Is my brother mad ? | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

Tue 4 Feb 2003 19:31

Is my brother mad ? - Penport

He's just landed a new job and has celebrated by buying a used BMW Z3 M Coupe (the one with two seats and a hatch that looks like Batman's car). He got a good deal on it.
But then a friend saw the very same car in a back copy of EVO - it turns out that it was originally owned by BMW and used as their press car. It's got all possible extras and a blueprinted engine.
But what have the press boys done to it while performing all those head to tests ?
Can he expect something to blow soon ? Or will BMW have looked after it ?
Having said all that the car looks stunning, drives perfectly and only has 24K on the clock after 4 years.
Comments welcome.

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Tue 4 Feb 2003 20:19

Is my brother mad ? - T Lucas

No worries,put it out of your mind.

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Tue 4 Feb 2003 21:41

Is my brother mad ? - DavidHM

He's stuck with it now - it might have had a fairly hard life, but then octagenarian brummies (see the thread in discussion) by Perodua Kelisas instead. Most Z3Ms will have had some degree of a thrashing and you never can tell which ones.

After all, mainly younger drivers would buy it just to pose - but they're the ones who you would expect to thrash it. Likewise, a pensioner driving one is probably pretty serious about their performance if they're going for that over the usual CLK.

The mileage is a bit on the low side (so probably mainly around town) but there's no particular reason why a few too many Italian tune ups in the first year of its life should cause problems now. As long as he did get a good deal, who cares?

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Tue 4 Feb 2003 22:00

Is my brother mad ? - GS

Your brother should have few worries about his Z3 provided it has a full BMW history since leaving BMW GB. When I worked for BMW GB their press cars were virtually rebuilt before each road test to ensure 101 per cent perfection.

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Wed 5 Feb 2003 02:45

Is my brother mad ? - otter

Do cars still need running-in? Can't have been too clever having a load of Jeremy Clarkson's thrashing it about straight out of the factory.

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Wed 5 Feb 2003 04:28

Is my brother mad ? - Dave_TD

My cousin's ex-boyfriend used to have a job where he would get a brand new car, a fuel card, and 5 days to put 2,000 or 3,000 miles on it according to the manufacturer's instructions. And then get paid for doing so. He drove one of the first Audi A3s to Scotland then Cornwall IIRC.
When you see the cars used in magazine roadtests, they always seem to have at least 1,500 miles on the clock, perhaps this is why?

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Wed 5 Feb 2003 20:06

Is my brother mad ? - ChrisV

Penport,
No I don't think your brother is mad, he may have taken a bit of a risk, but it should not cause many problems.
At the risk of going slightly off the topic:- A several years ago, against all the advice in the bike mags I bought an ex-race Suzuki GSXR750. (The slick tyres and racing numbers were a bit of a giveaway!) After finding lights, road tyres and a road exhaust I used it as everyday transport for about 2 years and it never missed a beat. It's blueprinted engine meant it was extremely smooth even within 100s of revs of the limiter.
If I had bought what your brother had, I would have the chassis and drivetrain parts checked out on a MOT ramp just in case Tiff Needell has had a go in it. Other than that just enjoy it!
Chris

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Thu 6 Feb 2003 04:51

Is my brother mad ? - otter

Yeh, and also I guess the manufacturers want to double check the cars are fautless before the press pass their critical judgements. Be a bit of a PR disaster if the media car was a duffer!
Should think the BMW's a good buy - I'm sure all that german engineering can handle a few enthusiastic tv presenters.

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Thu 6 Feb 2003 00:50

Is my brother mad ? - Cyd

A blueprinted engine like this would cost you 000's to get done. I'd be chuffed to bits - get out into those lanes and wind it up.

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Thu 6 Feb 2003 13:14

Is my brother mad ? - Jase

Could someone tell me what a blueprinted engine is please?

Thanks
CavV6 and cavWeb fan.
www.cavweb.co.uk

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Thu 6 Feb 2003 14:28

Is my brother mad ? - John S

Jase

A blueprinted engine is one which has been hand built to the most advantageous tolerances. Used where competition (or in this case demonstration) engines have to be 'stock' and meet the design as shown on the 'blueprint'. Tricks include accurate balancing of all components, choosing con rods at the max tolerance for big end to little end dimension and the pistons at the limit for crown height to give maximum compression ratio, minimum piston diameter for minimum friction etc.

The result is an engine which, if checked, falls within the makers specification, but generally performs better, and runs more smoothly, than the average.

Apparently Jaguar tweaked the original E types for press use, to ensure they could reach 150 - production cars would not.

Regards

John S

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Thu 6 Feb 2003 15:08

Is my brother mad ? - volvod5_dude

Friend of mine makes a living from blueprinting engines for the racing fraternity. Makes a very good living from it.

VD5D

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Thu 6 Feb 2003 22:19

Is my brother mad ? - Penport

Thanks very much everyone - I have reassured my brother that he is sane.
All he has to contend with now is a heavy clutch and a light wallet.

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