Took the 3 series in for some quick lunchtime work and my salesperson put me in a 3.0 Z4 and told me to go play and have some fun while I was waiting.

Chassis:
This car is stiff - I don't mean just stiff - I mean it is REALLY STIFF. Significantly stiffer than the Z3. Actually - somehow - BMW has made this convertable "feel" just as stiff, if not stiffer, than our M Coupes. The steering response is equally as impressive. Just as crisp and direct as my Coupe. Did I mention this thing is STIFF!! Overall - VERY IMPRESSED with the car in this category.

Engine:
I had the 3.0. I know there have been several threads comparing the 3.0 to the S52. Eventhough these engines may have similiar specs on paper, the difference between the two is absolutely night and day! The 3.0 does deliver a nice power curve and is very smooth. It is a nice engine. But it is nowhere near the S52. It does not have the S52's ability to deliver torque NOW! It does not have the raw power the S52 puts out. It doesn't have the responsiveness of the S52. If I knew absolutely nothing about either of these engines, I'd swear there was at least 100hp difference between the two. Overall the 3.0 was a nice match for the car - but within 5 minutes, I found myself already wishing I had more power. BMW really needs to put out an M version if they want owners like myself to really consider this car.
Overall - somewhat disappointed...

Exterior:
I have to say - the exterior is growing on me. It is very sexy in person. With the top down it is stunning. I think the car looks better than the Boxster or S2000.
Overall - Impressed!

Interior:
In the pictures the interior was starting to grow on me as well. But in person - the interior felt all over the place. It felt kind of out of place and more like a japanese luxury car. By the end of the drive I had had enough with the interior. Also, way too much aluminum (although I was impressed to find it was real aluminum and not plastic)
Overall - On the fence

Overall I think I like the car - BMW needs to stuff more power in it and maybe tone down the interior a bit. And they REALLY, REALLY need to get the price down - this car stickered at 45k. I'm sorry - this is NOT a 45k car. I don't car how BMW market's it. For 45k, I think I'd buy a used boxster or a convertable vette (I can't believe I just said that)...) if I was in the market for a convertable - actually - I think I'd just buy an M Roadster for under 30k and be very happy with my decision....

Great review. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to post.

I'd be willing to bet that the Z4 Vert is actually stiffer than the M Coupe, the chassis for the Z4 is supposed to be one of the most rigid ever for any production car.

The engine thing, I don't know, I drove a 98 M roadster back to back with my Z3 3.0, and the S52 felt a tad stronger (torque and gearing) and a tad peakier, but at the track, when I took my loaner 98 M Roadster, I got a 13.7 at 101 mph, and my car on OEM tires yielded a 13.89 at 99.5 mph. Less than 2 tenths in reality...

From what I saw on the technical numbers, the Z3 Coupes are still stiffer than the Z4 by a bit. I forget the units of measure, but the Z4s are pretty close to our cars.

the m coupe is stiffer than the z4. it remains the stiffest bmw produced to date (pretty sure on this).

EDIT: dave...what shall we bet on this? how about your car? :devillook

im not positive of the numbers but i believe the z4 is something like 2x or 2.3x stiffer than z3 whereas m coupe is 2.6x stiffer. numbers may not be exact but you get the idea.

I'm not betting anything, maybe a beer, at most. :D

But I'd bet they are close in rigidity, which is impressive for a drop top, no matter how you slice it...

indeed! very impressive....the z4 is extremely well engineered...im having a hard time believing they wont put a bigger engine in considering the VAST amount of space under the hood. i swear if you were on a roadtrip and needed somewhere to sleep you could roll out your damn sleeping bag and camp next to the engine!

Give it time, then. Someone will put an M5 motor in there for shits and giggles... :devillook

M Coupe is stiffer. I can't remember where I saw this, but someone posted some numbers. Some kind of torque/flex numerical way of measuring this kinda thing... I making these numbers up, but something like:

Z3 100
Z4 160
MC 175

The Z4 is dramatically stiffer than the Z3, but a little but less stiff than the Coupe. Damn close though, so I'm guessing it's a pretty nice handling car.

I used to drive a friends 968 vert around, and I already don't like verts, but it was so annoying. It was like having to set the car twice in turns. Once to flex the body and once to settle the suspension.

Originally posted by MCoupeMike
Engine:
... Eventhough these engines may have similiar specs on paper, the difference between the two is absolutely night and day! The 3.0 does deliver a nice power curve and is very smooth. It is a nice engine. But it is nowhere near the S52. It does not have the S52's ability to deliver torque NOW! It does not have the raw power the S52 puts out. It doesn't have the responsiveness of the S52. If I knew absolutely nothing about either of these engines, I'd swear there was at least 100hp difference between the two...



