I have now part exchanged my Jetta with my sister for her 06 megane sport tourer and cash my way.

Now i was all set to go for a MK1 MX5 upto around the 3k mark, however i have seen a BMW Z3 for sale up the road from me for 4k. it is the 2.0 6 cylinder one. Has anyone any experience or knowledge of these cars?

I may be tempted if it is a good one.

From past memory of BMW forums, im sure that engine was a bad choice, nice noise, but gutless and slow.

Also I seem to remember the same with the 2.0 being a hairdresser mobile and the larger engines showing up the issues with the chassis in convertible form.

I could be well wide of the mark, so all I'd say is make sure you do plenty of reading up on the car before considering it. Certainly the mx5 is popular for a reason.

As mentioned previously, you really want to be looking at the bigger engines in these cars to get the most out of them (for a 2-seater sports car they're fairly heavy). If you can stretch the budget and find a Z3 M-Roadster, you'll have a cracking fun car

Chris

the more i think about it the more i am going off the idea tbh.

Its a mk1 MX5 or nothing. lol

Go for a Z4 or an MX5

Go for a Z4 or an MX5

Please note "MK1 MX5"

Not got Z4 money lol :-)

Disagree there!

My wife has had the Z3 2.0 Straight six for quite a few years now and its been an excellent car.

Obviously the bigger engined models offer higher levels of performance but if its the entry level models you're looking for then finding the 2.0 version is a great improvement over the hundreds of standard 1.9 versions out there.

It has that bit of extra punch, more torque and sounds much better than the 4 cylinders.

We chose a Z3 as it offered that bit more room than the Japanese alternatives behind the wheel. It is not cramped at all.

It is now past 100,000 miles without any engine related issues. It has had a few issues with the alarm and c/locking etc in the past and you have to make sure you get good rubber on them as they are quite skittish through the bends, but fun never the less.

Cheers!

I will be collecting my Mk1 MX5 s-special type II next Saturday. :-)

Can't wait.

Nice one.........the most honest version of the MX-5's............enjoy

No contest. You made the right call Rob