Bought a used BMW Z3 Convertible for Autocross events in the USA

I love the growl of the straight-6 engine & the gentle popping sound it makes in the 2nd gear. It's a pure joy to drive on the twisty backroads around my house.

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I have a Honda Odyssey minivan that has a sunroof. My Dodge Charger had a sunroof. On sunny days, my wife would slam the cover shut because the direct sunshine bothered her. One day, when she did that, I said to her, "We are never getting a convertible, are we?" And she nodded yes, even though her dream car is a Jaguar convertible in British racing green. 3 months later, I brought home a 2001 BMW Z3 2.5i and when I took my wife in it for a spin, she couldn't stop giggling! How did that happen? Read on.

It was the month of August, 2020. We were getting ready to move from our 1 garage townhouse to a new single-family house that we were getting built. So, at that time we were busy dealing with all the vendors, the builder, picking flooring colors, kitchen backsplash etc, etc. Suddenly, it struck me that soon I will have room for 3 cars! Thus began the hunt for a used car that would serve no purpose other than being a fun car that I could regularly take to Autocross. Which meant that it had to be a coupe, it had to be small, probably a convertible so that I could squeeze my 6'3" frame into it, rear-wheel drive and it had to be under $7000. Oh and most important of all: It had to be a manual! Note that none of the above are requirements for autocross. They were all my requirements for "fun".

I was also inspired by this video.

That meant the list was somewhat short:

• Mazda Miata-Is-Always-The-Answer Miata
• Porsche Can-Turn-On-A-Dime Boxster or
• Z3, BMW Z3.

Miata

My biggest concern with Miata was whether I would fit. I test drove a couple of them and with the seat all the way back, they were still a tight fit. Here's proof:

Porsche Boxster

Every online review told me to be careful with the infamous Porsche IMS bearing issue, which could crop up at any moment and cause catastrophic failure. That, and a lack of any Boxster with a clean service record made it difficult to find a good piece.

BMW Z3

This one seemed to tick all the right boxes, except that the ones at local dealers were really in horrible shape. I remember I test drove one 2002 model with 80k miles on the odo. The car shuddered and made all kinds of noises every time I shifted gears. I was worried whether the car would make it back to the dealer during the test drive! That car suffered from a common failure of a part called Guibo in Z3s. Whoever named that part must have been reading a children's storybook.

I read up a lot of online advice on how to buy an old used car and they all recommended that I get a pre-purchase vehicle inspection done. There are many shops that offer that. Some even offer to go to the seller's house, perform the inspection and send the report to the prospective buyer. But the problem was that I could not find any seller willing to submit their car for an inspection. Then I read an article by the famous car reviewer, Doug DeMuro who said that he doesn't believe in Pre Purchase inspection. What he does is that he bombards the seller with a ton of questions regarding the car and why they are selling it. I thought let me give that a try and it did help weed out quite a few uninterested sellers.

All of September was spent looking for a good car, that had all the service records, not more than 100K miles and was priced at or around $7000. Being in the northeast part of the country meant that convertibles were far and few in between. Finally, in the month of October, I was able to find a gentleman up in Vermont who was looking to sell his Z3 that had 95K miles. Price was reasonable and through some back and forth emails, I was able to determine that he had done regular maintenance on the car and had genuine personal reasons for selling the car. Finally, we settled on a price of $6,500 and decided to meet him in Vermont in the middle of October, 2020. A friend of mine who had helped me with the negotiations and I drove up to Vermont, met the gentleman, took a short test drive and sealed the deal! Below is the first pic of me in the Z3 (named Zedd from henceforth) on our way back from Vermont. You can see my red Charger in the background.

The drive back home from Vermont revealed no issues either. The car ran smoothly, the gears shifted like butter and the top came down effortlessly. The radio worked, in the sense that it made some noises. Heating worked since I was able to redirect it towards the steering to keep my hands warm. October in Vermont is the end of the fall season so it can get quite nippy in the evening.

By the way, I bought the car even before we had moved into the new house! So, it had to be parked outside for a week or so.

Next step was getting the car registered and Zedd deserved a personalized number. After much thought and inputs from friends, decided on this:

BURRAAH, for those who don't know, is an expression of joy in Punjabi, that you will hear people shouting when doing the Bhangra. "Expression of Joy" seemed apt for the car.

The car was an immediate hit among my friends! All my friends took turns taking photos sitting in the car. It brought a smile to everyone who sat in the car and took it for a drive. Most of all, my wife and I could not stop giggling like little children when we both took it for a spin, and that meant that I had made the right decision.

The car is so small that when I park it next to some big trucks and SUVs, the roof of the car doesn't even go above their fenders!

There are a couple of minor issues with the car. One, the passenger seat's motor is busted and it is stuck all the way back. Two, the AC does not work. I can live with both issues. Who needs AC in a convertible after all. Heating works and that's fine. And I love the growl of its straight 6 engine and the gentle popping sound it makes in second gear. It is a pure joy to drive on the twisty back roads around my house. I hope to stick with this car for a few more years. Z3 is already on its way to becoming a classic car as it is now impossible to find one in under 10K!

Now it was time to take it to track and do what I bought the car for.

Autocross, for those who don't know, is where they set up a course in a large parking lot or an airfield using cones and you drive your car around the course one at a time as fast as you can without hitting any cones and without going off course! You get penalized for every cone you hit and/or any time you go off course. The cars are divided into various categories based on several factors so that someone like me in a Z3 is not competing with, say, a WRX STI! However, all new drivers are put in the Novice category and their times are adjusted according to the car they are driving.

This is me at the very first autocross event

The car behaved like any 20-year-old car with stock suspension and all-weather Cooper tires and a novice driver. Autocross events have a very friendly vibe to them. You can walk up to anyone who looks like they know what they are doing and chat with them. Not a single person told me to change anything on the car, except maybe tires. This was their polite way of saying that I needed to first work on my skills.

After a couple of AutoX events, I decided to change the tires. After spending some time on tirerack.com, bought a set of Falken Azenis RT660 (Extreme Summer Performance) tires, mounted on new American Racing gloss black wheels. The advantage of ordering from tirerack.com is that they mount and balance the wheels before shipping them. All you have to do is swap out old ones and install the new ones. Before this change, I had no idea that tires could make such a big difference. The entire driving experience went up 2 levels and I climbed a few notches in the Novice category as well.

Here are a few shots with the new shoes:

I took many videos of my autocross days but unfortunately, I could find only one. Here it is regardless, with a friend of mine riding shotgun. You will hear a gentleman at the start giving me a tip on how to get rid of the engine ticking.

I did 8 Autocross days in 2021 and learnt a lot during those sessions. I was never really happy with the floaty nature of the car and its tendency to wag its tail all over the place. During the offseason, I ordered OE shocks and struts with the intention of replacing them myself during the winter months. However, I never got around to doing that and ended up taking the car to a local BMW specialist and getting them installed earlier this month. The car is now tight and I cannot wait to take it to track in April. Stay tuned for a full report on my next Autocross session!

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