Two of my friends have owned Z3's. Both really enjoyed them. They, like most BMW's, are not trouble free, but they seem to be worth the effort. Especially if you can work on them yourself.

I like the way they drive.

Once they become cheap enough, I think a Cayman would be my top choice.

 

alco- the clutch on my Golf-R is very light so im sure u'll be fine. the one thing that's kinda odd at first is the adaptive cruise. when it's on, you can clutch in and change gears and cruise will not disengage. usually MT car disengage throttle when one clutches-in (or brake or hit cancel). so dat was kinda weird at first. haha

the screen tells u the recommended gear too as you're going up a hill or watever.

 

Interesting details. I have a friend who owns a garage and has had good success refurbishing various BMWs. He said the parts are expensive, but that once something is fixed, it usually stays fixed. Last month I looked an a Z3 a guy in our neighborhood was selling, but it had 120K Miles on I, was an automatic and had the 4 Cylinder motor. I then had no interest in it after I learned of these details.

Yep, the R's adaptive cruise would have scared me at first and perhaps again later as well! <g>

I like the hill-holder clutch on our Golf and perhaps it might help extend clutch life, fighting rollback. We had one on our old Subaru which we disliked because it was "grabby" and stayed engaged too long.

 

Yeah, never had a friend try the 4-cylinder Z3, but I'm guessing that is NOT the plan. One had the small v6 and the other had a M roadster and then a Z4.

All were good cars other than strange things. I recall rear main oil leaks and maybe clutch issues? Was a while back, but they were nice cars. Oh...one also had a leaky convertible top, but that comes with age with any soft top I suppose.

 

alco- my STI has hill hold and the first couple of times i kept stalling the car because it just held the car too firmly. ive been driving MT for decades btw and dont stall usually. i found a way to defeat it (turn it off) and havent stalled since.

going up hill from a stop, i hold the brake and blip with the side of my right foot as the light turns green, i dont roll backwards at all. it's like heel and toe from a stop. on the Golf-R i added some thickness to the gas pedal as the pedal position vs the brake pedal is wrong.

 

I recall a story about my friend who bought an older used BMW 5-Series with manual transmission. He spent 12 Hours replacing the clutch and all was well with it until it began to slip a year or two later. He was puzzled because he drives smart.

Some time later he overheard one of his teenage children explaining to a friend how to drive a stick. The instruction included advice to "rev it up to about 3000 RPM and slowly let the clutch out". (!!) At that point he knew why his new clutch had failed so quickly ....

 

lol’ed. now u know why i don’t want my kid leaning MT on my cars.

 

Funny! My teen had no choice, as my wife and I both drive manuals. While the lessons were successful, my kid still slightly favored an automatic. I bought an automatic Fit because used Fits in good condition were hard to find and the one I found happened to be an automatic. I did test drive a used Fit with a manual, but it pulled badly to the left and I crossed it off the list. Probably an alignment problem, but something could have been bent. Didn't want to assume the risk.

I've messed around with the Fit's paddle shifters a bit. Not sure what to make of the feature.

 

Alco a DSG & a torque converter auto or CVT are worlds different. The DSG is an automated manual transmission. If you spend some time behind the wheel of a car with one you'll notice the difference.

Manual or DSG is a tough choice. I've driven exactly one GTI with a manual. It drove great, the clutch was a bit lacking in feel compared to the MINI I was driving at the time. I ended up with a GTI with a DSG do to a bum knee. Man I'm glad VW offers such a great transmission.

 

Paddle shifters become much more appreciated in the mountains when you want to hold a gear going downhill or want to pre-downshift for an uphill. The paddles just make it easier than messing with the console shifter.

They can also be used to avoid a shift mid-turn. Our Golf doesn't seem to have a steering angle sensor. It will upshift midturn. I'm guessing that Fit's are lacking that sensor as well. Most performance cars these days have the sensor and it makes for a better behaving automatic.

 

haha.

yah the paddles on the Fit.. it is honestly garbage. i never liked the AT on the GE. i tried the paddles on the GK's cvt the other weekend. just as bad. the AT Fits drive best in full AT mode while not pushing the car. it is NOTHING like the GTI's DSG. DSG is so much nicer not just the paddle shifting feel, but how it engages and how the clutch holds the gear for engine braking and all. if my GTI was AWD, i can see myself loving the car more.

 

Ah, okay. VERY happy to learn that the Fit's AT/Paddles in no way replicate what I'd feel with the GTIs DSG/Paddles.

The only thing I've found helpful with the Fit's paddles is shifting to 2nd when heading down a long steep hill at the entrance to our subdivision. 2nd holds the Fit perfectly at the legal 25 MPH all the way down.

 

yah, it is not even close. i think u'll like it.

the only thing i dont like about the DSG on the GTI is first gear. its too tall where it takes a decent moment before the car takes off from a crawl unless u use launch control while stopped. but in traffic waiting for the adjacent lane to clear while crawling, cant use launch control.. with MT id rev to like 3.5-4k rpm and quickly engage for that quick pickup and go before i mash the gas, but cant do that on DSG.. the other issues on the DSG i can live with it, not a deal breaker.

 

I'm guessing the DSG gear ratios on the MK7 are different from the ones on my MK6. There is a small lag then I'm spinning my wheels from a start.

I have a friend who had a MK6 & moved to a MK7. They don't like the ratios & programming of their MK7 DSG. So far I haven't driven a MK7 DSG so all this info is speculation & second hand.

One could get a DSG tune, but that would blow up your warranty.

 

yah that is very possible. the dsg tune was something i was considering too but it’s not the software in my case, it’s the actual gear ratio so can’t tune that unless i change the final or something which is just to much work.

 

I don't think it is the final drive gearing that is causing the main issue. The DSG is programmed to get to high gear as soon as possible, that & the gear rations do the deed.

When put in sport mode it is too aggressive unless you are really wicking it on. There should be a setting between normal & sport. My DSG also behaves this way in sport so that part is not just a MK7 thing. From what I've read the DSG tune will help by changing the shift map of both regular drive & sport. I'm afraid to have the tune. I'd hate to damage such an expensive piece of kit.

 

no ash. im talking about 1st gear only at take off like 0-15mph. only mechanical gearing can help unless engaging clutch at a much higher rpm.. like launch control rpm yet while crawling.

 

A short test drive showed me that the GTI would need a re-program if I were going to own one with a DSG.

To each their own, but I found it horrible. Google search will show there are plenty on both sides of the love/hate of VW's DSG. Porsche seems to do a much better job with the programming as does the aftermarket. It shifts fast and is capable, so I bet a reprogram would have me liking it quite well.

Anything that got rid of the ridiculously low rpm upshifts in normal and the overly jerky downshifts in sport would be a huge improvement.

 

its definitely a luv/hate relationship for me. the factory map is fine for normal driving. u can momentarily shift into S mode for when u want to go up hill or watever to allow for delayed shift up. there is some learning curve to get it to do wat you want.

but when it comes to quick starts from a crawl it just cant do it like an MT car can. that is wat annoys me most especially while in traffic..

 

My kid mentioned to me yesterday that the Fit was making a loud whine. Uh oh. A friend said it sounded like a fire truck siren.

We took it for a long drive yesterday with me driving, but no noise! A/C on/off, manually shifting the auto tranny, forward/reverse and max turn left and right -- nothing. A/C continues to cool fine. At about 60K Miles I twice changed the tranny fluid (using Honda product) last summer.

She said the noise wasn't speed sensitive. I have no doubt something is up, but we'll just have to wait and see what it is …. :-(