The Car BMW Fans LOVE TO HATE Is The One To BUY - BMW Z3M Coupe

hello everybody Welcome to number 27 I'm Jack and this is a BMW z3m Coupe a really really interesting car because it was initially panned for the way it looked and handled but is now grudgingly respected for its Rarity and audacity of design clearly it's a very special car and certainly for me possibly the biggest M bargain around you really should consider getting one while you still can after its initial reception I think that the looks have come into their own but there is one missing link before I can wholeheartedly recommend this car to you the handling has always received mixed reviews now I haven't driven an M Coupe yet so this is an opportunity to finally find out if this really is a Hidden Gem or just a FL curiosity it's odd when you get into BMWs of this era because they just have a certain feel about them from putting it into gear to shutting the door pulling the handbrake there's a sort of an economy of movement to everything a solidity which you just do not get in the modern cars now this car came into existence because the z3m convertible was deemed to be insufficient to truly demonstrate what an M car should be the chassis was just too flexible burkard goel who was then head of special vehicle operations for BMW was the one who really pushed for them to make this car the board was initially extremely reluctant to get involved wisely as it turns out but he pushed it and pushed it until they agreed that it could be made it is almost three times stiffer as a chassis than the convertible so they were able to also lower and stiffen the suspension to take advantage of that extra strength that means that in theory it should be a much sharper much more together car than the convertible and yet yet it was a complete flop just 5,000 were produced worldwide and even the car the convertible that it was supposed to address their the problems of that sold 10 times more than than this now during production there was a variation the cars that came out in 99 and 2000 early 2000s like this one had the engine from the E36 M3 Evo putting out 316 horsepower at some point in 2000 onwards they got the engine from the E46 so that would beat the s54 that only had three or four horsepower more Peak but that didn't tell the whole story because first of all it came with traction control this has no driver AIDS whatsoever secondly the torque curve itself was much better defined and made it more of a drivable car so one of the big problems that this faced is that it was built at the same time as the E46 M3 and it was slightly more expensive now if you look at that car it is I think one of of the prettiest designs of all time it has tness it has strength it is just the perfect car and also in terms of handling they were widely praised much more as well of a usable car more practical so why would you get one I'm not surprised they didn't sell in huge numbers the looks were also very very controversial I have to say I've always absolutely love them it is a car which is bursting with personality but I think it's it's a car that you either love or hate let's just see now we'll take it through the gears and see how it feels amazing turning Circle it is a small car but let's go [Music] these BMW straight 6es are just so magical it's The Zing and the fervor with which they rev this goes to seven and a almost 7 and a half and it just feels absolutely great chassis wise so far I've been pretty impressed but let's see how it handles some tight Corners [Music] here so steering perhaps a little bit lacking in feel but I'd also heard that it wasn't precise and um I'm trying to understand why why someone would have said that I think it's the offc center response so once it digs into the corner it feels pretty sharp to me but on the straight ahead it's maybe a little bit lifeless and a little bit vague something that's not going to get too much in the way it does bounce around a little bit as well it never feels out of control but you can but it does move around very much on bumpy roads like this one now the gearbox is a typical BMW 5S speeder it's got the lightness and naess that typifies these cars you do realize though that continuously I'm going up to fifth and then I'm feeling like it should have a sixth gear it's a little bit undergeared I think the later cars I'm not 100% sure about this the gearing was made slightly longer to dampen performance and make sure it wasn't quicker than the E46 M3 which was actually 100 kilos heavier I'm not sure if that's true or not I know that was the flagship car but this was actually more expensive so I don't understand why BMW would have intentionally hobbled it and make it feel slower than that car but I guess it's it is possible all the same I've very much Miss not having a six gear when you're going quick it doesn't matter so much but when you're when you feel like you're about to cruise you really want to reach for that next gear now it's plenty quick enough but I suspect that with the fatter torque curve the later version would feel a little bit more muscular than this you really have to rev this to get the most out of it handling wise brakes are great really strong [Music] there and I don't know there's something odd about the way it steers sometimes it feels great and sometimes it just doesn't feel like it's quite dialed in I can't put my finger on it it's not a massive thing it's not a huge thing I don't think it should get in the way of you enjoying it but certainly just not quite right so responsive the straight six [Music] and and even now it does feel like a pretty quick car you do have to rev it you have to ring its neck but when you do it does make quite some progress and the chassis is good enough to feel comfortable going quickly in it it maybe just doesn't satisfy you know your n your the 10th tenth of your expectations in terms of what it's feeding back it's not that it's not feeding back enough it's just that I think it's not always feeding back that it's 100% comfortable and tied in I'm not sure what it is um it wouldn't prevent me from getting one of these I still really really like it but I think there is some truth to what they reported back at the time that the chassis wasn't 100% right it doesn't feel overly stiff and yet it does move a lot over surfaces that engine though is amazing in terms of the cabin well it's a generation behind the E46 in the way the center console looks in particular but it's pretty nice you have the Chrome ringed controls and the three little dials to give a sporting flavor the seats are comfortable one thing is doesn't seem to be a huge amount of room so I'd like a bit more um room to move back but it's currently right against the bulkhead there so that's as far back as you going to go in terms of arms to wheel that's great maybe the wheel feels like it's a little bit bigger something smaller would make it feel even livelier although it is pretty pointy when you get down to it so it's it's happy to change direction one last thing we have to consider when I work out if this is worth recommending or not is the price point now this is an incredibly rare car I think in the the UK there's only a few hundred of them about 5,000 worldwide to me it looks Sensational it's just so Squat and so musly and it's a car it's almost a petique car it doesn't look like a BMW in many ways the interior does but from outside it doesn't really look like it should be one of those I don't think they're generally bought by BMW people either I think it attracts a different kind of crowd so on that side to me very much worthwhile now when you realize that you can get a very good one like this one for example 74,000 Mi Bodywork everything looks in really excellent condition and it's up for £30,000 now manual M3s of similar spec are nudging that kind of price point now I know that maybe dynamically they're slightly more accomplished although I find the steering even num on one of the than I do on this car which does blunt the enjoyment a little bit but when you think about that and what you can get for almost the same price which is so much more special well you know for 30,000 would I get one of these or would I get a really nice E46 M3 if I didn't need the practicalities now this isn't too bad now bizarrely they all came as standard with a dog guard but it is strictly a two-seater and the boot isn't massive so if you don't need the practicality I really think I would go for one of these I think that car values at the moment are all over the place but if you just compare it like for like what you can get from the same for the same money this is just such a distinctive thing that to me very much makes it into the biggest bargain M car that you could possibly get thank you so much to Patrick for bringing it down thanks to you guys for watching if you have a car one of your cars that you want me to do a review on get in touch this is the best way thank you so much and see you for the next video