First Impressions Of Our 2.8 BMW Z3 Daily Driver | POV & PRACTICALITY? 

I have a 2.8 pre facelift, best car I've ever owned. It just makes me smile every time I get in.

They are amazing cars, have owned a '98 2.8 auto for about five years now. Never failed to start, never broken down and can sit for months and fires and drives like you drove it yesterday, nothing needed besides routine maintenance. Issues I have had is roof leaking into boot and it pools in the battery compartment and rusts through, check this area as it's hidden and one doesn't notice till it's too late. BMW certainly seemed to combined all the elements of "old school" performance feel in this model, reminds me of the 80' Z cars from Nissan, where sitting low to the ground combined with the "squat characteristics" of its rear suspension and an engine induction sound reminiscent of nails being gargled, it has a way of making you feel like you going faster than you are and is huge fun. Awesome cars hope you enjoy for many miles and thanks for the video.

Cracking video as usual guys.

Nice car! I always liked the silver with burgundy int. variant. I've got a black '97 2.8 pre-facelift at about 145k. Keeping it for life! No major issues for me so far. Just replaced the rear window.

I also drive a BMW 2.8 Z3 however mine is a hardtop I do have a soft top as well. I love the power bump with a 2.8 offers and the wide body forum. We also have a BMW Z4 Coupe 3.0 SI that looks pretty stellar actually it looks completely different from the Roadster.

Just posted a Z3 video of one of mine and love this ... great car, great video!

I have a Z3, just a 4 cylinder facelift model ( same colour as yours but black leather interior ), had it 4 months and absolutely love it, it was sooo cheap, similar mileage, in great knick for a 20 year old car. Insurance is dirt cheap, road tax is pricy though. Things wrong with it, it had a vacuum leak ( check engine light on ) and water leak when I got it, turned out to be fairly expensive to fix in the end as it needed lots of new bits in the engine bay. They were all straight forward to change, problem with all cars of this era is all rubber or plastic parts deteriorate with age and need replacing which is exactly what happened to mine, anyway all sorted now...One outstanding problem I may or may not look at is my remote central locking doesn't work, blown fuses due to a common fault, where the wiring loom enters the boot lid it wears and causes a short that affects the the central locking, may get a Auto lec to look at it one day.............

Hello, nicely put together video. The airbag fault maybe from the seat being unplugged when the battery is still connected. That's what mine was. I got it reset at Southport Auto electrician. May see you on the Rd again. Nice car

The facelift also changed the shape of the quarter panels, which were more rounded out in the first version and hiked up on the facelift. That is one of the biggest differences between the two.

Hello. Pick up my first Z3 2.8 Auto hopefully next week. Over the years been very lucky to have owned top end luxury car models as a family man. Never been practical for me to ever dream about a two seater. Typically now in my fifties not only can I afford the insurance, my Vizsla will be my company of choice (don’t tell the wife). It will be a nice surprise when she comes back from holiday as a strange coincidence the car arrives. 😮😂. I can’t wait. Let you know how I get on. Ed

Mines at 80 thousand... Struggling to keep the miles down! Waaay Too much Fun!!!

Awesome car dude! Love David Cutters music. I use him all the time in my work. Love the Z3 as well. I just bought I 1997 z3! Only the 1.9L manual but only 80k miles! I love your 2.8!!

Never paid much attention to these - actually looks like a really decent wee motor! Looking forward to seeing a bit more of it

Hi, I have had a Z3 2.8 pre-facelift for about half a year now, and i might be able to give a usefull advice or 2. * I fixed the leak by the rubber of the rear window, by applying water drying cilicone (used for boats) under the rubber, all around the window. Costs about 15-20£ and looks the same as before. * I removed some rust in the trunk, by the battery. Took some time, but can recommend apoxy and tectyl spray. * Check if you got the hardtop mounting kit installed, as it makes you able to put on a hardtop, and it's worth like 750£ on ebay if not needed. (atleast in europe) * Regarding the airback problem, buy a BMW diagnose and reset device. It will remove the red light, make the airback work, and tell you if any error occured. Let me know if you have any questions, more than happy to help. Nice review btw.

Good taste, great buy.

Cool little car!! Enjoy it mate! 👏🏻

got a 2.8 and a 1.8 both in montreal blue love them both great cars...

I have a 2000 2.3 Z3 that is Atlanta Blue with a black top, blue leather seats, 174,000 miles. I get a lot of looks and questions. It is a blast to drive, especially up and down lonely country back roads with lots of curves. It has no problem flying down a highway. Incredibly fun 20 year old car.

Love my z 2.8 1999 , 17500 on her now but still pulls well . Will never sale her 👍

Also the cup holder thing... the new car is the first car we've had for years that actually has one. I don't think either of us have been more excited to find a particular feature on a car

Got one a rare 2 litre straight 6 cilinder face lift lights awesome car to drive I am very impressed by it

ive a 2.2 y reg love it to bits, i use higher octane fuel in mine, do i really need to?

