Anyone come from an E36 M3?

[Marcus-SanDiego]

The seats in my ZHP are the best I've been in. I'm on my 5th BMW.

Here's a look at my seats:

[captain_underpants]

The seats in my ZHP are the best I've been in. I'm on my 5th BMW.

Here's a look at my seats:

Do they provide enough lateral support to hold you in place? I know that depends on the size of the person in the seat, but im on a fact finding mission here.

How about lumbar support? Are long drives an issue?

[Marcus-SanDiego]

I drove the car from Denver to San Diego. No problem on lumbar support.

As for lateral, I weigh 185 lbs -- and I'm fairly broad. They're pretty snug for me. It will be different for everyone, though. The bolsters are not adjustable (like they are on my E92).

[captain_underpants]

I drove the car from Denver to San Diego. No problem on lumbar support.

As for lateral, I weigh 185 lbs -- and I'm fairly broad. They're pretty snug for me. It will be different for everyone, though. The bolsters are not adjustable (like they are on my E92).

Good good.

My E36 was a maintenance whore, are ZHPs like that as well?

[Marcus-SanDiego]

As for maintenance, I can't speak to that. I have had the car for about eight months. I did the preventive maintenance on the cooling system at 60,000 miles (though I'm not quite at 60,000 miles yet). Others, who have higher mileage, will need to chime in.

[danewilson77]

I am on original coolant system......

My project thread lists everything I had to do around 100k miles.

Droid! Srs Legitness!

[kaboom]

I switch often between an e36m and my ZHP. The e36 is faster everywhere: down low, up top, and we've raced many times from many speeds to verify our feelings.

I like the ride/handling balance of the ZHP a lot more and the interior is obviously much nicer and updated. I personally feel the engine lacks torque, but I'm used to very fast cars, so take that with a grain of salt. That said, the e36 powerplant I find a fantastic piece of work.

Ian

[Mike V]

Thanks for the feedback guys! Keep it coming.



99 Estoril Coupe.

When you say it didn't pull up top like an S50 or have the down low torque of the S52 it kind of makes it seem like the car lacks power in both those areas. I'm sure that's not what you meant though, right? (crosses fingers) I enjoyed the down low torque of the S52.

I didn't find it too raw honestly, I thought it was a great driver focused car. It wasn't as quiet or smooth as a 5 series, but that was the point of buying an M3 to start with. With the next car I'd like something refined for the day to day commute, as long as it's still involving and can keep the enthusiast part of me happy.

Marcus, I am envious of your interior.

I wish I had time to go drive a ZHP right now and see how it feels!


One more thing, how are the seats? I LOVED the feel of my vader seats in the M3.

Haha sorry, it does sound like the zhp engine is a slug with how I compared it. I meant the power delivery seems more linear with the zhp.

As for the seats, I find the zhp seats to be padded considerably less than the Vaders. In the zhp, my butt is fatigued (let the jokes begin heheh) after a couple hours. In the M3, I could go on an 8 hour trip without any soreness. The zhp seats provide a tiltable head rest though. The lack of a separate headrest is one thing I didn't like about the Vaders. On a long trip, I like to rest my head on the headrest with it tilted all the way forward.

kaboom, what year E36 M3 are you speaking of? Have you both driven both cars in the races? I know two brothers who a few years ago owned a 97 M3 and 03 ZHP. When they raced, they were dead even with mostly stock cars. Curious to hear your details...

[az3579]

About the seats -
In my old E30, the seats hold you a LOT tighter. You can feel yourself getting squished when you get in, but not in an uncomfortable way. In that respect, the E46 seats are more comfortable because you're not being squished, even though after a long trip in the E30 it didn't feel bad at all. I do notice a little bit more movement in my seat with the '46, but it's not like I'm sliding around like on non-sport seats. Just a tiny bit of movement; you still stay in place though.

[danewilson77]

To answer your question a lil better......the wiki does a fairly good job at laying out the problem area's....

http://www.bimmerfest.com/wiki/index...ook_out_for.3F

Additionally....

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...e-Issues-DIY-s