Z3 M Roadster - Air Conditioning?

[HarveyT]

I am looking at buying the Z3 M Roadster in the picture below. It does not have the AC / recirculating button so do I take it that not all Ms had AC?

[swamper]

i have noticed that that some dont seem to have it

[Jonttt]

They all had it as standard in the UK but there are a couple of possible explanations:

- some early production press cars may not have had it

- the button may have been removed by another owner. Either becaue they removed the aircon or maybe because it was faulty (it can cost c£400 to repair).

Yuo are right to question this as it is a variation from the normal Z3m specification but there may be a simple explanation or a more devious one

[HarveyT]

Thanks for the info, I'll check with the seller.

On another note is this a problem? Can you live with a M Roadster without AC?

[shantybeater]

Honestly? I only ever 'use' mine on a occasion to keep it working, never have I actually needed it!

[Gazza]

I've used mine, even with the roof off on a hot day, a face full of cold air is great

[Robert T]

Does it have an auxilliary electric fan in front of the radiator? If so then it had aircon and the button has been removed.

Cheers R.

[Jonttt]

I only really use mine on a really hot day stuck in a traffic jam but it is handy then.

[Z3cade]

My M never had aircon and i hardly ever used it when i had it in my 2.8 z3..



So its no problem if it doesnt have it.. one less thing to fix when it goes wrong

[HarveyT]

So general consensus is that AC is a nice to have but not essential - Great news, deposit paid on the car with collection at the weekend

[swamper]

So general consensus is that AC is a nice to have but not essential - Great news, deposit paid on the car with collection at the weekend

top stuff Harvey....some pics when you get chance

[Jonttt]

My M never had aircon and i hardly ever used it when i had it in my 2.8 z3..

So its no problem if it doesnt have it.. one less thing to fix when it goes wrong

Have you checked physically if its still fitted but is not working or has been removed (along with the switch) ? Air con was standard fit on Z3m so not sure why yours would not have it ?

[c_w]

Pretty sure I looked at 1 or 2 Z3M Roadsters without aircon. I always thought on the M Roadster it was an option but standard on the M Coupe. It be an option on the early run cars like R and S plates perhaps?

[swamper]

i would have thought it would have been an option.....why would the switch be replaced with a blank....you could have just unplugged it

[HarveyT]

An update on the elusive AC

The 'knowledge' from Munich Legends is that on the BMW 'data sheet' for the car, it states that it is a UK specification car without AC. So it appears that in 99 at least, AC was an option

[Jonttt]

I'm pretty sure aircon was standard on all Z3m roadsters from when they were first introduced (at least according to marketing material).

"01/05/1998 introduced : M Roadster 3.2 spec as Z3 2.8 plus four exhaust pipes, air-conditioning, 2 airbags, heated electrical mirrors."

I've got some original Z3 brochures so will have to dig them out and check.

There are usually some variants of pre production / press cars and you may have been able to spec an order without a/c as in this case ? (not sure why you would do that though).

[Z3cade]

I have the spec sheet for mine and it doesnt include aircon. I also have no fan In front of the rad if that means anything ?
It must have been an option on early Ms.. Mines an Aug 98 S plate

[Tilly]

I have the spec sheet for mine and it doesnt include aircon. I also have no fan In front of the rad if that means anything ?
It must have been an option on early Ms.. Mines an Aug 98 S plate

I have the price list for Jan 1998.Aircon for the M roadster is listed as a £1100 option. The 1999 price list shows aircon as standard.

[offyourmarks]

I always use my aircon whenever I can but purely as a preventative maintenance measure.

Not using the AC causes o rings and seals to dry out and therefore lose gas and not work.

OP - so you are buying the Munich Legends one? Very nice car if so

[Jonttt]

I have the spec sheet for mine and it doesnt include aircon. I also have no fan In front of the rad if that means anything ?
It must have been an option on early Ms.. Mines an Aug 98 S plate

I have the price list for Jan 1998.Aircon for the M roadster is listed as a £1100 option. The 1999 price list shows aircon as standard.

Well you learn something new every day. I never realised it was an option on 98 cars. Thanks for clarifying and it's not the first time Internet based specs have been wrong.

[Tilly]

Jonttt, Very interesting when you look at the price lists. For an early S50. The on the road price £40570.
Options available:
Air con £1100
Automatic speed hold £275
Business CD RDS £175
graduated tinted screen £70
Harman Kardon Hi FI £585
Headlight wash £225
Metallic paint £360
Tracker £269
Tracker 24 hour monitor £434.
A little later they added the hard top for £1995.

You could have a car which could have been £45789

The next price list I have doesn't have a date but it is for the S54.
On the road price £36000
Options available:
Cruise control £275
Business CD RDS single Cd £100
Six Cd disc player £250
HiFi speaker system £425
Harman Kardon system £585
graduated Tinted screen £70
Side airbags £275
Tracker £269
tracker monitor £434
Hard top £1395.

Same spec as an earlier S50 would cost £38859 a saving of almost £7000.

I think their marketing people screwed up the initial pricing?

[Jonttt]

I remember ford doing it with the sapphire cosworths. A friend of mine paid £30k for one just before they dropped the price to £22k

The s54 price drop was probably due to a couple of factors ie run out model and to fit in with the overall BMW range pricing.

Late S50's would probably have been heavily discounted or "demonstrators" pre registered in practice so the earlier price list would have been pretty arbitrary by that stage.

Does make you realise how expensive the early S50's were equating to probably £80k in today's money

[offyourmarks]

I think also it was due to the fact that sales of the M Coupe were slow and they dropped the price (e46 M3 CSL struggled too iirc) and the roadster was slashed too. The Porsche boxster took a few sales from the roadster.

With the fact the there were only 73 S54 roadsters sold indicates a poor demand. Back in 1996/97 when James Bond was ripping around in a Z3, demand was high for the Z3 and the range topping Z3M was priced accordingly. As mentioned Porsche brought the boxster out and showed BMW a few tricks in the handling department.

[c_w]

Does make you realise how expensive the early S50's were equating to probably £80k in today's money

£45k in 1998 is £65k now according to thisismoney's calculator. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bill ... -1900.html - still a lot of money!!

[Jonttt]

Wow some of my investments did better than I thought lol