Just bought a 2000 Z3 2.8 Roadster (wife's car!). Kids are grown and have their own cars so we figured we would buy something fun. My wife feel in love with the car on sight and after test driving several other cars (including a Honda 2000 and Corvette convertable), she picked this one hands-down! She said it was like the last convertable she had (before children)...A 1972 Fiat 124 Spyder! This one looks just as good and we expect it to be a bit more reliable....

We had a few minor problems to work out. The gas door locking mechanism was not catching...minor adjustment to fix. Left HVAC dial light doesn't work. Sub-woofer blown (car manuf date 4/99)...seems like common problems. I found this forum and read all about the car and how to take the various bits apart. We pulled the sub out and took it apart. It's the rear facing speaker with the passive forward facing "speaker" (it's not a real speaker, no wires, just the cone part). Anyway, the speaker was good, although the screws were loose and it was rattling around. The passive speaker seemed okay, but on inspection made small crackling noises when I manipulated it by hand. The bonding was coming apart on the outside edge and it was pulling off the plastic housing. We made several trips to the stereo store and just weren't happy that they were helping us find the solution or even design a good replacement....plus it wasn't cheap. Hey, nothing fits! ha, ha, ha

In the end, with nothing to lose, my wife carefully cut off the passive speaker from the plastic housing by pealing and cutting, pealing and cutting. I reglued it with black high-strength silicone and we put it all back in the car. We didn't use the radio for 24 hours.

I just talked to her and she said it's working great! No crackling and she can hear the bass! Very cool and it was a free fix!

Thanks to the folks that posted the stereo notes...I wouldn't have been brave enough to pull on the covers and other bits without some hints on where to pry.

I guess an oil change is next....Yikes! I've been reading about it....

Happy to meet you all....great site and great info!

Cheers,
Joe