BMW Z3 Buyer's Guide

The Z3 is our data's outstanding cheap roadster: thirteen tracked sales at a median of £2,900 for a rear-driven, straight-six-available BMW two-seater built on the company's most robust nineties engineering. The £27,250 top of the range belongs to the M cars, which have already been collected; everything below them remains conspicuously affordable.

Know your versions

One generation (1996–2002), several distinct markets. The 1.8 and 1.9 four-cylinder cars are the entry, sweet enough but the least likely to appreciate. The 2.0, 2.2 and 2.8 sixes are the connoisseur's pick at barely any premium: our £2,900 median buys into this group. The 3.0i is the best non-M driver's car of the family. M Roadsters and the coupé (the "breadvan", sold in smaller numbers and now the blue chip) sit far above; our £27,250 result is consistent with M Roadster money, with coupés higher still nationally.

What to pay

£1,500 to £3,000 buys running four-cylinder cars and higher-mileage sixes around our median. £4,000 to £7,000 buys the best sixes with history and hardtops. £10,000-plus is where late 3.0is and rough M cars begin; documented M Roadsters and any genuine M Coupé trade from the high teens to well beyond our top result.

What goes wrong

The famous item is the rear differential mounting point in the boot floor, which can crack on hard-used cars, M models especially: inspect from below and price accordingly. Otherwise the list is standard good-era BMW: cooling system components as preventative maintenance, soft-top rear windows and seams, rear shock mounts, and rust around the arches and jacking points on neglected examples. Mechanically the sixes are 250,000-mile engines with oil changes. Parts supply is excellent and cheap.

Our view

A 2.8 Z3 with history at £3,000 to £5,000 is the best value-per-mile open car in our entire dataset: proper straight-six BMW roadster motoring at MX-5 money, with the diff mount checked and the cooling system done. The M cars need no argument from us; their prices have already made it. The sixes will follow the same path in miniature, and the entry fee today remains trivial.