Z4 at Chicago as a Daily Car ?

Hi All,
I am very close to a new Z4 lease deal for 2 years. I live at Chicago suburbs and drive to nearby states as a Consultant by profession. Most of my driving will be at Highways Eg: going from Chicago to Milwaukee at client site for a week. Or for another week going from Chicago to Indy.

If I lease a car then I can claim mileage and I get to drive a car that I want. Otherwise I get a rental car which mostly sucks.

Is Z4 a realistic car in my situation ? I obviously plan to buy the winter tires as an added investment before the cold Chicago winter. But would I be able to drive the Z4 in winter time at all ?

Would appreciate responses from Z4 owners who have had similar experience.

Thanks..
Puneet

All. Just following up if there are any inputs to this question. Would really appreciate some responses. Thanks.

You said it yourself that your alternative "mostly sucks". I had the same wayward thoughts when I tried to convince myself that I should be driving my 9 year old 330i as a daily car and only drive the new Z4-35is on weekends only. That lasted about 3 days. As was discussed here before, the Z4 is a perfect daily car. Its a little hard riding (and I have the 19" run flats), but its soooo fun to drive and it doesn't let you forget it, ever.

In my situation, I live in the northern area of San Diego and drive downtown via freeway every day-- about 30 miles each way. The weather is almost always perfect and traffic not that bad since I hit the road at 6am. Top goes down on my ride home.

Your winter issue, however, is the problem. I don't think I would want to take my car out in the snow and ice and risk damage from salt and being hit by other drivers skidding in ice who couldn't stop in time. Heck, I don't take mine out during those rare days when it rains. I have my 330i for that.. and for those other iffy trips like parking at a crowded mall.

So the answer may be that yes the Z4 can be your daily car except that its best to have a backup ride for those other cases.

Yes, you could definitely use the Z4 as a daily driver especially if you put winter tires on it. Remember, winter tires on a RWD vehicle is ALWAYS better than all-season tires on an AWD vehicle.

Since you're leasing, the wintery weather, salt, potholes, etc shouldn't concern you since it won't be your problem after the lease is up.

I'm in Illinois too and I got a couple of quotes for the Z4, which I thought were too high (compared to what everyone else is getting), but that's likely because of Illinois' ridiculous (fraudulent) tax laws for leasing a car. 99% of states only tax you on the monthly lease payment, but IL and TX tax you on the ENTIRE purchase price of the car even if you're just leasing for 2 or 3 years. On a $50,000 car that adds up to paying more than $2,000 in taxes over the course of a 3 year lease.

Please post the deal you get on the Z4 if you decide to get one. The car looks gorgeous especially in certain color combinations. (My choice would be Silver or Gray with Red interior)

I'm using my Zed as my daily driver, however we have MUCH milder winters here. My main concern with the Z in Chicago's winters would be ground clearance. There isn't a lot of clearance with this car so you had better make sure that the streets you intend to drive get plowed properly. No winter tire is going to save you in deep snow. The car just rides way to low for that.

I drove my 2011 Z4 here in Denver on Blizzaks all winter with no problems.