I am writing to you because of a nasty accident which took place on a motorway "motorväg" just outside Copenhagen, Denmark on Sunday April 29, 2001.

The car was a brand new BMW Z3 Coupé 3.0, which was delivered in December 2000 by BMW , Hamburg. The Z3 model has been on the market for a few years but some changes had been made for the 3.0i which was launched in late 2000, e.g. did BMW replace the ASC system with the ASC+T and other modifications.

The model is manufactured in the USA. Immedately after purchase I discovered that the car did not quite perform as I had expected. It was soft and wobbely, felt insecure in curves and I planned on telling the people at BMW this after the first service at 600 km (the crash occureed after 400 km).

I also wrote an e-mail to Hamann which is a company in Germany that enhances performance on BMW:s and Ferraris, complaining about the bad performance of the car.

I am a very experienced driver, having owned three different BMW:s, the latest one an M5 Touring, tuned by BMW´s Motorsport Division in Munich.

I also work as a photographer for Volvo and have driven both my BMW:s and Volvos on racing circuits in very tough circumstances. This is why I truly can say that the Z3 Coupé was not at all in line with what to expect from a sport´s car of this kind.

We, I and my girlfriend Charlotta, were travelling (with the ASC+T system on) on the motorway at about 120 km/h (speed limit 110 km/h), approaching a curve that leads from one motorway to another I suddenly lowered the speed as the road became more narrow. Now the car starts to skid on all four wheels, I am unable to handle it and correct the car´s performance, we go into the barrier on our left side and crash out to the right side of the road where there is a ditch and then a slope upwards. The car rolls a few times and becomes severely damaged (see picture). No airbags inflate (the car is equipped with four of them), my left arm is thrown out of the driver´s window and is severely damaged. My girlfriend left arm is cut by glass and both our heads as well, probably from the glass-roof.

When the car has stopped rolling we discover that the driver´s door can not be opened and I have to leave the car using the passenger´s door which can be opened.

Per-Anders J.


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