2003 BMW Z4 Review and Specs

Summary

What Edmunds.com says

While it sacrifices some of its predecessor's sex appeal for the sake of "flame surfacing," the Z4 roadster is even more fun to drive.

Pros

Superb road manners, plenty of standard technology and safety features, range of transmission choices, brand cachet.

Cons

Price shoots up when you add options, exterior design doesn't inspire lust.

What's New for 2003

The all-new Z4 roadster picks up where the Z3 left off. Well, sort of. There's no coupe version this time around. And the jury is still out on whether the Z4's "flame-surfaced" body is a welcome replacement for its predecessor's sexy corporate styling. In other respects, the newcomer offers much to like -- a more rigid chassis, a real glass rear window and, starting in the spring of 2003, a Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG) like the one in the M3. All in all, the driving experience is exhilarating -- so if you can get past the styling and come up with the requisite cash, you know where this one belongs on your test drive list.

Consumer Ratings & Reviews

Dependable?

Written by: Morduk on 09/30/2008

Detailed Ratings

Overall Rating


Performance:	10	Fun-to-Drive:	10	Build Quality:	9
Comfort:	9	Interior Design:	9	Reliability:	5
Fuel Economy:	9	Exterior Design:	9

Vehicle

2003 BMW Z4 2.5i 2dr Roadster (2.5L 6cyl 5M)

Review

Bought the car in November of 2003. Loved the drive of the car and was impressed with the it's lines. Within the first 3,000 miles, had to repair both front tires due to puncture. After 10,000 miles had to replace all 4 tires. Inflation pressure listed by BMW was not the same as required by the tire company. No problem with tires after proper inflation. Soft top would not function due to a leak in system. Fixed under warranty. Problem with front suspension system. Fixed under warranty. Few months after warranty ended, master computer system failed. Replacement value $1,300. BMW paid half. Currently car is in shop for front suspension system problems again.

Favorite Features

Suggested Improvements

I have always heard that BMW's is a brand that is very dependable and almost repair free. Perhaps I bought a lemon. Considering the cost and time of the repairs, I would think long and hard before I bought another BMW. Have two Toyotas with over 100,000 repair free miles.

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I LOVE MY Z4

Written by: Robert Dugan on 03/21/2008


Performance:	10	Fun-to-Drive:	10	Build Quality:	10
Comfort:	10	Interior Design:	10	Reliability:	10
Fuel Economy:	8	Exterior Design:	10

2003 BMW Z4 3.0i 2dr Roadster (3.0L 6cyl 6M)

This car hugs the road so nicely it just give me goose bumps when I drive it. My mother thinks the car is the coolest and loves driving in it with the top down.

The speed and the handling but also the looks. It is a beautiful car BMW did good on this car.

Raise the front end up just a little bit.

I love this car

Written by: Tarzan on 12/27/2007


Performance:	9	Fun-to-Drive:	10	Build Quality:	10
Comfort:	9	Interior Design:	9	Reliability:	10
Fuel Economy:	7	Exterior Design:	10

Fabulous car. Replaced a (blown) 97 Miata STO which was a spectacular car--but the Z has everything my beloved Miata did not (legroom, to name only one example!). I've had it for a couple of months now and just flat love this car. Performance is wonderful, build quality is stellar and chicks dig it. Only suggestion for improvement would be to increase interior storage space a bit. Very happy to have this car and would recommend it without hesitation.

Power. Style.

More interior storage space.

1 out 1 people found this review helpful

Great, even 5 years after manufacture!

Written by: Pat on 12/26/2007


Performance:	8	Fun-to-Drive:	9	Build Quality:	7
Comfort:	6	Interior Design:	9	Reliability:	7
Fuel Economy:	9	Exterior Design:	9

I fell in love with the Z4 while looking for a sports car. Had a rough start though; since I have the sport package a deep pothole ate the passenger side and forced a repair. Then the convertible top refused to work. Then an electrical failure forced another round of work. In all though, I've taken this to the track and on road trips-and it's been sheer joy. Even driving to work is fun! It's gotten nice looks from passerby too. A few nits: tire roar is deafening even with top up, rattles galore on rough roads, and auto top suffers from finicky electrical shortages. But don't let those stop you from buying this wonderful machine.

Automatic roof, large trunk for the style of car, styling, electrochromatic mirrors.

Better build quality (fix roof drainage system to avoid electrical shortages, make body panel construction more rugged, dampen spaces between areas of large tolerances, i.e., map compartment), dampen noise better with top up.

BMW Z4 3.0 2003

Written by: G. Gutierrez on 09/06/2007


Performance:	10	Fun-to-Drive:	10	Build Quality:	10
Comfort:	10	Interior Design:	10	Reliability:	10
Fuel Economy:	9	Exterior Design:	10

This is the best car I have ever owned. After 40,000 miles the only repair required (at no cost) was to reset the passenger window. Great fun to drive and extremely reliable. I am thinking about buying a new car, but I hate to give this one up!

Great looks, superb driving experience.

Front end is a bit low.

2003 BMW Z4 Consumer Ratings & Reviews