[IAmSpeed]

I find myself in a bit of a dilemma and would love to hear your thoughts and advice on a situation involving my wife and her brand new Z4. She bought it about 6 months ago as a fun car, but it's been spending most of its time in the garage. She only drives it around 20 miles per month to attend car meet events.

I've been encouraging her to enjoy the Z4 more regularly, but her main concern is the condition of the roads here in the Bay Area. She believes the poor surface, potholes, bumps, and steep driveways would potentially damage the car's suspension, tires, or front bumper. As a result, she feels uncomfortable and lacks confidence in driving it.

Now, I have a 911 that I happily drive whenever I want, despite the road conditions. I've tried expressing my perspective to her, but it seems I'm not getting through. How would you handle a situation like this? Any advice on encouraging her to embrace the joy of driving the Z4 more often, or perhaps any insights on addressing her concerns about the road conditions?

Looking forward to your valuable input! 🚗💨

[Horseman]

My father has a 2012 GT500. I think he still has under 10000 miles on it. He loves that car. He only takes it to shows and the occasional drive.

Some people just really enjoy the car as it is, doesn't want to see it ruined by the road or other stupid drivers/people. Personally... i'd say different strokes for different folks.

[Balr14]

I can relate, I drive about 2000 - 2500 miles a year and I had 3 cars, a Mini, 335i and 997.2. I probably drove the Mini about 1/2 the time. Whenever we were actually going anywhere, we took my wife's SUV. So I was paying for depreciation, insurance and annual maintenance costs, as well as storage hassles and expense for vehicles that hardly got used.

Ultimately, I sold all 3 and ended up with just my Z4, plus my wife still has the SUV. But, I'd really like an M3 Competition XDrive, along with the Z4. It's a difficult mindset to change. It all comes down to whatever makes you/her happy at that moment in time.

I should mention the roads around here are much worse than San Francisco. Before I retired and had to commute to work, I averaged over $2000 a year in suspension and wheel and tire damage caused by the roads. There's nothing like hitting the edge of a manhole cover that has risen 2" above the road surface, with 19" wheels. Get the smallest wheels with the biggest sidewalls that will fit your car. I had a Lexus with 16" Toyota steel wheels. It looked like a NASCAR racer.

[MisanoblueZ4]

As others have said it is a difficult mindset to change. Since getting the Z4 a few months ago now I’m being careful about taking it out as it’s a fun car and rather use it for nice weather instead of daily duties which is better suited for our SUV which I do not worry about parking spots or wet roads etc.

Some people enjoy keeping a car as pristine as possible and forgo driving more often as that makes the times it does get driven more of an experience.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

I believe cars a to be driven. That said I have no issues with some one who just wants to drive when its nice out & the roads are good.

Think the Z4 is a tuff car that can handle most bad public roads if driven sensibly based on conditions. Most of its running gear is from the M3/M4 series cars & maybe stronger than the base 3 series units.

Mileage wise I drive mine moderately as like you have other cars. Right now according to my handy dandy BMW phone app I have 24,638 miles on the car. About 8,000 miles a year.

The Z4 was put in service in Feb/Mar 2020. A lot of that milage is 400+ mile round trips that I run frequently. Rest is City & Suburban runs.

My lightest duty car mileage car gets about 2,500 to 3,000 miles a year. Has no roof.

[StanDiego]

I'm sure many of us can relate. I can't say my Z4 is my "dream car" because I didn't know it existed until I started shopping for a roadster but it represents what my dream car has always been in my mind so I want to take care of it.

If you haven't already done so, have a discussion with her about what it means to her and what she would like to do with it if there were no obstacles. Then come up with some ideas on how she can mitigate those obstacles.

Perhaps plan monthly trips north or south along the coast. She'll gain confidence in the car as she drives it more and on longer drives, and the virgin newness feeling may fade a bit, giving her more courage to enjoy it as it was intended.

My recipe is to drive it when I can truly enjoy it, not to run errands with it but to save it for fair weather days when I can put the top down and drive the roads less traveled. I try to take advantage of those fair weather days as much as possible (50+ degrees with no rain forecasted). Help your wife to create her recipe.

Originally Posted by IAmSpeed

Any advice on encouraging her to embrace the joy of driving the Z4 more often, or perhaps any insights on addressing her concerns about the road conditions?

Looking forward to your valuable input! 🚗💨

[Bimmerfun82]

You have a few options. 1) move. 2) get a third car. 3) tell her you'll buy her a new car in a couple years and not to worry about tearing it up - possibly buy some kind of insurance policy on the wheels/tires or whatever. 4) trade it on something she likes better and is more comfortable with. 5) find out if she actually doesn't like to drive and would rather you drive, in general - car agnostic. 6) explore the idea if maybe, possibly on the off chance, she likes your car better.