I know what you mean. I've driven a friend's 330 coupe, and had the same thoughts comparing it to my M3. Now, that's not really a fair comparison given that the 330 is heavier, I know, but the throttle response really was disappointing.



Interior:
... way too much aluminum (although I was impressed to find it was real aluminum and not plastic)...



I don't suppose you've seen the Z4 with wood trim interior? Imagine all that aluminum being wood... :eek: In a word, yuck.

Just my two cents.

Actually, I did see the wood version in a catelogue - man it was hideous!!!

It felt kind of out of place and more like a japanese luxury car.

I agree!! I thought I was the only one who did not like the interior.

Have you seen any Z4s on the street in Dayton? I have spotted only one that was not a dealer car. Now that the weather is nicer, you would think more would be on the road. Most days I spot at least 3 new 7 series, but not one Z4.

Renee
'99 M Coupe
'90 Jetta GLI

At $40k + in these times, may not see a lot for a while...

All car segments have good competition now.

2 seaters, coupes and sedans and verts.

The Z3 was fairly dominant in its class in its day, then the Boxster, then the S2000, etc...

They are selling pretty fast at my local $tealer, but I haven't seen any on the road either. And I'm in sunny Florida ;)

stjobs

There's quite a few on the roads up this way, silver, anthracite, a few black ones, and even the merlot and maldives ones...

There are plenty thisa way, but they might all be our service loaners! :D

the Z4, according to BMW, is 250% more rigid than the Z3 roadster.

The M Coupe, according to BMW, is 270% more rigid than the M Roadster.

If the M roadster is more rigid than the Z3 roadster, then you can figure it from there

Originally posted by Renee M Coupe
I agree!! I thought I was the only one who did not like the interior.

Have you seen any Z4s on the street in Dayton? I have spotted only one that was not a dealer car. Now that the weather is nicer, you would think more would be on the road. Most days I spot at least 3 new 7 series, but not one Z4.

Renee
'99 M Coupe
'90 Jetta GLI


a z4 in dayton?? i was in dayton for a week and only saw one bmw...much less a z4. it was an e36 3er---

if i had seen mike in his coupe i might have chased him down!

I did see about 2 dozen lined up in the Spartanburg production facility over Christmas though.

stjobs

I think the actual #'s were posted here B4, the units should be ft*lb/radian.. or something equivalent.

Originally posted by MDork
a z4 in dayton?? i was in dayton for a week and only saw one bmw...much less a z4. it was an e36 3er---

if i had seen mike in his coupe i might have chased him down!


Heck yea - if your in Dayton - look me up!

Renee - I have yet to have seen a Z4 in Dayton - though there are quite a number of BMW's here in Dayton - mostly 3's and Z3's.

Thus far, I am the only Coupe that I am aware of.... :(

Originally posted by zenon
I think the actual #'s were posted here B4, the units should be ft*lb/radian.. or something equivalent.

Yeah, I think that was the units. Sounds reasonable.

So, add Count's quasi numbers to the ft-lbs/rad and we have our approximate guess. :D

if you want the beer, I need cold hard facts... :D

some answers on the stiffness issue...

Hertz, or cycles per second, quantifies a structure’s rigidity in terms of its natural frequency of vibration when set into motion by some disturbance or input. Generally, the higher this frequency, the more rigid the structure.

E46 328i 29.8
M coupe 29.2
E36/2 29.2
E39 29.0
E36/4 28.3
z4 21.0
M roadster 18.4
E36 cabrio 16.6

if you want to express chassis stiffness in terms of Newton-Meter/degree...

z3 roadster: 5,600 Nm/degree
z4 roadster: 14,500 Nm/degree
M-coupe: 16,400 Nm/degree
996 generation 911 porsche: 16,500 Nm/degree
Audi TT: 19,000 Nm/degree
Mini cooper: 24,500 Nm/degree

Originally posted by SilverStreak
if you want the beer, I need cold hard facts... :D


i take mine in the form of some Leff Brown...nice belgium beer for me :)

When I drove the Z4, it was RIGHT after drving the Coupe hard on a favorite backroad. I could feel the cowl shake. Though it was much less than the Z3, it is still a drop top and you can sure as hell feel it. My test drive included some particularly nasty pavement which highlighted the body twist.

The numbers for torsional rigidity were Z4 ~13,200, MCoupe ~14,300, IIRC...

Well, Rukman wins the beer, cuz he posted empirical facts first... when we meeting up, guru, so I can buy you a brew? :)

Missed Rukster's post. I must be going blind. I was close...

What does "IIRC" mean?

IIRC = If I remember correctly.

PM me rukman, you're in NJ, right? :D

mmmmmm...... beer:love1