Help me buy a new car (and what about cars and gender?)

[nitro]

Error,

Congratulations on a fine car! What color? Also, did you notice if the transmission on that car could either be a French trans or a German trans? On mine, you can get an identical car except for the transmission, which could be from either of the aformetioned countries.

BTW, I like DSC also, but I appear to have a faulty one. Sometimes, I will put the car into gear, and the car doesn't want to go. Other times, I will go over a bump (not clear what it is exactly) and the DSC light flashes on and off

As far as the car not remembering what was on/off when you turned on the car, on my 325i everything is remembered, with the exception of DSC which is by default on whe the car is powered on no matter what it's state was when you turned the car off

I know what you mean about the "tightness" of these cars. It was this that really impressed me about a BMW. I rode in one that had 150,000 miles on it. I was astonished. No squeaks, no rattles, and the car felt solid. The guy told me that it was nearly as stiff as when he got it. Watch the VHS tape that comes with it. The clue as to why this is true is in the way they build the frame/sheetmetal.

One last thing - if you have the low profile tires, don't even dream of taking this car anywhere near a highway on a cold snowy day. I suspect you do not get many of those in Florida. My wife has a friend that got an M3. She went over a patch of ice on the highway that other cars had no problems with. She was lucky to escape by only totalling the car.

nitro

Quote from Error 404:

Ahhhhh, finally the deed is done!

I am the proud papa of a BMW Z4.

Absolutely love it!!!

(should have been quicker to realize BMW was the way to go..after all, Nitro drives one, as does my baby brother).

Cool car. Fast, tight, and oh that exhaust sound!!!

Handling is sick. Has something called Dynamic Stability Control, which makes the car basically impossible to lose control of. Really amazing. I know all BMW's have it, but until now, I had no clue on how incredible the system is. Really is a "futuristic" car to a great degree.

Highly recommend this (or any BMW) to anyone. Only have driven it 50 miles (got it late today). I have had more expensive cars, but this car so far seems to be the very best at what it does of any car I have ever owned. And certainly of the cars I have been test driving for the past few weeks.

It truly blows my mind that my Saab cost more money. Not half the car this BMW is. (Well, bigger, with a Rube Goldberg convertible top, that was an amazing contraption, but did not drive ANYTHING like this Z4).

Peace,
RS

 

[Error 404]

Quote from nitro:

Error,

Congratulations on a fine car! What color? Also, did you notice if the transmission on that car could either be a French trans or a German trans? On mine, you can get an identical car except for the transmission, which could be from either of the aformetioned countries.

BTW, I like DSC also, but I appear to have a faulty one. Sometimes, I will put the car into gear, and the car doesn't want to go. Other times, I will go over a bump (not clear what it is exactly) and the DSC light flashes on and off

As far as the car not remembering what was on/off when you turned on the car, on my 325i everything is remembered, with the exception of DSC which is by default on whe the car is powered on

One last thing - if you have the low profile tires, don't even dream of taking this car anywhere near a cold snowy day. I suspect you do not get many of those in California. My wife has a friend that got an M3. She went over a patch of ice on the highway that other cars had no problems with. She was lucky to escape by only totalling the car.

nitro

Yo, Nito,

The car is gray with a gray top.

How can you tell where the transmission is made???

I am not familiar enough to know about the DSC light...but my brother has the same car as you, He's a car nut, so I will ask him about your light going on when I speak to him tomorrow...can't call him now, his kids should be asleep.

I can't understand how your wife's friend spun out on ice. My brother told me he took his car onto an empty parking lot that had ice patches, snow, dry spots, everything. (He is in NY). He tried to get the car to break loose with the DSC on. He couldn't do it. Then he hit the over-ride button, and the car was all over the place.

I will talk to him tomorrow and check with you in the chat room. If he doesn't know, he has friends at BMW he can ask. (My brother works for Honda .... but drives the BMW and a big Harley that my mother is not allowed to know about!!

