BMW Z8 issue, MB owners can laugh - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Mitch H · #31 01-22-2006, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricSilver

For $160K, I would opt for an Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

I'd either go for the reborn GT40, or get the new top Vette (Z06?) and a nice sailboat.

amg280 · #32 01-22-2006, 08:18 PM

The e39 5 series is a great car. I would look for a late model 530i.

The E46 M3 is also prone to the rear subframe failure. It can be catastrophic in some cases. The cases are low, but still present. I have an 05 M3, and this scares me. It literally will rip the floor out of the trunk when and if this were to happen. Thankgod for forums like these.

Ethan · #33 01-22-2006, 11:11 PM

ford gt40 has some serious issues, rear main seal leak and the ford corporation repair is a cheap fix with a patch. also a rear suspension aluminum piece prone to cracking

t walgamuth · #34 01-22-2006, 11:47 PM

and looked at the ford gt they had there. red. talked to the owners son who is maybe 45. he said that this is the second one they've had. he said they are haveing suspension failures with the extruded upper and lower a arms on front and back failing. he said they fixed one under warrenty. they supply forged pieces to replace and the bill to ford was $16k. i asked if it was ok to get in it and he said his dad had the key.

monon is a little town north of lafayett about 30 miles. population maybe 800 or so. the dealership has maybe fifty cars on the lot total. no prob 30.

the car looks very cool. i really dont care that much for the supercharger on the engine though. it looks wrong. the original car had carbs. i suppose it works fine though.

last spring i went up to elkart lake for the vintage races. there was an original 67 ford gt racing. i about fell over. it was very cool. no ford labels on it though so i wasnt 100% sure it was. so we walked up through the paddock and looked it over pretty well. and talked to the driver (owner?). he said it was an original car alright but it had no racing history as it was used for development. i have since read that it was sort of assembled from parts lying around at ford. it has a 427 nascar side oiler with two 850 or so cfm holley carbs. i told him that i read it was a comfortable race car to drive and he gave me a really funny look. i think it was something like "i am driving this car that has about 500 hp and 800 ft lb torque and it is 40" tall how the hell can that be comfortable?" (he didnt say this he just gave me this look). then i said "you know the seat is comfy and the controls are all easy to work and the handling is pretty neutral". so finally he said " i guess it will be when i really get used to it". he is of course not a professional race driver. the person who said it was so comfortable was maybe Dan Gurney or someone like that who was a supurb driver in his day and had to drive some pretty evil handling **** boxes in his day.

any way the experience in the paddock was the best racing experience i have had in forty years of fanhood. i also met janet guthery and got an autogarphed copy of her book. and while i was wandering around i missed the biggest vintage racing crash in history when about 20 camaros, mustangs and corvettes piled up on the front straightaway on the start of their race. course i didnt realize that til i read about it later too, except i noticed a lot of racers limping back into the paddock and knew something bad had happened.

cool stuff.

tom w

cmac2012 · #35 01-24-2006, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pentoman

I'm not laughing???

The Z8 is a great car. As much as I like the SL, the Z8 is a truly different car and very rare. I would like one.

If this ends up costing BMW lots of money, they will not produce a unique and specialist model such as this again.

How can that be good for us, the car enthusiasts? If it wasn't for interesting cars like the Z8 none of us would be interested in cars and we'd all be driving a Honda Civic because they're cheap and reliable. It's a sad day if a quality engineering company like BMW can't cost effectively produce an interesting car like this these days.

I'm thinking BMW will be fools not to fall all over themselves getting this cleared up. Could be the most expensive recall (per vehicle) ever. Just a major overhaul and beefing up of the frame.

cmac2012 · #36 01-24-2006, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricSilver

For $160K, I would opt for an Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

About the only British car that I would consider if I had that kind of money. There is something about those rigs. The Z8 is pretty cool, but for some reason it doesn't completely peg the needle for me. I'd almost rather get a 60s Ferrari and pay someone major bucks to install electronic ignition.