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      09-25-2019, 11:46 AM   #915
Obioban
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Drives: M3, M3, M5, M5
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: West Chester, PA

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Quote:
Originally Posted by The HACK View Post
That’s what the press will have you believe. The MZ4 Coupe is a phenomenal chassis mates to one of the greatest inline 6 engines ever built. It is every bit the E46 M3 CSL and then some. It’s 250 lbs lighter than your standard E46 M3, and 2.5x stiffer. The handling is razor sharp with an incredibly quick steering rack.

Unfortunately it was brutal to handle because of the shorter wheelbase and just unheard of quick and responsive steering. It may have been based on the E46 M3 drivetrain, but it didn’t drive like an E46 M3. The razor sharp handling is jarring to your average press monkey and unless you can delicately and precisely place it on the right line through a turn, the car punishes you for driving like a dumbass, but is incredibly rewarding when you get it right.

If you’ve never driven one, you should try it. It is next level good and the last true analog BMW. It is insanely good in the hands of a competent driver.
I've driven several. Some thoughts...
-it's actually around 60% stiffer than the e46 m3 (not 2.5x). M3: 19,500 nm/deg, Z4MC: 32,000 nm/deg. I suspect you were looking at non M e46 chassis stiffness numbers. The M3 has additional seam welds and chassis bracing
-comparing like to like (so a 6mt, no sunroof e46 coupe to a Z4M coupe), the weight difference is ~<100 lbs. Aka, nix the back seat in the M3 and you've made up most of the difference.
-the car is too stiff to handle properly. Instead of gripping the road, it skips along it. Jason Plato's (DTM driver-- pretty sure he should be competent enough for you) 5th gear review talks about this quite clearly
-this is compounded by: very limited aftermarket suspension options. The front suspension mounts differently than the M3 parts, so Z4MC specific parts are required. Since not many Z4MCs sold, there's no many aftermarket options on the market to correct the stock failing. Those that do exist are compromised-- e.g. the TCK setup is e36 front shocks, which require you to run them quite high for functional amounts of bump travel
-similarly, the ecu is unique, so very limited support compared to MSS54(HP). People routinely get 420-450 crank hp out of the S54 with bolt ons on the M3. Z4MC, same engine... not so much
-the rack is, imo, too fast. Then again, dislike the speed change from moving my M3's rack from 15.4:1 to 14.5:1 (which I did because the ZHP rack I installed is the more feelsome rack that can be installed in the chassis). Being twitchy isn't beneficial-- being able to smoothly dial in precise amounts of steering is. The best possible rack, IMO, is the slowest rack you can get that doesn't require you to shuffle steer or cross your hands on track/back roads... and the Z4MC rack is way, WAY faster than that. Never was I tempted to install the Z4MC's 12.8:1 rack when I was doing the swap
-the hood is pointlessly long, for the sake of being long. This makes the car harder to place. This is, relevantly to the topic of the thread, also why I was never really tempted by any Corvette's prior to the C8. That presentation on the C8 video really spoke to me when they were talking about the improved visibility and placeability of the C8 vs the C7.
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2005 M3 Coupe, 2004 M3 Wagon, 2001 M5 Sedan, 2008 M5 6MT Sedan, 2012 128i M sport

Last edited by Obioban; 09-25-2019 at 01:17 PM..
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