BMW Z8: Structurally shaky?

I owned one. Solid as a rock. Great car. I am considering buying another. Probably one of the most underrated cars of all time. No joke.

 

all i gotta say is if got a chance to get my hands on one i would regardless of the shakyness...

 

I totally agree with you, i hate BMW's with a passion, but after driving a Z8 for a few days i have a whole new respect for that particular bmw... torque in every gear...awesome sound...and it's definaltey not a bmw you'll see everywhere..try and drive one and you'll see what i'm talking about.

 

I love em too. I can't wait to see what the Z10 looks like.

 

Never heard of structural waekness in these cars. In fact quite the opposite. I've driven them before and it seemed solid as a rock. They are very beautiful and great GT cars. Pricing is also holding very nicely. This car will be a true classic.

Darrell.

 

Macpherson exposes shock tower distortion...I guess that's something to strut about!

 

This Macpherson guy is crazy:

Andrew Macpherson, a Los Angeles-based commercial photographer and president of the U.S. club, says he has checked his Z8 (one of three he has owned) and found no distended parts. But Macpherson refuses to drive his car nonetheless for fear that hitting a bump or pothole could result in a problem. "I was incredibly angry when I found out about this, and I'm urging other drivers to stop using the car until we know if it's safe," he says.

Macpherson insists. "Look, most of us bought these cars as investments..."


INVESTMENTS?

 

INVESTMENT is a different way of saying RATIONALIZATION.

The article reminds me of the hysteria behind the Audi fiasco of many years ago.

 

Funny side note I found on another forum:

I haven't seen the Roundel article in question, but it's funny how quickly some people can turn I guess.

= = = = = =

This post from someone else followed, proving that mass hysteria on this issue has already begun:

>8^)
ER

 

I doubt the car has any life-threatening problems for average use. If you hit a large pot hole at 180 miles and hour, then I see what they mean, but c'mon, at 60 mph?

Edit: This the one I want, Topaz Blue: http://cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc&searchType=21&paId=131111879&pageNumber=0&numResultsPerPage=50&largeNumResultsPerPage=0&sortorder=descending&sortfield=PRICE+descending&certifiedOnly=false&recnum=18&leadExists=true&criteria=K-%7CE-%7CM-_5_%7CD-_4787_%7CN-N%7CR-10000%7CI-1%7CP-PRICE+descending%7CQ-descending%7CZ-32819&aff=national

 

Well, I mean how many times do you actually see a Z8 being driven? I think they were just bought and stashed. I'm in San Diego, America's climate-controlled city, and I may have seen 1 or 2 in 2005.

The Audi 5000 acceleration fiasco brought that brand to its knees, even if it was based on a few idiots hitting the wrong pedal and then calling their lawyers. But the Z8 is a rounding error for BMW - they could crush all of them and the marque would go on.

I wouldn't buy one now, though. And I love the looks of them.

 

I can somehow remember my friend who is a BMW tech, telling me that the chassis are indeed weak in a couple of areas. BMW knows about it, apparently it was mentioned at a few training courses which areas to inspect on the cars for signs of weakness.

I wish I could remember the spots he told me about..I will try to talk to him tomorrow and shed a bit of light on this for you.

They are a very cool cars though!! Power is great, and sound is wonderful! But I just can't get used to the interior of it.

 

How about the faddish center console?

 

I haven't even SEEN a Z8...not in AK

I was reminded of the hysteria, not the possible financial impact on the company.

You know, the chicken littles that screamed with epic, epileptic tongue-waggling panic that their vehicles were Satan incarnate.

 

i believe z8 was released here at same time as 360 spider and several mags compared them favorably to eachother which says the z cant be too bad. neighbor has had a silver one since new and while its nice it tends to blend into the backround too much for my taste. whats a used one go for these days?

 

Black on red is the way to go!

White/red or white/navy would be snazzy too.

 

There's 6 on Ebay right now with bidding sitting somewhere between $60,000 and $70,000 with one "Buy It Now" price of just under $100,000.

It doesn't appear there has been a successfully completed sale of one there in quite some time though. Looking at Completed Items it appears that it most cases the bidding is falling short of the Reserves in the low to mid $70,000 range.

>8^)
ER

 

BTW, I thought they were $129-140k new, but that article keeps saying $160k... wishful thinking?

 

There is a black one in Anchorage. I saw it on Old Seward a year and a half ago.

 

Yea, they were $130k+ new. I think they meant $160k was with the premium when it first came out. Kinda like the F430 now.

Anyways, I think black/red combo looks pretty good, but they never made them in white afaik. My other color choice is triple black. See pic: http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4200/z8m3bm.jpg

 

My next door neighbor has one (red with red/black interior--Ferrari-esque). Was stock when he got it, added an Eisenmann race exhaust (a BMW tubi) and the Dinan stage III treatment. Car is gorgeous, fast, with gobs of torque. (As an aside, Alan Lambo should drive this car--it would torque him up good.) Anyway, he has been monitoring both the German and US enthusiast web sites, and the frame weakness thing seems to be real (and yes, there are owners that seem to be WAY over reacting). Oh his car, he has some hood deviation and divergence of shock bolts on one side, c/w early damage. FWIW, BMW's (especially E36 and E46 M3's) have issues with suspension points ripping out, etc. Well known issue. Lotsa money being made on strengthening kits (problem affects some very small percentage of the cars, but sells a lotta kits).

 

I don't think they made them in white either, but there is a white one in Japan that looks pretty sweet, and yes that is #13R in the background.

Kudos on the name change too.

>8^)
ER
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

^If there was a white one, my guess would've been Japan. Not unusual to see them repaint their cars white (F50, F40, etc).

Here's what I found on a website about the color choices:

Exterior Colors
• Bright Red
• Jet Black
• Stratus Gray
• Titanium Silver Metallic
• Topaz Blue Metallic
Interior Colors
• Black
• Crema
• Crema/Black
• Sport Red/Black

Although I don't think it's entirely accurate because the Topaz Blue exterior has an option for the Crema/blue interior (see the ad I posted on the other page).