2001 BMW Z3

Presenting my new Winter Beater / Track Rat.

A while back, I came to the realization that my life with Miatas had pretty much run it's course. The car was fun, but I knew that if I was going to keep it, I would want some rollover protection. I'd already had two caged Miatas. I don't fit in them all that well and getting a race seat in there was always a nightmare.

I wanted another rear wheel drive car, but it didn't necessarily need to be a convertible. I thought about E46 BMWs, but it was hard finding a RWD five speed that didn't have 200,000 miles or cost a fortune. I decided to look at Z3s, on the premise that it would be easier to find one that was well cared for, probably didn't see a lot of winter road salt and, of course, none came with AWD.

I looked at a couple of Z3s. I liked them, but the only ones that were within my price range were four cylinders. I thought I might be able to find a cheap, ratty six cylinder, but I kept striking out. I decided to hold off on the whole deal until springtime.

At some point, I had set up a Craigslist browser to send me text alerts for Z3 ads. It only sends me them after I log into it in the morning. I might get a few texts during the day, but then it goes into sleep mode when I turn off the phone for the night. After that, I don't get the texts until I log in again. I hadn't been using it for a while, but the other day, I decided to check CL with my phone for something else (I don't even remember what I was looking for). Anyway, I got a text alert when the ad for this car was posted later in the day.

It's a 2001 Z3 2.5i, with the all aluminum M54 engine.

I looked at the ad, but honestly, I really thought it was a CL scammer, because there was only one photo, the price was so cheap, the ad text didn't say much besides Excellent Condition! and Absolutely Loaded!, complete with exclamation points and the official BMW name of the color.

I clicked on the button for the reply info and there was a woman's name and phone number. It suddenly seemed like an ad that a woman might write about car that she really loved.

I called the number and spoke to the woman and then her husband. They were very polite and sounded a little older. They said that they were retiring and downsizing. I made arrangements to see the car the next day. It was far enough away that I decided to bring the trailer just in case.

The car was parked in front of a beautiful old house in a very high end neighborhood. It was clean, but didn't look like it had been detailed for sale or anything. The body is just about perfect. When he opened the hood I almost fell over because the engine was shockingly clean. I noticed how shiny the tailpipes were and suspected that the muffler had been replaced, but when I looked underneath, everything else was just as nice. I took it for a quick ride around the block and we made a deal very quickly. This was as close to being a no brainer as any car that I've ever purchased.

Now, here's the problem: My Plan.

This car may just be way too nice for the awful things that I had planned for it. It only has 81,000 miles on it. The body and interior are in fantastic condition. It doesn't need much to be perfect, but there are a few little projects that I will tackle, and I'll write about them here.

Track rat? Seems too nice for that, but such is life.

Oooh. Can't wait to see how this one goes. I know very little about them, but they intrigue me.

Although I do agree, it does look awful nice to be a track rat

It's worth noting right off the bat that, even though this car is replacing a Miata in my fleet, the two don't really seem to have much in common. They feel completely different. The BMW is a little heavier, but feels a lot heavier. There is also a lot more room inside, both fore and aft, as well as side to side, but the trunk is smaller. You feel like you are sitting closer to the rear axle. The car is sprung much more softly as well. The engine is very smooth and it's a lot faster, but the Miata is far more nimble and corners much better.

The BMW wins the drag race, but the Miata wins the autocross. Either one would be fun on the track.

Harvey wrote: Track rat? Seems too nice for that, but such is life.

This car was surprisingly cheap.

I fell in love with General Altimax Arctic tires last winter and decided that I should probably try to find an extra set of BMW wheels, just in case. I didn't really have any specific style in mind, so long as they had a fairly open design to keep ice and snow form building up on the backside.

After about four minutes of searching on Craigslist, I found a matching set of factory wheels nearby for $100.

Nice!

I've always liked Z3s... Following this with interest

Very nice. My only complaint with the Z3 is the seats.

Track as-is for a while maybe?

Enjoy your hamster wheel.