I am not sure about my car being quite right with "remembering" what was on and not. Today, the A/C resumed when I turned the ignition on sometimes, and sometimes it didn't. Tomorrow, the salesman is coming down to pick up the car and give me a loaner for the day. There was a scratch on the front bumper, so when it's back in the shop, I will have them check out the electronics. I know there are some things that can be programmed to work differently. Hope someone knows what's supposed to do what.

Service is unreal. The guy is driving down from West Palm to get my car (probably close to an hour drive with traffic), he will leave me a loaner, and then come back tomorrow night and bring the car back to me. Pretty amazing. I thought Saab was pretty good with service, but I had to go to them. This is really amazing. (Get a carwash too, need it..the car will be 2 days old).

Peace,
RS

 

[Babak]

RS,

my brother has the TT. And I wouldn't recommend it. It handles very stiff and has horrible visibility. But it is a total chick magnet (which is why he got it in the first place )

(oops! I just figured out this thread is old and I had only read the first post. Doh! Hope you enjoy the Z4)

 

[nitro]

Error, nice colors. I do not know why BMS's and Mercedes look so damn good in gray.

The "sticker" will tell you where:

1) The percentage of parts from Germany and outside Germany that make up your car
2) The final assembly point for the vehicle
3) Country of origin for both the engine and trans

Service is just as good for me here. However, I am a little disconcerted with the quality control of a brand new BMW though, given their legendary attention to detail and QC. It may not even be DSC, it could be a bad computer. Anyway, they told me to bring it in immidiately to see if the computer may have thrown out some codes...

nitro

Quote from Error 404:


Yo, Nito,

The car is gray with a gray top.

How can you tell where the transmission is made???

I am not familiar enough to know about the DSC light...but my brother has the same car as you, He's a car nut, so I will ask him about your light going on when I speak to him tomorrow...can't call him now, his kids should be asleep.

I can't understand how your wife's friend spun out on ice. My brother told me he took his car onto an empty parking lot that had ice patches, snow, dry spots, everything. (He is in NY). He tried to get the car to break loose with the DSC on. He couldn't do it. Then he hit the over-ride button, and the car was all over the place.

I will talk to him tomorrow and check with you in the chat room. If he doesn't know, he has friends at BMW he can ask. (My brother works for Honda .... but drives the BMW and a big Harley that my mother is not allowed to know about!!

I am not sure about my car being quite right with "remembering" what was on and not. Today, the A/C resumed when I turned the ignition on sometimes, and sometimes it didn't. Tomorrow, the salesman is coming down to pick up the car and give me a loaner for the day. There was a scratch on the front bumper, so when it's back in the shop, I will have them check out the electronics. I know there are some things that can be programmed to work differently. Hope someone knows what's supposed to do what.

Service is unreal. The guy is driving down from West Palm to get my car (probably close to an hour drive with traffic), he will leave me a loaner, and then come back tomorrow night and bring the car back to me. Pretty amazing. I thought Saab was pretty good with service, but I had to go to them. This is really amazing. (Get a carwash too, need it..the car will be 2 days old).

Peace,
RS

 

[vulture]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of insurance costs do you guys incur with these sports cars? Do you take out higher deductibles to lower the costs, etc?

 

[max401]

Quote from Error 404:

I had no idea you meant Monaco and not Florida.

Whaaat? By your own proclamation, it's your town. Besides, you coulda brought the kid and I'd interrogate him over dessert.

 

[max401]

Quote from nitro:

The "sticker" will tell you where:

2) The final assembly point for the vehicle

Well, that Z4's gotta a "1" for a first digit of the VIN. Built right in the US at Spartanburg, SC.

 

[Error 404]

Quote from vulture:

Just out of curiosity, what kind of insurance costs do you guys incur with these sports cars? Do you take out higher deductibles to lower the costs, etc?

Vulture,

Truth is, I don't really know exactly what my premium will be, 'cause I got the car yesterday (Saturday), so I couldn't get a quote from my carrier.

The way they work it in Florida is you just sign a statement of ownership, and the dealer contacts the insurance company for you (but of course, tomorrow I will call them myself anyway).

