Z3M Roadster

Took my C4 in this morning to have the windscreen trim replaced, wheels balanced (bearing in mind the car has been to 3 other citroen dealers, none of whom can balance them) and sort out the aircon as it only blows cold when the car is moving. Arrived at the dealer this evening, the trim has been replaced which is good. I was then told that 2 technician took the car out re-balanced the wheels but were still not happy with it but have no idea what is wrong with the car. As for the aircon problem, they tested this and said that when the revs drop the aircon will get warmer and it is "common." The chap on the service desk was more than helpful, which makes a change for my experience of Citroen and thought that this was rather laughable and unacceptable and he is going to call Citroen UK tomorrow to see how to progress matters. When will this car ever be perfect?!?! I am guessing never

Mine has had new discs and pads, no idea whether it was under warranty. They still squeal though

Brakes are good but the pedal has no progression, the brakes are either ON or OFF and there is little feel to them.

Caterhams are good but overpriced, you'd be far better off getting a sorted Westfield. There are numerous manufacturers making outdoor covers which are more than adequate to store your car under and a number of people I knew from the Westfield club used them. I was glad to have mine garaged though as they are not the most secure cars, no doors to lock etc, plus you can take the handbrake off and wheel it away like a large wheelbarrow. Buy one, you'll never find a car which is so much fun to drive

"Kit cars" are the best to insure. My factory built Westfield was £400 fully comp. Considering the 0-60 was around 4.5secs and I would deem myself as an irresponsible driver at times, I thought it was very cheap. 25 next month so hopefully the premium will fall even further. I have found that TVRs are reasonable to insure too, on my dads last one I had a quote of £500. I guess I now benefit of being on the right side of 20 for insurance purposes

I wouldn't worry about the ESP, I doubt it'll ever cut in apart from on sheet ice. I am 24 with zero no claims (as the c4 is a company car) and still manage to insure my Z3M for £760 on a limited mileage policy (5k per annum)

So long as she is the main driver. As I said, loads of people do it so I personally wouldn't worry. Just don't crash

Bearing in mind they are all money making organisations, they will do everything in their power to find out whether someone is trying to defraud them. It doesn't take a genius to work it out and loads of new drivers do it, so they will automatically become suspicious

As wozza said, adding yourself as a named driver when infact you are the main driver is effectively insurance fraud. I doubt you'd ever get done for fraud, more likely the insurance company would only pay out for the 3rd party in the event of an accident

There are plenty of days during the Autumn and Winter to drive a Seven, I used mine on some seriously cold days but mine did have the benefit of a heater. As for insurance I was 23 when I bought it and it cost me £400pa fully comp for 5k miles with an agreed value.

Stuey, Try www.pistonheads.com classifieds section or otherwise ebay, there are normally a couple of track Caterhams and Westfields for sale and trailers. You'd be better off getting one for use on the road too as there isn't a great deal of difference.

I would like another V8 and do prefer the sound of a V8. My father used to own a TVR Griffith 500 and then a 420 SEAC both of which sounded fantastic and certainly shifted but the scarcity of people who can maintain them and their relative unreliability means running costs are high which disuaded me from buying one. The bonus of the Straight 6 is that there is no smoother engine, unfortunately the BMW EVO engine isn't bullit proof and Vanos' are prone to wearing out, as is the case on mine, bmw are after over £3k for a new one, luckily the Specialist I use can do it for half of that, but still plenty of cash.

Never driven one of the new Mustangs to can't really comment. I am not denying they have quite a reasonable amount of poke and yes you can throw more cash at them by sticking on a blower. I have seen a number of the last shape Cobra 'stangs with big bhp on ebay, just find them all particularly boring cars to look at with dull interiors and no doubt typically American handling.

Too Bling for my liking, can't stand chrome wheels. All show and not that much go.

I went for a drive with someone in a Z1 on Sunday http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c298/ale...mgAnch=imgAnch4 The only Mustang I would consider would be a GT350 replica as I can't afford the real thing. Not a fan of the new ones, they might be quick but find them rather boring. Wouldn't mind a C5 corvette drop top but they are a massive car and I prefer something with a shorter wheelbase for track use. Cars being considered are the V6 clio, Elise Sport 160, Exige and VX220. Perhaps an S2000 if I can find a decent one

You get a far quicker Westfield for the money over a Caterham and arguably better build quality as mine was a factory built car. After 10 months of ragging it around the novelty of the rollerskate wore off and I managed to sell for a healthy profit. Once the Z3 gets off the mark it is a much quicker car (in a straight line) and you have the option to put the roof up if you happen to get caught in a shower, although mine only comes out on sunny days. Time to sell the Z3 in the next couple of months and find a suitable replacement.

The worst problem was with Colliers In Islington, they were carrying out repairs on the car, I came back to find the drivers seat had an oil stain and my nokia handsfree cradle was broken. I was told that it couldn't have been the technician who broke them and made the mark! After arguing with the pillock who runs the garage he replaced the seat cover and I managed to fix the carkit. Best of all they didn't even fix the problem. Without Prejudice - Just in case one of them is reading this

Thanks I am aware the Z3 was built in Spartanburg, I wouldn't normally have bought one, but liked the idea of 321bhp and no traction control, albeit a little more sensible than the Westfield which it replaced. Considering the Z3 has done 65k there isn't a rattle or creak, which is quite incredible for US build quality.

I wouldn't mind so much if the dealers were actually helpful. I have now tried 5 main dealers in London and Essex. None have done what I have asked of them and most of the time the car comes back with none of the problems fixed. I always ring in advance and describe all of the problems so that the parts can be ordered in advance, every time I go to pick the car up they want to book another appointment to fix something which I have already forewarned them about. It is as if they don't know what they are doing and I am banging my head against a brick wall. Unfortunately I didn't have the option to refuse the car as it is a company owned vehicle and the head of our transport department knows little about cars and couldn't give a toss.

Might be a little boring to look at but excellent build quality and handling for the money.

I think it is typical Citroen build quality, but refused to listen to this when I chose it from my company car list as it appeared to be good for tax purposes and had excellent reviews. I can concur it is excellent on tax but the reviews were a little off the mark. I agree that I do like the styling, just a shame that the car is incredibly badly put together. As for driving it to destruction, I am not that fussed about driving it hard as it is by no means fast and I have a 321bhp BMW Z3 to do that in at the weekends. The computer is showing around 50mpg and the exterior and wheels are unmarked bar a few stone chips. I am however on my 5th windscreen. They randomly crack. I was told by Citroen in Islington that this is a known fault and windscreens should only be fitted by Citroen dealers and not RAC Autoglass who my company has an account with, convenient eh?!

There are nice what?

My mirrors are not self dipping as I do not have a VTS. However they do not move at all, you can hear the motors whirring away but the glass stays in the same place until you give it a firm push with your finger. Another flaw to add to the list

I am basing that on my own C4, to date the badges have dropped off the back, the trim inside the tailgate to which the parcel shelf retaining cords attach have both fallen off and now there are some clips rattling around inside the bootlid and both sides of the windscreen trim. Seems like rather a few things to me! I have never had the pleasure of owning a self dismantling car before the c4 and have had quite a number of cars.

My brakes squeaked from the day I got the car and was was told that there was nothing they could do, they cleaned them to no avail. At 35k when all the wheels were replaced they also replaced the discs and pads, within 2k miles they are squeaking again and still do. Is the engine mount replacement a recall? and if so which engines does it affect? Just wait til your cars reach 40k miles, all sorts of bits start to drop off!