No really, I swear these are smaller inside than miatae.

In reply to Mad_Ratel:

You are very, very wrong. This car is huge inside by comparison. And I am not going by memory here, as both cars are in my driveway.

These have shocking amounts of body roll when autocrossed with 200tw tires on stock suspension. That almost looks too clean for a winter car. I know, cheap and they made a million so it's not like you're destroying a rare car, but I still hate to see another one head down the path to a rusty death.

Woody wrote: In reply to Mad_Ratel: You are very, very wrong. This car is huge inside by comparison. And I am not going by memory here, as both cars are in my driveway.

I know I dont fit in one of these ( my knees are in the dash.) and I know I dont fit in the miata. I just always remember the miata being at least able to fit, (I drove a 2002, had to use my big toe for gas, my pinky toe for brakes on the same foot....) The crossfire was worse... (conv model)

Wow, what a buy, want to hint at the number of Benjimins swapped hands?

You've sent me off to CL now.

Looking at Wiki I'm a little unclear on the different engines, power outputs and weights for the 6 cyl models. Can the hive enlighten me? Is the alloy block version rare or were they all like that and what's the weight advantage over the iron block if they came that way too?

Pretty sure all of them are aluminum blocks. Or at least the inline sixes are all aluminum since they switched over to aluminum with the M52 around 1994.

Essentially, you want an inline six version of the car, avoid the four cylinder ones. The 2.8 motors are peppy, the 3.0 motors are better and obviously the M version is the most potent with the 3.2. They sometimes badged the cars 2.5 when they had a 2.8 motor. The 2.5 motor was used alongside the 3.0 motor as the downmarket version of the car from 2000 onward. Pretty sure the 1.8 was the downmarket from the 2.8 motor and the 1.9 was available alongside the 2.5 and 3.0.

Just don't buy a four cylinder version and if you want the best regular version then a 3.0 from 2000-2002 is the most powerful.

The Z3 Coupe is the unicorn as they produced the least of them out of all the versions.

I have a fairly good, but old, buyers guide from Bimmer that breaks down the year to year changes fairly well. I can't link it from my phone but I'll try to find it when I get home. Wiki was confusing.

This is a 2001 base model, the 2.5i, which has the M54. The earlier "2.3" had a different 2.5 (no, I don't know why they called it that). All the 3.0 cars were really expensive around here.

Grtechguy wrote: Very nice. My only complaint with the Z3 is the seats.

I agree that they aren't great, but they are at least as good, if not better, than my Miata seats. The bolsters aren't as deep as the Mazda's, but at least the headrests are high enough to be useful. The seat frames feel as solid as Volvo seats though. This car should give me more options for fitting aftermarket seats than the Miata, too.

Sport seats were available with the Sport Package, but my car does not have them.

In reply to mazdeuce:

I agree, the suspension is very soft and has excessive understeer. I'm not sure about ice racing at this point, but it will see a few HPDEs.

I'm feeling a little guilty about the winter ideas, but I couldn't walk away from this car.

Do you have a torsen rear diff? My dad has a 2000 Z3 2.3 and it has one.

Woody wrote: In reply to mazdeuce: I agree, the suspension is very soft and has excessive understeer. I'm not sure about ice racing at this point, but it will see a few HPDEs.

Got a guy that races a Z3 M Roadster with us and even that thing seems to go around corners on the door handles.

N7Prime wrote: Do you have a torsen rear diff? My dad has a 2000 Z3 2.3 and it has one.

I may be wrong but I think only the four cylinders had the limited slip. I have an old Road and Track article on the 2.3 that says that it had one, but I think they actually had traction control. I have a 2002 Z3 brochure that makes no mention of it. Still waiting for my shop manual to arrive.

What a heap! There. Now you can turn this into a track car with "No Regerts"

Love the color. I'll be interested to hear what you think of the handling when you inevitably upgrade the suspension.

Scottah wrote: What a heap! There. Now you can turn this into a track car with "No Regerts"

Thanks for your help!