The insurance on a sports car, or an SUV for that matter is higher than on a conventional passenger car. Any convertible has a higher premium. Lots of things make a difference. A car with a glass sunroof will be a little more than a car with a metal sunroof. An alarm system saves a little. Even on the same car, if there is a bigger motor option, that costs more for insurance. Etc.

But my BMW, which is a "sports car" and a convertible, still will be less expensive to insure than a "high powered performance sports car" like a Corvette or Porsche. I guess their actuaries tell them that BMW drivers don't get into as many wrecks as Corvette drivers. Get a Ferrari, and the insurance could be more than the car payments. (Like my son's Honda, but this would be for adults).

When I had the Lexus wagon, and the Saab convertible at the same time, to my surprise, the higher insurance was on the Lexus. I would have figured it to be the opposite. "Sporty" convertible compared to what really was a car based (as opposed to truck based) SUV. The Saab cost more, was faster, fabric top, had a turbo....so who knows? Maybe they make it all up as they go along.


I will be getting a ton of relief on insurance because my son is leaving for the Navy next Sunday. So I only have one week of insurance left with a teenage male driver. So I figure anything is gonna be a bargain from here on.

I asked my insurance broker a few weeks back how much my premium would go down when he left. She lauged and said "a lot" but she didn't know what kind of car.

So I said, just for laughs that she should punch up on her computer a Rolls Royce. She asked me what model. Not knowing the models, I said "whatever the most expensive one is".

Bottom line. My son's Honda Civic with him NOT as the primary driver is more than double what the Rolls with be for me alone. As the sole driver (he was until about 5 or 6 weeks ago) it was about 4 times what a Rolls would be for me. (Though I am pretty sure the Rolls has a minimum of $1000 deductible...if you need to ask, you can't afford it)

Now that I have the new car, and will have the Honda until next weekend, I don't want to think about what the one week will be for insurance. But still....it's just one week.

And yeah, you can save a little by raising the deductible on collision and comprehensive. Which makes sense anyway. Because if you think about it, going from say a $250 deductible to a $500, if it saves you one hundred dollars a year, it's well worth it. Because that means you were paying $100 to insure just another $150. That's if you have a claim in that year. If not, you just save $100. If you do have a claim, they are going to raise your rates anyway. (just an inexact example, but you don't ever want to insure something that you can't get a lot of "odds" on). There is no winning with car insurance.

I had a collision a few years ago. The insurance company had to pay out about $2k. Over the next 3 years, my increase in premium added up to about the same as the claim. When I was finished paying them back, then I got the "good driver rate" again.

I wish I owned an insurance company!!!! They collect premium, and that's fine if you don't have a claim. You do have a claim, they "lend" you the money and get it back with increases on you future premiums. Almost as good a racket as owning a prop trading firm. No downside.

Peace,
RS

 

[AAAintheBeltway]

RS,

Right after I posted I remembered that the XKE had a straight 6. That was a pretty fair sports car. As for the looks of the Z4, they're certainly more appealing than the honda sports car, which looks like a shoe box to me, or the Mercedes SLK, which seems to be missing the back third. The Miata is a nice package but too small for urban combat driving or dealing with semi's on I95.

Say, whatever happened to that Pontiac GTO they were supposed to introduce, based on the Aussie Holden V8 rear wheel drive platform? I could see myself in the ragtop version of that.

ps. I'd be more comfortable having my wife spend the weekend with George Clooney than sending my two day old Z4 off for an hour drive each way with some kid from the dealership. Can we say redline in every gear?

 

[Error 404]

Quote from max401:

Well, that Z4's gotta a "1" for a first digit of the VIN. Built right in the US at Spartanburg, SC.

Looking at my window sticker. Final Assembly Point...Spartanburg SC.

US/Canadian parts content: 35%
German part content : 55%

Which leaves 10% as a secret

But the VIN number starts with a 4, not a 1. Which means what Max?

(BTW, I got my golf bag in the trunk, but only by taking out the driver....I could get the driver in seperately...guess I need a different kind of bag).

Peace,
RS