My Z3

[AutobahnSHO]

Bump...

Got a good reminder that the anniversery is up because I had to take it through inspection. 

Everything is good. No issues in 2 years of ownership and it went through NJ inspection with no issues. Super happy with the car and hoping to keep it the rest of my life. 

 

Saw one in the parking lot 35min ago, love them!

[SJ_GTI]

As an aside, as of lunchtime the odometer was up to 27,381, so running at about 1500 miles a year so far.

[MrH]

As an aside, as of lunchtime the odometer was up to 27,381, so running at about 1500 miles a year so far.

[SJ_GTI]

I live close to work, so I don't put that many miles on my car. I think I've put about ~4000 miles on my Golf in the last year. It will be five years old next week and I am a bit under 25,000 miles total.

[FoMoJo]

I live close to work, so I don't put that many miles on my car. I think I've put about ~4000 miles on my Golf in the last year. It will be five years old next week and I am a bit under 25,000 miles total.

Time for some track time in the Z3.

[AutobahnSHO]

Time for some track time in the Z3.

Or at least weekend drives!!

[MrH]

I live close to work, so I don't put that many miles on my car. I think I've put about ~4000 miles on my Golf in the last year. It will be five years old next week and I am a bit under 25,000 miles total.

Wow, wild.  You barely drive.  You should just get a golf cart to roam around in

[SJ_GTI]

Wow, wild.  You barely drive.  You should just get a golf cart to roam around in

Apart from that the short work commute, my family also lives really close. They are about ~7 miles away (opposite direction from work) and, currently, both my younger brothers, my dad, and my mom all live within walking distance to each other in the same neighborhood. So even when I go to visit family I usually just park at one house and then walk over to the others to say hi. 

Speaking of gold carts, that seems to be a bit of a trend with families in my neighborhood. I see groups of kids riding around all the time. I presume they are going between each others' houses. The nearest golf course is about a mile away as the crow flies, but you would have to drive ~3-4 miles to get there (no direct path).

[AutobahnSHO]

Apart from that the short work commute, my family also lives really close. They are about ~7 miles away (opposite direction from work) and, currently, both my younger brothers, my dad, and my mom all live within walking distance to each other in the same neighborhood. So even when I go to visit family I usually just park at one house and then walk over to the others to say hi. 

Speaking of gold carts, that seems to be a bit of a trend with families in my neighborhood. I see groups of kids riding around all the time. I presume they are going between each others' houses. The nearest golf course is about a mile away as the crow flies, but you would have to drive ~3-4 miles to get there (no direct path).

Golf carts have always been big in the south- and the kids that can't drive yet are often the biggest users.

[JWC]

My town was under a lot of pressure to allow golf carts on the streets....and finally passed a ordinance allowing them as long as they had headlamps, wipers, and a rear utility reflector. This happened after the police stopped my old boss (owner of the business) at the Ford dealership was pulled over several times while driving his Th!nk Neighbor in town.

You still need a driver's license.

[SJ_GTI]

Bump...

Still have the Z3, still running about ~1500 miles per year. It is just under 29k right now. It should break the 30k mark sometime next year.

Haven't had any mechanical issues in the last year and it is still fun to drive. Sometimes I'll decide to "run errands" on a nice weekend day just as an excuse to drive it around.

[MrH]

1,500 miles a year?!?

[CALL_911]

Honestly I probably put less than that on my S2000

[Raza]

1,500 miles a year?!?

More than I drive 

[Eye of the Tiger]

I put more miles than that on my tool cart.

[Soup DeVille]

I put more miles than that on my tool cart.

You need to motorize that bich.

[SJ_GTI]

Little bit of an update. A couple weeks ago my Z3 wouldn't start, battery was dead. I tried jump starting it last week when it got warm out but it still couldn't start (even though the accessories would then at least be powered). I thought maybe it was something worse than just a dead battery. Anyway I had it towed to a mechanic but it did indeed just turn out to be a dead battery that just couldn't hold any charge. So kind of irritating but at least it wasn't expensive. This is actually the first (sort of) mechanical issue I've had with the car since initial purchase and getting it prepped so pretty happy about how it has gone so far. Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.

[AutobahnSHO]

Glad that was easy!

[r0tor]

I've had tons of issues trying to keep a healthy battery in my not very often used Mazda.  On my third different manufacturer battery charger

[giant_mtb]

I've had tons of issues trying to keep a healthy battery in my not very often used Mazda.  On my third different manufacturer battery charger

Optima Yellowtop.

[r0tor]

That's probably my next try... Been trying to keep Optima Red top alive with trickle charging with rather poor amounts of success

[giant_mtb]

That's probably my next try... Been trying to keep Optima Red top alive with trickle charging with rather poor amounts of success

An expensive try, but perhaps cheaper than continuing to buy different trickle chargers...sorta surprised that hasn't worked, though.

[CaminoRacer]

My Optima red top + Optima trickle charger has worked great in the El Camino, but I'm guessing the battery drain is a lot higher on a newer Mazda with more electronics, plus wankels are harder to start from what I've heard.

[SJ_GTI]

So for these trickle chargers, at what point is it worth it to have one? In the Spring/Summer/Fall I am driving my BMW 1-2 times a week (sometimes more). In the winter is when it can sit for weeks at a time though. I'll only take it out if it is over 45F since it has summer tires. In a mild winter it will still get driven pretty often.

[CaminoRacer]

If you don't notice any slow cranking, it's fine.

The El Camino has a mechanical fuel pump so it can take a few cranks just to get fuel into the carb after it's sat dry for a couple of months. So it's nice to have the battery at 100% then.

[giant_mtb]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about it. If it starts fine when you drive it, the battery's fine. No charger needed.

[r0tor]

So for these trickle chargers, at what point is it worth it to have one? In the Spring/Summer/Fall I am driving my BMW 1-2 times a week (sometimes more). In the winter is when it can sit for weeks at a time though. I'll only take it out if it is over 45F since it has summer tires. In a mild winter it will still get driven pretty often.

I thought that keeping the voltage good will increase the lifespan of the onboard computers... But I just seem to kill the battery every couple years doing it

[Laconian]

Parastic battery drain is a huge problem on a lot of Mazdas for some reason.

https://davidmuller.github.io/posts/2023/04/10/how-i-fixed-a-parasitic-drain-in-408-days.html

[giant_mtb]

I thought that keeping the voltage good will increase the lifespan of the onboard computers... But I just seem to kill the battery every couple years doing it

Could always just make a habit of starting it and letting it run every week or two for 15-20 minutes.

[SJ_GTI]

Took my Z3 through inspection yesterday, so it was a reminder that I have had the car for another year. SO far 4 years is no major issues. The dead battery earlier this year has been the only issue since getting it initially checked out.

Car still drives great. Love the power delivery from the I6. Even though it is slower than my Golf I prefer the linear power delivery. The engine is so smooth. It feels just as comfortable at 6k RPM's as it does at 2k RPM's. I love the way it sounds at high revs so I am running it up to red line pretty often when I do drive it.

That being said, living so close to work and having two cars means I don't put a lot of miles on either car. The Z3 is at 29304 miles as of this morning.