[SpeedyATL]

When you go out together, suggest taking the Z4 - even if you drive. After it gets a little wear and tear and she learns to enjoy the car, it'll collect miles a little faster.

[Wynnsiensheng]

If she is happy just driving the car once a month and has no mobility issues, I personally wouldn’t worry. Happy wife, happy life.

If she is fretting about it, wants to be mobile but doesn’t want to drive the car, then it’s a different matter. In this case it’s either she can adapt, or the car needs to be changed to something she is comfortable with.

In either case, I think my feeling would be to go with the path of least resistance. But that’s just me.

[perryinva]

I agree, to each their own, and I'd be in heaven to have a spouse that was in to cars enough to go to ANY kind of event!. On a more practical matter, you might mention that besides the enjoyment factor, it's just not good for the mechanicals, tires, bearings and battery to drive only once a month. Oils settle and films thin or disappear, rubber ages & wears more poorly, etc.

But I sympathize. Compared to my previous 911 coupe, which was lowered to euro height and sported Bilstein Coilovers, I found that since I retired, I was driving less than 1000 miles a year, while it WAS my mostly DD when I was working and it wasn't below 40F out, and I wasn't traveling to nasty locations, or driving a company car. I find I WANT to drive the Z4 more often, even on decent errands. It is just a more comfortable and easier car to enjoy, as I age, in ride, ingress/egress, comfort, technology, and general fun. The automatic top is used way more than I thought I would, as my last roadster was a manual top Z3. I've owned mine for 5 months now, and it still hasn't been in the rain, though, LOL. Even trying to drive it more often, I've still put just under 500 miles on it, so while a lot better than the 911, I still should drive it more! I owned the 911 for 15 years and only put 40k miles on it, and came to the realization that I had kept it in pristine shape and purchased improvements for it...basically for the person I sold it to. ( I can't complain, I sold it for $12K less than I paid for it, including those improvements, and I did enjoy it while I had it)

[Wynnsiensheng]

[QUOTE=perryinva;30713701]I agree, to each their own, and I'd be in heaven to have a spouse that was in to cars enough to go to ANY kind of event!. On a more practical matter, you might mention that besides the enjoyment factor, it's just not good for the mechanicals, tires, bearings and battery to drive only once a month. Oils settle and films thin or disappear, rubber ages & wears more poorly, etc.

But I sympathize. Compared to my previous 911 coupe, which was lowered to euro height and sported Bilstein Coilovers, I found that since I retired, I was driving less than 1000 miles a year, while it WAS my mostly DD when I was working and it wasn't below 40F out, and I wasn't traveling to nasty locations, or driving a company car. I find I WANT to drive the Z4 more often, even on decent errands. It is just a more comfortable and easier car to enjoy, as I age, in ride, ingress/egress, comfort, technology, and general fun. The automatic top is used way more than I thought I would, as my last roadster was a manual top Z3. I've owned mine for 5 months now, and it still hasn't been in the rain, though, LOL. Even trying to drive it more often, I've still put just under 500 miles on it, so while a lot better than the 911, I still should drive it more! I owned the 911 for 15 years and only put 40k miles on it, and came to the realization that I had kept it in pristine shape and purchased improvements for it...basically for the person I sold it to. ( I can't complain, I sold it for $12K less than I paid for it, including those improvements, and I did enjoy it while I had it)

Your Porsche sounds like mine. I had a 997 for 17 years and 40k km.

Sorry, didn’t want to start derailing the thread, but your story resonated with me.

[CJ421]

Originally Posted by IAmSpeed

I find myself in a bit of a dilemma and would love to hear your thoughts and advice on a situation involving my wife and her brand new Z4. She bought it about 6 months ago as a fun car, but it's been spending most of its time in the garage. She only drives it around 20 miles per month to attend car meet events.

I've been encouraging her to enjoy the Z4 more regularly, but her main concern is the condition of the roads here in the Bay Area. She believes the poor surface, potholes, bumps, and steep driveways would potentially damage the car's suspension, tires, or front bumper. As a result, she feels uncomfortable and lacks confidence in driving it.

Now, I have a 911 that I happily drive whenever I want, despite the road conditions. I've tried expressing my perspective to her, but it seems I'm not getting through. How would you handle a situation like this? Any advice on encouraging her to embrace the joy of driving the Z4 more often, or perhaps any insights on addressing her concerns about the road conditions?

Looking forward to your valuable input! 🚗💨

If she has a need to drive more than she is and isn't doing that, then that could be a conversation starter. Otherwise, I'm inclined to agree with other posters that it's her car.

Charles