Fit vs Z4
 

Yes, two radically different cars, but there are still some interesting things...

Okay, so my a/t Fit Sport will do 37-39 mpg @ 65 mph from my parents' place to mine (about 90 miles) on a good day. I picked up an end-of-year discounted m/t Z4 3.0si about a month ago, and tonight I reset the mpg computer on the Z4 before coming home. I did what I do in the Fit -- cruise control at 65 in the slow lane and crank the tunes. This is crazy... but it read 36.1 mpg when I arrived home (and it's been +/- 0.5 accurate so far, tank to tank). Of course the Z4 is lower profile than the Fit, but c'mon it has 3x the whp, that makes my Fit look a little sad.

But around town mileage is different -- like 20-22 vs 28-30. Fit's making a killing there.

Both have electric steering. The Fit steering is a tad rubbery, and the Z4 a bit sharper, but overall I actually think that the Fit is nearly perfectly transparent, and the Z4's could use a bit of refinement. I think this is the most embarrassing point for BMW right here, as this should be a home run for the Z4, but it's mixed. Although the Fit clearly has body roll after driving the Z4, the Fit handles pretty well.

Paint, oh man the Fit is not so good... rather thin paint.

Ride quality, mixed bag... Z4 can be harsh around town, and Fit is definitely softer. But on the freeway, it's a toss up. The weight of the Z4 kicks in at speed, and the Fit doesn't really soak up the bumps very well when traveling faster.

Space, Z4 has I think like 1 cubic foot in the trunk , and the Fit can handle all your dead body capacity carrying needs plus more... :p

Engine sound, omg the Z4 is addicting. Holy cow.

Visibility, Fit all the way. Well, Z4 is fine top down mostly, but top up, it's awful.

Reliability, both are actually supposed to be pretty good, except the Z4's optional ragtop is a glaring liability.

Interior, okay so the leather seats and the brushed aluminum is "fancy" in the Z4, but you know, there's nothing that special about the interior. The Fit is perfectly fine, and has room to mount my GPS with ease too. I haven't figured that one out in the Z4 yet. Plus, the Z4 12 volt power plug is a weird size, and I'm going to have to switch it out with a "regular" one. Insane!! I like the Fit's large speedometer planted dead center. Fit lacks dead pedal, passenger side visor mirror.

Cruise control, I much prefer the Fit's placement on the right of the steering wheel. And the Z4 has volume on the left of the steering wheel, that's really nice.

MP3 stereos: maybe it's in the manual, but the z4 stereo (non-nav version) doesn't seem to display the folder, artist, or song name, or even the mm:ss count... Fit has no problems there! However the base Z4 stereo sounds a lot better than the Fit stereo.

(update) Heater: the Fit warms up much quicker than the Z4. I think this is due to the Z4's electric water pump that doesn't kick in until the engine is fully warm.

And that concludes my pointless comparison...

(ps. btw, if you ever get a convertible, get the heated seats if they're optional, so very nice!)

nice comparison, yet the fit and z4 are 2 different beasts all together. if i were to get a z4 i would want a z4 coupe, i don't know but im leaning toward the evolution the bootshoe.

Thanks! Yeah, seems like the z4m coupe is all the rage over in the z4 forums. I just wanted the ragtop, and I liked the edgy styling, though seems like many people do not, oh well!! Coupe has the more rigid body for cornering. I don't tend to pay attention to the arguments where they start talking about "track abilities" though -- cripes, I drive to and from work, down to the store, on the freeway to visit my family...

I was gonna get the well-received Mazda Miata, but I was like, why not buy what I'm always daydreaming about on edmunds dot com? Out here in the Bay Area, no one really notices the z4 -- it's lost in a sea of MBs and Jags and everything else. Heck, there was a Ford GT driving on my street the other day when I left for work, and I live in an apartment presently! But where my parents live, it's a little different, and I'm so not used to attention as a quiet, reserved engineer.

Evolution, that's a hardcore pocket rocket!!

Thats a really good comaprison belive it or not, and very usefull...Not every day do you have someone write up a good comparison of a economy hatch and a high end sports car..So your Z4 is a 2007? I was looking on Auto trader and found some 04's for well under 20k! Thanks for the write up!

Interesting comparo. I have a family member with a 3.0si coupe who swears the mpg calculator doesnt nearly line up with calculated volumes. Aside from that, the Z4 is a dream to drive and the inline 6 is beautiful to hear howl!

3x whp? I've seen baseline dynos right around 200. Have you done many mods?

I can't afford any mods now! :p Well, I want to do the "clutch delay valve" mod that gives more direct control over the clutch, very cheap mod and a couple hours.

The m/t 3.0si dyno I looked up showed ~230 whp, and the Fit a/t is about 80 whp. 200 whp, that would be a 22% driveline loss, maybe for an automatic, but not manual. I only got the si over the i because there was some standard feature included that I don't remember now.

Yah, mine is an '07. I read that the depreciation is pretty severe, especially with the manual Z4, so I'm not gonna think about it. But I didn't want to buy a used and abused sports-type car. I read that the Z4 is not selling well at all. I snapped up the $6,500 dealer incentive, and the M Z4s had $10,000 :eek: dealer incentive for October. The z4m though takes special oil, has a heavier gas-pig 8000 rpm engine ... I'm not that crazy for more power.

Some people find the mpg computer to be pretty good, and some find it somewhat off. Apparently the user manual outlines a way to adjust the computer's estimate up or down. It probably is also affected by driving style to some degree.

Cool! They are really nice cars!

Have you read about the 1 series coming to America? You might be kicking your self for not waiting when that little rocket hits US shores!

xorbe,

I re-read my post and it might have sounded a little harsh. I apologize if it came across that way. I would give my left nut for a z4m...and the right for a 135i. I came from tooling around with old BMW's (2002, 320iS, 635Csi) but now life prevents me from having those toys...

coolness a fellow Z4 owner! :) very good write up on both cars! my thoughts exactly!

(lol, no problem... I don't tend to read a whole lot of emotion out of emails, ims, or forums!)

Yah, if the 1-Series comes in convertible, I might be shaking my head. I'm not that hot on turbo motors for reliability concerns though, maybe the base model of the 1-series.

The z4 as a 2-seater though, that makes it a bit more rare. When I visited my Dad, I suddenly realized, wait I can't fit me, dad, my bro' all in this car... whoops, lol! (As you can tell, I'm single...)

I added a blub about the mp3 stereos in the original post too. The z4 is driving me a little nuts by not telling me the song name or album name on the display! Not a critical feature, but I got used to that in the Fit. Everyone else probably uses iPods... I still burn mix CDs...