BMW M
Coupe FAQ
[TOC Once we get some more content to organize]
How do I . . . , What is . . . , Help! . . .
STOP RIGHT THERE. Before posting a question, RTFM (Read The, er, Fine Manual).
If it’s not in the manual, the manual is not handy, or you don’t own the car yet, search the archives. You can either use the archive search on www.bimmer.org, or use google. The archive search is very good for, um, let’s just use google. To use google, just enter the search string:
site:www.bimmer.org z3 [your search terms]
The google search seems to work better. Another advantage is that you get to search
more than just one board’s archives, like both Z3 and Z3Coupe at the same
time. You could expand your search to
all the boards, if you had a question that covers BMW cars more generally. If you wanted to restrict your search to
just the Z3 Coupe board, use Z3Coupe in place of Z3 in the search string. Very few issues are unique to just the coupe
though, and because more owners own Z3’s and M Roadsters, your problem is more
likely to find an answer there than in the less populated Z3Coupe board.
There’s a special test message board for that.
Should I get this car? What color should I get?
Only you can answer that. In my personal opinion, if you have to ask somebody else for input, then you’re not ready to commit to buying. For illustration:
Marge: Maybe we
can use it once, and then return it.
Homer:
C'mon, Marge, we're not talking about a toothbrush here!
Will I fit in the car?
The seats are power adjustable for height and forward/back position. The seat tilt is manual. The steering wheel is not adjustable. Drivers up to 6’4” have reported fitting nicely in the car. I am 6’2”, with a 33” inseam, and I fit with much room to spare. Remember that you should not set your seat back so far that 1) you can’t operate the clutch pedal fully and easily and 2) you can’t turn the steering wheel 180 degrees without your shoulder blade leaving the seatback. At my height, I bought the sunroof option and was thankful for it. Of course, people are differently proportioned. Nevertheless, there is more room than you would think.
Should I order the sunroof?
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
Vent |
Tanning |
|
I couldn’t live with the idea that there was option somebody else might have that I didn’t have. |
If you live in a really hot region like I do, you may feel cooked while in stop-and-go traffic. The compressor doesn’t seem to cool as well without motion. |
|
Increased resale value? |
Doesn’t fully open |
|
Increased head room (37.6” vs. 36.7”) |
Additional cost ($300) |
|
Increased sense of spaciousness |
|
About the ordering process.
BMW sells cars to their dealers via an allocation system. Each dealer finds out about 2 months before production how many of each car they are allowed to order. This number is influenced by availability, production capacity, the dealer’s sales volume, and the dealer’s customer ratings. Allocations are typically released the 4th Wednesday of each month, but it has varied as to day in the past.
Knowing what car you want, you go to the dealer and ask for it. If they have it on the lot, then great, please stop reading. If not, then you’ll have to order it. The salesperson will take your deposit to secure the next available allocation that the dealer gets for your desired model. Verify that your order is for a specific allocation number, at MSRP, and is refundable. You have no car yet, just a placeholder at the dealership. When the dealer has an available allocation, you should be notified and the salesman will be ready to take your order for options and specifications. At this point, you should be provided with a production number. With this number, you can determine the status code of your car. Your salesman can give you your status or you can get it at BMWNA, 1-800-831-1117. You will soon receive a production date. The date corresponds to the week when your car is scheduled to complete production. Typically, an allocation distributed at the 4th week in January would be for production in March. Soon after your car is scheduled for production, you will be assigned a VIN. If you’ve been keeping track of your car via BMW Owners’ Circle, the production number you input will automatically change to a VIN when it becomes available. Once production is complete and your car has been inspected and is ready for distribution, you can expect anywhere from at least a week to two for the car to reach your dealership. This depends on your dealer’s proximity to the factory in Spartanburg, SC. Once your car has arrived, then you show up and buy the car as you would any other car on the lot. The farther along the process you are, especially once the order has been scheduled for production, the less likely you will be able to receive a refund for your deposit.
How much should I pay?
The answer to this question is influenced by moral considerations, pride, and one’s view of an economically efficient free market system. Pay the amount of money that is of equal or less utility to you than the car itself. No one else can answer that question for you.
Common may be an overstatement. It only indicates that enough people have had the problem to warrant discussion on the bimmer boards. Percentage-wise, I have no idea.
Seat shifting – very limited success with a dealer fix.
