not going to add HP to it. I think it will just take too much $$$ for what I'll get out of it. Plus it's a great drive as is, once I got the handling sorted.

Thanks for posting the pics. Great looking car, further enhanced by you.

The 2 litre six is a great engine and you can certainly have some fun. My wife's is a 1.9L and we often go out in hers. Roof down on the average Bitish roads it is perfectly fast enough. BPH is NOT everything.

Keep Zeding

Tilly wrote:Thanks for posting the pics. Great looking car, further enhanced by you.

The 2 litre six is a great engine and you can certainly have some fun. My wife's is a 1.9L and we often go out in hers. Roof down on the average Bitish roads it is perfectly fast enough. BPH is NOT everything.

Keep Zeding

Thanks! I agree with you about the BHP not being everything. I'd rather have a great handling slower car than a faster car that handled like rubbish. That said, I NEED an ///M at some point before I die.

The 2.0L is surprisingly quick. I thought it was going to be a slug before I test drove it.