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It doesnt compare- its truly unique and fantastic. Id say comparing to a car like a Ferrari- the Ferrari is a race car for the road, while the Z8 is a performance car, it is a road car first and thats what I like about it. It doesnt need to be on the track to be at home. It is useable in everyday situations.

If you could do it all over again would you buy the Z8 or another model?

The Z8 in a heartbeat. This car keeps getting better with more mileage. And if I had a ferrari Id be near a $10,000 service interval. Now I have a car that looks better (IMHO) goes just as fast (C&D's own reviewer said the Z8 pulled ahead of the 360Modena Spider in a road test!), is useable in everyday driving (try that with a ferrari) and has no service costs for 50,000 miles.

Do you drive it more or less than anticipated and what if anything about the car has been a dissapointment?

Well, Id say I drive it about as much as Id figure Id drive it. Ive had it for about 10 months and I have 6500 miles on it.

Here are things that I would list not really as dissapointments, but "nits" to consider:
*manual boot assembly/ tonneau cover: youve got to put this leather cover on manually on the folded down top. It takes about 30-60 seconds once youve gotten used to it- but its still a bit of a PITA (pain in the ---). Why did BMW do this? The marketing says its a bonding experience with the car. I say thats marketing speak. :-) What I hear, and what makes more sense to me, is that they couldnt design an automatic tonneau cover into the car without raising the height of the door and sides of the car, which would have destroyed the beautiful lines of the car. So heres what I do: on short drives that I wont be going fast, I just dont put the cover on- a 10-15 minute drive, or if the weather is sketchey. On longer drives I put the cover on first.

Every review mentions the gauges in the middle as ackward. Its not once you get used to it.

the handling when the car was new was a little "jumpy"- the car wanted to skip over expansion joints more than Id like- but around 4,000 miles or something occured and now the car sticks like glue. I dont know what, but Id have to guess its something to do with the run flat tires.

One thing to remember about cars like this or any speciality car, is that they are intended for a very small audience- so its ok if one of these cars doesnt appeal to you since it only has to appeal to roughly 500 people a year. Whats important, if youre seriously looking for a car like this, is to find the right one for you.

finally, the Z8 comes with a "Driving Experience" that really helps one to enjoy the car on a whole new level.

hope this helps.

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