Harmon Kardon subwoofer rattle – weatherstripping or bubble wrap on the offending parts should fix it.
Rear hatch latch mechanism failure – There’s a kludge that works better than the official repair. Thanks to the webmaster of the linked site.
Rear wiper leak – The bulletin is here. (Thanks Ron Stygar). You can also disable the wiper fluid nozzle altogether by blocking or pinching the hose.
Schizophrenic gas gauge – according to some board members, the quick fix is to remove fuse #31, attempt to start the car, and then replace the fuse with the car off. There are conflicting reports as to whether the car starts with this fuse removed. If that fails, others have had success with fuse #23 receiving the same routine. After that, the next step seems to be a trip to the dealer. The worst case scenario involves replacing the fuel sensor, which entails some cutting of the carpet behind the passenger seat. Try the fuse trick first.
Transmission noise when getting off the throttle while in 1st gear. Try shifting more smoothly.
Hornets in the exhaust at high RPM. It should go away once the cat is warm. A few car magazines have reported that this noise is normal for the S54 engines and is related to the double-VANOS system reverberating through a cold catalytic converter.
Rough idle at start/occasional dying. Allow about a half minute warm up, going easy on the A/C, power steering, etc. during that time.
Speed Sensitive Volume – This can be adjusted or disabled. With the car running and the radio off, turn on the radio while holding down the “m” button for about 10 seconds or so. You’ll enter a test mode. Scroll through the settings using the arrow buttons until you get to GAL. Increment or decrement this number using the + and – buttons. Changing the GAL number corresponds to respectively changing the degree of speed sensitivity.
The coupes and the Z3 share the same door. The coupes have a higher roofline though, and have a correspondingly bigger window. While the door happily swallows up the Z3 window, the larger coupe window does not fit completely into the door.
BMW tolerances for the speedometer is 10% + 2.4 mph. BMW’s tolerances tend to be way above most people’s tolerances. The speedometer should never indicate the speed as slower than actual.
|
Actual Speed |
Maximum Indicated Speed |
|
10 |
13.4 |
|
20 |
24.4 |
|
30 |
35.4 |
|
40 |
46.4 |
|
50 |
57.4 |
|
60 |
68.4 |
|
70 |
79.4 |
|
80 |
90.4 |
|
90 |
101.4 |
|
100 |
112.4 |
This variance does not affect the odometer reading because the odometer gets its signal from another source. [can someone be more specific?]
As an editorial aside that I’m entitled to because I’m typing this, BMW prides itself on making the suspension faster than the engine. You’re missing out on the best part of driving if 0-60 times are your focus. After all, gears 3 through 5 are there for a reason. Watch Le Mans series races sometime, all the cars are fun to watch, even though the highest class is obviously the fastest. Then, watch drag racing. Yee. Haw.
These questions are easily answered on the MANY automobile sources, including www.bmwusa.com, www.autosite.com, www.edmunds.com, www.carpoint.com.
How do I [program the radio, break-in the engine, open the hood, unlock the doors, adjust the mirrors, know when to get an oil service, rotate tires, etc.]?
RTFM.
Will there be a 2002? 2003? What features will it have?
Production for 2002 M Coupes began in September 2001 and is scheduled to run until May 2002. The in-dash CD player is now standard and the in-dash cassette is a no-cost option.
While your guess is as good as any, the plurality of sources indicate that the coupe version of the Z3 and the related M model are not planned for the new Z3 platform.
What oil goes in the 2001+ M
Coupes?
Initially, the cars were produced specifying synthetic 5w-30. Around the end of June 2001, the specification changed for all S54 engines to synthetic 10w-60. The part number is 07-51-0-009-420. Although this bulletin has gone out to all BMW Service Departments, you need to make sure that you remind them. I have had to remind them and then double-check because my engine sticker indicates 5w-30 and the information may not have made it to everybody in the service department. If its something they knew by heart, they were unlikely to look it up again. Yes, I know that this means many manuals are wrong on this point.
The bulletin is SI 00-02-00, revised July 2001.
More to come . . .
Maybe year by year table of model and palette changes?
Link to gallery of available colors?
Table of wheel masses? Fitments
Winter/Long term storage?
Shipping?
NA, Euro, etc. specific issues?
Common performance upgrades?
Driver
Software
Suspension
Tires
CAI
Forced
Weight reduction
