2000 M Coupe or Z3 Coupe?

BMW M Coupe or BMW Z3 Coupe?


This Coupe was posted on flickr.com by Toprope. Based upon the chrome trimmed kidney grille slats, chrome trim ringed headlights and flat M badges, this is a 2000 with an S50 under the hood. I can’t identify with much certainty whether it is an M Coupe or a Z3 Coupe, though. Let’s look at what is from an M: Estoril paint, M badges, oval side mirrors, side grilles, AC Schnitzer dual exhaust, rear axles adequate for E46 M3 18″ Style 67 wheels (18″ x 8″ ET 47, 18″ x 9″ ET 26). Now, what’s from a Z3 Coupe: front and rear bumper, hatch, Z3 rectangular rear view mirror. The seats are appear to be blue, but I can’t see clearly enough if they are two tone, like an M, or all blue, like a Z3. Paint work has obviously been done, given the matched hatch spoiler, and unpainted lower portion of the side mirrors. To me, the most plausible answer is that this is an M Coupe, that has had the front and rear bumper, along with the hatch replaced. Modifying a Z3 Coupe with dual exhaust, is quite a bit of work, not to mention swapping the rear axles (and whatever else would be necessary) to fit the low offset rear wheels, and repainting it from a Z3 color to an M color. What do you think – M Coupe or Z3 Coupe?


BMW M Coupe or BMW Z3 Coupe?
BMW M Coupe or BMW Z3 Coupe?
BMW M Coupe or BMW Z3 Coupe?


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12 Comments

  1. Chris

     /  September 29, 2011

    I’m pretty sure it’s NOT a M-Coupé! I’ve got a 2.8l Coupé in Estoril myself, so the paint does not indicate M. The Front and Rear Bumpers are not M either and if the Exhaust would be M, they would be more in the middle of the Bumper.
    So if you ask me, it’s a 2.8l or 3.0l Coupé with some M-Composites… 😉

    • Jeremy

       /  September 29, 2011

      Estoril has long been a M color, to the best of my knowledge only available from BMW on Ms. I suspect there could be some exceptions to that. Is it possible that your Coupe was repainted Estoril? You make a very good point about the exhaust spacing. This does appear to be further under the taillights, where M exhaust is mostly beneath the hatch. That alone does make it seem more likely a Z3 than an M.

      Thanks for the input!

      • Chris

         /  September 29, 2011

        Nope it’s originally painted in Estroil. There are also E36 M3’s in Estroil in my neighborhood, so i think Estoril is not a M-only-Color 😉

        • Jeremy

           /  September 29, 2011

          Cool. Like I said, there are certainly exceptions. Maybe BMW NA is more stringent on this than outside the US? There are 10 M Coupes in the US that have non-standard colors…which is a very small ratio. Care to send in a submission for your Coupe? I’d love to feature it! There’s a link right at the top of this page.

          • Chris

             /  September 29, 2011

            I’d love to see my Coupe here! 🙂
            I’ll send you some Pictures and some Infos in the next few days 😉

          • Jeremy

             /  September 29, 2011

            Very cool, looking forward to seeing it! If you’ll be taking new photos, would you mind snapping one of the color code label from the strut tower under the hood? I think people would like to see it.

            Thanks!

  2. Matt

     /  September 29, 2011

    The hips look narrow to me. I say Z3.

  3. I say Z3 Coupe. I think those are E46 M3 replicas because they aren’t the right color and don’t look quite right anyway, so it’s not necessary for them to have changed the rear axles to make them fit. That would just leave the mirrors and gills (which are common upgrades) and the exhaust which has been done even though it’s difficult.

  4. Andrew

     /  December 4, 2012

    This is modified Z3 coupe
    So will do I – and doing at the moment
    Double exhaust is not that hard, 67’th rims do fit perfectly on MY z3 coupe, all that mirrors, grills are easily interchangeable. And I think that z3 bumpers are very cool, no need to change them

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