Thinking of buying Z4 M. Any suggestions on lease vs buy options?
Any info on transmission, driving and electronic controls?

Def get manual.

Wow. Those are some pretty general questions!

Leasing a BMW, although not a good value in and of itself, can be a way to spread your payments on one car over a longer term than BMW typically allows financing for. If you've got the money, buy it outright.

The coupe will be more rigid than the roadster (and IMO, better looking). The rigidity will most significantly come into play during high performance driving (such as on a track).

IMO, the z4m coupe is one of the best looking and best driving car that BMW has made.

As far as the transmission goes, go manual or go home. Although BMW has been equiping their cars with better and better automatic transmissions, a M car deserves only a manual. Are the z4 Ms even offered with automatics/SMG?

Last thought: BMW is developing a V8 for the upcoming M3 and I wouldn't be surprised if in 2 years or less the z4 Ms will be sold with this motor instead of the s54.

Wow. Those are some pretty general questions!

Leasing a BMW, although not a good value in and of itself, can be a way to spread your payments on one car over a longer term than BMW typically allows financing for. If you've got the money, buy it outright.

The coupe will be more rigid than the roadster (and IMO, better looking). The rigidity will most significantly come into play during high performance driving (such as on a track).

IMO, the z4m coupe is one of the best looking and best driving car that BMW has made.

As far as the transmission goes, go manual or go home. Although BMW has been equiping their cars with better and better automatic transmissions, a M car deserves only a manual. Are the z4 Ms even offered with automatics/SMG?

Last thought: BMW is developing a V8 for the upcoming M3 and I wouldn't be surprised if in 2 years or less the z4 Ms will be sold with this motor instead of the s54.

couldn't of said it better :buttrock

Def get manual.
They only come in manual.

They only come in manual.
do they? i could have sworn i saw an SMG in one yesterday at the dealer when my dad was testdriving them....

I wish I could afford one. It is the first new model that BMW has put out that I really like.

Correct... M Roadsters/Coupes only come in manual... no SMG option. The reason being is that the M Roadsters/Coupes use a variant of the non-M Z transmission, not the E46 M3 transmission (which is SMG capable). If they put SMG on the M Roadster/Coupe it would be the slower non-shift-speed-adjustable SMG that would be found on the standard Z4.

do they? i could have sworn i saw an SMG in one yesterday at the dealer when my dad was testdriving them....

There are no paddle-shift manual Z4s made anymore. The 2003-2005 models had SMG (really SSG, which is SMG-lite) and that was dropped after the facelift. I think the 2006+ models have the paddle-shift autos, though.

BMW financial services always incentivize leasing, and never financing, so unless you can get cheap money from your own bank to finance the car, you should pay cash for it or lease it. I leased my mcoupe for 36 months and may end up buying it because I love it so much, which is definitely the most expensive way to "buy" a car. Leasing is great for people like me who flip their cars every 2-3 years because lease payments are so much lower than finance payments, so in the long run you end up spending less money. The M Coupe is a good candidate for leasing because it's one of those cars that doesn't have the practical staying power of a sedan or even like a 3 series coupe with some utility.

Also, lease rates on all the Z4 models, including the M coupe are quite good this month.

Just as an aside -
I was suprised at the variance in residual % on the Z4 vs Z4M.....with the "standard" Z4 holding a greater % of it's value.
instinct would think it was the other way around - other than the glut of '06 M's that seem to still be around.....
lease is a good way to make sure that you're in love w/ this car - and - not the 2010 new Z - or the version that will get the Turbo6 and/or V8 - or the new M3 series.....
only a 24/36 mth committment.
me - i may fall deeply in love - or - in 36 mths, there may be greener pastures......
that's the fun part.

BMW financial services always incentivize leasing, and never financing, so unless you can get cheap money from your own bank to finance the car, you should pay cash for it or lease it. I leased my mcoupe for 36 months and may end up buying it because I love it so much, which is definitely the most expensive way to "buy" a car. Leasing is great for people like me who flip their cars every 2-3 years because lease payments are so much lower than finance payments, so in the long run you end up spending less money. The M Coupe is a good candidate for leasing because it's one of those cars that doesn't have the practical staying power of a sedan or even like a 3 series coupe with some utility.

Also, lease rates on all the Z4 models, including the M coupe are quite good this month.

If you can write-off your lease for business, buying the car at the end of the lease term is actually cheaper than buying the car outright.

~ Ian