So in the German firm’s own words, the new Z4 has been built as a “conquest” car; its function is to capture customers from rivals such as Audi (the TT), Porsche (Cayman and Boxster) and, of course, Mercedes and its darned SLK.
You can imagine whispered chats in Munich corridors between engineers about bloody marketing men and their unreasonable and contradictory demands for a sports car that mustn’t be too sporty.
For pottering about, the Normal setting suits the Z4. This latest model has grown in all directions apart from upward compared with its predecessor and it feels like a far more substantial car. The real impact of this growth becomes apparent as soon as the tarmac turns twisty – conditions you might imagine a BMW sports car would relish.
The Normal setting becomes too floppy in these more challenging circumstances, but select Sport + and the Z4 will take everything in its capacious stride. Nothing wrong there, but a Cayman or Boxster would demand your attention and reward you by momentarily knocking a decade or two off how old you feel.
While the BMW doesn’t break into a sweat or feel out of its depth, neither does it engage as much as keen drivers will demand.
So it’s a grand tourer more than a fully focused sports car – except the wind noise around the front edge of the roof would be a trifle irritating on a long motorway journey. Overly loud tyre noise would have you turning the music up to a level that would preclude non-shouted conversation. And the multiple storage compartments that are too small for anything other than an iPod would get on your wick over a period of time.
The interior is nicely built and the extra space is very much appreciated, as is the improved visibility, up 14 per cent. But the aluminium roof is the scene stealer, folding in two to vanish into the boot in 20 seconds.
Its lack of weight means you don’t notice any difference in the Z4’s dynamic capabilities when it’s stowed. And it ticks the box of creating an SLK-style coupé and roadster in one.
Raising the roof, however, robs the Z4 of one of its most attractive attributes. It takes too much edge off the three-litre, twin-turbo engine’s noise.
It’s only when you drop the top that you hear the all-aluminium straight-six in all its glorious woofliness, an extra growl specially inserted as the sports auto changes up, a barking blip as it changes down.
It’s this seven-speed gear change, currently only available on the sDrive35i, that proved the most impressive part of this car. As with other double-clutch changes such as the VW group’s DSG system, cogs are swapped quicker than the blink of an eye. But it’s the aforementioned attention to detail, including a superbly seamless hill start function, that sets it apart from rivals.
You might have noticed we’ve skirted around its looks. It’s not ugly in the way of the X3, or visually deceiving like the X6, but it is nonetheless curious.
There are elements of the 7-series about its front end, there’s a 6-series-aping rear and more than a hint of Z8 about its overall shape.
It’s easier on the eye with the roof down and BMW has done well to disguise the compromises inherent with stowing bulky folding hardtop mechanisms.
Shame the concessions over the driving experience haven’t been overcome so satisfactorily. Bloody marketing men.
Give them credit; they’ve done their best to overcome this. They’ve even come up with a new BMW acronym, DDC, or Dynamic Drive Control. With three settings (Normal, Sport and Sport +) you can “tune” the throttle response, gear change time and steering to your liking. Spend extra on the Adaptive M suspension and the ride quality adjusts, too.
You can argue that Normal is too harsh while Sport + is too rigid, with a throttle response that’s overly sharp for drivers who value smooth inputs. But at least you have the choice. For pottering about, the Normal setting suits the Z4. This latest model has grown in all directions apart from upward compared with its predecessor and it feels like a far more substantial car. The real impact of this growth becomes apparent as soon as the tarmac turns twisty – conditions you might imagine a BMW sports car would relish.
The Normal setting becomes too floppy in these more challenging circumstances, but select Sport + and the Z4 will take everything in its capacious stride. Nothing wrong there, but a Cayman or Boxster would demand your attention and reward you by momentarily knocking a decade or two off how old you feel.
While the BMW doesn’t break into a sweat or feel out of its depth, neither does it engage as much as keen drivers will demand.
So it’s a grand tourer more than a fully focused sports car – except the wind noise around the front edge of the roof would be a trifle irritating on a long motorway journey. Overly loud tyre noise would have you turning the music up to a level that would preclude non-shouted conversation. And the multiple storage compartments that are too small for anything other than an iPod would get on your wick over a period of time.
The interior is nicely built and the extra space is very much appreciated, as is the improved visibility, up 14 per cent. But the aluminium roof is the scene stealer, folding in two to vanish into the boot in 20 seconds.
Its lack of weight means you don’t notice any difference in the Z4’s dynamic capabilities when it’s stowed. And it ticks the box of creating an SLK-style coupé and roadster in one.
Raising the roof, however, robs the Z4 of one of its most attractive attributes. It takes too much edge off the three-litre, twin-turbo engine’s noise.
It’s only when you drop the top that you hear the all-aluminium straight-six in all its glorious woofliness, an extra growl specially inserted as the sports auto changes up, a barking blip as it changes down.
It’s this seven-speed gear change, currently only available on the sDrive35i, that proved the most impressive part of this car. As with other double-clutch changes such as the VW group’s DSG system, cogs are swapped quicker than the blink of an eye. But it’s the aforementioned attention to detail, including a superbly seamless hill start function, that sets it apart from rivals.
You might have noticed we’ve skirted around its looks. It’s not ugly in the way of the X3, or visually deceiving like the X6, but it is nonetheless curious.
There are elements of the 7-series about its front end, there’s a 6-series-aping rear and more than a hint of Z8 about its overall shape.
It’s easier on the eye with the roof down and BMW has done well to disguise the compromises inherent with stowing bulky folding hardtop mechanisms.
Shame the concessions over the driving experience haven’t been overcome so satisfactorily. Bloody marketing men.
No comments:
Post a Comment