Jonas R. IS 100% right do not swap the the hand break and shift thing! I had a z4 and the z3 but at one stage I had to choose which one to keep, I hesitated a lot before I plumped for the 3!! so much fan to own and to drive.

Have a Z3 2.8 myself, fabulous car. Common issues (as per bmw of that era) - engine - rocker cover gasket, cam position sensor, oil leak from oil filter housing (simple gasket) vanos seals that can cause loss of power, replace those. Body wise, you get rusty sills and rusty jacking points (due to improperly being jacked) and rust on wings and arches. Easily replaced as body is all bolt on and off parts. Internally, you're looking at sticky window regulators, rocking seats due to bush wear, and pedal squealing also due to bushes. On the talk of bushes, the entire back end may need refreshing depending on how it drives and miles, most are over 20 years old so a lot of the rubber has perished. Killer issues can be diff mount spot welds - look under the boot carpet and investigate, costly to repair but if done right by someone who knows the car, can fix it. Essentially the diff pulls itself away from the boot floor if not fixed! Fifth gear lean is another issue that blights th ZF box in the 2.8, whereby the gear shifter does not centralise on its neutral position, leaning to the right towards fifth, often resulting in miss shifts and downright annoying! Not terminal, but needs gearbox removal to fix, as shift pins and detents must be replaced by a specialist. I think that covers most of it!!

Is there much difference between the 2.3, 2.5, 2.8, and 3.0 Z3?

Germans know when your driving you should be just driving. You shouldn’t be eating, drinking, doing your makeup, texting, and filming. No need for a cup holder. Now that’s their theory and not entirely mine. A drink is one thing, eating, makeup, looking at a camera and not the road is another.

Watch out for air bags in this baby. Have owned mine 22 years and 6 years ago while minding my own business traveling 65 mph on a straight road, the driver left airbag spontaneously deployed! Surprised I did not crash. Did receive signifcant injuries, though. Took it to a dealer, Corporate said they will fix it if I sign a disclaimer that I would not tell anyone about this (yeah, right). They kept the car OUTDOORS in Utah during the winter for 8 (count them....eight) months telling me they were manufacturing new parts. Provided me a compact rental to appease me (NOT!).

Did I mention that 2 months from purchase new from dealer that the drivetrain and transmission needed replacement? Or that when they installed the flywheel, they put it on backwards? Persistent clunk...clunk...clunk when the clutch is engaged. BTW...I am just a girl...what do I know about cars? I am a collector of classics like 1962 to birds and Volvo 1800 ESs.

I've got a 46,000 mile 2.8 auto and its great fun but very thirsty! love the sound of the straight six so a bit heavy footed probably doesnt help :-)

I have 207k miles on mine, it still pulls hard at 80 mph, and doesn’t burn any oil. It’s my daily...unless it’s snowing.

Seriously fast car the 2.8 Z3. Same acceleration as the F-355 and Jaguar s type R 4.2 supercharged.

Keep the water level of cooling checked, it tend to evaporate, and if it goes down too much the tehrmostatic valve wont make your radiator fan to work , this is what happens to mine, and I have no leaks. Other than that it is a simple fun car, not as sharp as an mx5 but way better looking imo. And I had both. A true affordable classic. Cheers!

I bought an mx5 mk2 because my insurance on a z3 was insane! But I want one now.

dont swap the red hand break and shift boot plz😭 that was one of the things i noticed and liked about the red interior

I've had a 1991 NA mk1 Mazda Eunos roaster with a hardtop (mx5) for years and is not surprisingly rusting away. Looking forward at my next car I do like the Z3 with the old rear lights and the hard top, but I imagine a hardtop will be expensive? but transforms the look of the car, do you agree?

Nice video, good camera work! Agree with your points on future value, and the fact that the Z3 is prettier than the Z4. Storage isn't bad as you pointed out- I didn't realize the cup holders got worse in the newer ones (mine's a 98).

5:21 I know exactly what you mean mate 👍

currently looking at getting one of these, im currently driving a 200bhp 2.2 diesel civic and even driving wild it still manages 30mpg. i know a Z3 will NOT manage this, but as im doing around 300 miles a week i still need something decent. what are they like at motorway speeds? noise? MPG? do they make you feel like you have to race anyone who dares to overtake?😃

I’m getting a z3 at Christmas but I’m not sure what engine to get

I respect your taste in music ..but why cover the sound of the engine 😟

It’s a car why winge about the lack of drink holder. Park the car and sit in the diner with all the plebs awaiting their EV. 2 charge.

With all due respect mate, we would much prefer to hear the engine of a car in a car review as it goes round some twisty corners, than we would hear some generic music.