BMW accentuates the positive
Some cognoscenti sniff at BMW’s Z3 roadster because of its somewhat soft lines and an appearance that is closer to cute and cuddly than to mean and muscular.
Still, next to Mazda’s Miata, also sniffed at by some as too gentle-looking, the road- ster seen most often around Southern California is the Z3. Someone must like it.
Now, though, the Z3 is gone, replaced by BMW’s Z4. And nobody will be able to stick this nifty two-seater into a gender cubbyhole.
The Z4 is a great car to drive. It’s even fun to be a passenger in it, although roadsters are about driving, not riding. It takes everything that made the Z3 good and makes it better. When the Z3 arrived in 1996, it provided a step up from the Miata. Then came Porsche with the Boxster and Honda with the S2000, and the Z3 no longer sat at the top of the heap.
The Z4, born in BMW’s Designworks USA studio near Thousand Oaks, helps fix that.
Various enthusiast books have called it as close to the Porsche Boxster in handling and scoot as it could get without being a Boxster. The base Z4 with a 2.5-liter, 184-horsepower engine starts at almost $10,000 less than a Boxster, albeit with a manually operated ragtop versus the Porsche’s standard power top. (An electric-powered convertible adds $750 to the Bimmer, but the top is so easy to operate, it’s almost silly to spend the extra money.)
Price-wise, the Z4’s $33,795 base model is just $735 more than the Honda S2000, and I’d bet there aren’t many who will cross-shop the two.
The four-cylinder, 240-horse Honda is designed by and for those who love the high-revving, edge-of-seat performance of a racing motorcycle in sports-car drag. The Z4 is a solid Teutonic road machine, not quite capable of matching the gutsier Honda’s performance numbers but a lot more fun to drive at lower speeds -- which, after all, is where most people who use their cars as daily drivers spend most of their time on the road.
For those not satisfied with the 2.5i (for fuel-injected) Z4’s numbers, an extra $7,200 will put you into the 3.0-liter, 225-horsepower version, which also has bigger tires and wheels and a standard six-speed manual transmission instead of the 2.5i’s five-speed.
A clutch-less six-speed sequential will be available as an option in both models in April, and right now there’s a five-speed automatic available with the driver-selectable shifting option that BMW calls Steptronic.
Back to the 3.0i for a moment -- it will beat the Honda S2000 in a sprint to 60 mph, but $7,000 is a lot of scratch for boasting rights to that accomplishment.
The Z4’s fuel economy is estimated at 20 miles per gallon city and 28 highway for the manual transmission 2.5i and 21/28 for the 2.5 with an automatic transmission. The 3.0i is rated at 21/29 with manual (a benefit of the sixth speed) and 20/28 for the automatic model.
I drove the 2.5i and 3.0i in both manual and automatic, and although I have a definite bias toward manuals in sports cars, I found the 3.0 with automatic to be quite acceptable. The 2.5-liter with automatic -- well, let’s just say the ho-hum factor was pretty noticeable at higher speeds.
The 2.5-liter with five-speed manual was as quick as the 3.0 with automatic up through second gear, but the car got a bit sluggish in fourth at 70-80 mph on the freeway and needed to be downshifted if a surge of acceleration was needed.
Handling was, well, BMW-like in both models. The Z4 rides on a modified version of the current-generation 3-Series suspension, whereas the Z3 used an older 3-Series setup that already was out of date when the roadster was born.
Though the 2.5i with standard suspension felt a bit light at speed and could have used wider tires upfront to help anchor it, there was nothing twitchy or nervous-making about it. The base model rides on 16-inch rubber, the 3.0i on 17-inch tires. BMW’s Dynamic Stability Control, which includes traction and brake-force controls and anti-lock braking, is standard on both models.
The Z4 has nearly perfect 50-50 front-to-rear weight balance, and although there are no real mountains to scoot around in South Carolina, where BMW staged the press introduction, the car hugged the curves with all the stickiness anyone could ask for.
Acceleration is great in the 2.5i and terrific in the 3.0i, particularly in models with manual transmissions. While I didn’t get to top speed in either version, I’ve no doubt the 2.5i will hit BMW’s claim of 146 mph while the 3.0i should have no trouble topping out at its electronically limited max of 155 mph.
The optional sports suspension ($1,500) is a must for those who want to push things as far as they will go. It offers stiffer shocks and springs, a slightly lower ride height and Dynamic Driving Control, which reduces power assist to the electric power steering, punches up acceleration response and provides sportier shifting in models with automatic transmissions.
Styling is where the BMW is likely to be most polarizing: the new look is love-it-or-hate-it. In pictures, which don’t do the car justice, it looks like bits and pieces of several vehicles grafted together.
In person, though, the design grew on me quickly. It is not beautiful, but it is attractive, and the way sunlight and shadow play off the sheet-metal surfaces is downright captivating.
The Z4 is a tad longer and wider than its predecessor -- about 1.5 inches each way -- and the body is stiffer for improved handling. The stiffness was achieved with better chassis bracing, but the Z4 gains just 30 pounds to tip the scales at about 3,000.
The extra width makes the Z4’s cabin feel far roomier than the Z3’s, as does the sweeping one-piece dash that eliminates the claustrophobic feeling in the Z3’s divided cockpit. The extra length is used up mainly by the trunk, leaving legroom in the cabin the same as in the Z3 but making the trunk nearly twice as big -- now you can get a couple of suitcases in there.
Seats are nicely cushioned and bolstered. In my more than 300 miles of driving on the highways and byways from coastal Charleston to BMW’s U.S. plant at hilly Spartanburg, comfort never became a question.
The lined canvas top is amazingly quiet and provides sufficient headroom for very tall drivers. And now there’s a real glass rear window, instead of scratched and cracking plastic. Another neat feature is a hard plastic leading edge on the top that doubles as the tonneau when it is folded away, eliminating the need for a separate cover.
Knobs, gauges and switches are where they should be and easy enough to use. The cup holders pull out of the ends of the dash, keeping liquids close to the doors and close at hand but out of the way when serious driving business must be done.
My only gripes about the interior are the size and location of the glove box -- tiny and down low on the passenger side, so that it hit my shins when I opened it -- and the hideous wood dash option. The standard brushed aluminum is far more attractive and doesn’t hold fingerprints.
The 2.5i model comes with vinyl as the standard upholstery fabric, leather optional; the 3.0 has two levels of leather, the optional “extended” package using upgraded cowhide and taking it up onto the sun visors, windshield frame and door panels.
Safety features include front air bags, side-impact air bags and knee air bags, as well as standard twin roll bars and a reinforced windshield frame.
The base model’s audio system is a 10-speaker setup with a single-CD player. An upgraded system with higher-quality speakers and a pair of subwoofers comes standard in the 3.0i and is optional in the 2.5i.
Final words: If you liked the Z3, you’ll love the Z4. If you didn’t like the Z3, you still might love the Z4. A worthy addition to any roadster shopper’s list.
