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      05-10-2009, 11:52 AM   #1
swedish_z4
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Review: My Testdrive Of The New Z4

BMW Group in Sweden had premiere of the new Z4 of course I went to have a look and a test drive.

-DESIGN-

Well, first impressions of the cars outer design was like you seen it on pictures. In the front (which is the most successful part of the car) looks aggressive and really nice. The hood adds beautiful lines to the body as on the new 3-series. At the sides the doors have been shaped and is reminding about the Aero side sills on the older Z4. If it weren't for the backend the design would have got a 5 of 5. The back has become too much rounded and doesn’t feel sporty as the older or doesn’t harmonize with the rest of the cars design. the rear lights feels to much round and I like the old rear lights much better! When you open the boot lid you see the space has been improved. with the roof down you almost have the same space thou opening has been much smaller and the question is what you can fit in with the roof down?

-INTERIOR-

This is the only part (?) which has got only improvements. There is nothing with the old car that you would find anything better. The build quality feels EXCELLENT and can been compared with the bigger cars like the 5 and 7-series. the "sports seats" is more comfortable than sports seats you find in the older cars which already speaks to you that this car is more a luxory car and the older one was more sporty before you have had your test-drive.

-TESTDRIVE-

My test-drive had the 3 liter engine with the twin turbo, adaptive m-suspension and the sports automatic with double clutch. First thing I want to so say is the engine and exhaust sounds perfect. It sounds deeper than an the older 3,0Si and slightly higher volume. So how does it perform? Well guess yourself, I own Z4 -07 3,0Si, 6speed manual m-suspension with 19” tires... The new car weighs exactly 1600kg (that’s 250kg more than my 3,0Si). Although it had the m-suspension the car gets nervous in the cornes when you push it to its limit. And in my opinion it’s too soft to be a sports car. I drove it for 30min and to be honest I couldn’t really notice any big difference in the suspension modes (normal, sport and sport+), and when you make hard braking back end is dancing. Couldn’t really tell if it was because run on flat tires (Would someone tell me why on earth BMW have fitted Dunlop tires on the new Z4?) which made the car nervous in corners and hard breaking or something else.

How about the engine? Well can’t really speak anything bad about it, it performs really well but because the cars if heavier, it doesn’t feel really wild as my old car. It feels there is something missing. I’m not a big fan of automatic transmission at all, but this one really changes the gears quick. I didn’t really understand who the sift paddles worked, never understood who to shift down, but would I buy the new Z4 I would go for the automatic double clutch. It suits the car for its character.


-CONCLUSION-

So do I dislike the new Z4? Of course not! The car is excellent build, looks good, rides good comfortable and is a superb cruiser. This car would be easier to live with because it’s softer and has a real hardtop. Its performs great for what its build for, to be an entertaining cruiser. If you are going to get rid of your old Z4 and buy new one and are expecting it to be sporty as your old one, you'r are going to get disappointed. Not for mention to you who has the Z4M, this is not something for you since BMW have already sad there won’t be any M-version of the new car.

pictures is coming up...
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      05-10-2009, 01:09 PM   #2
swedish_z4
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Here comes pictures...
Attached Images
  
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      05-10-2009, 05:11 PM   #3
Nebraska99
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Thanks.

That was a great write up. Thank you. Im not sure I like those wheels though, they would be tough to clean for someone like me who is a neat freak.
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      05-11-2009, 03:01 AM   #4
jlstyle
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This car would have been much more attractive if it were $10k cheaper.
It's in the AMG/M/Porsche S territory without competitive performance nor brand image. (for regular z4)

You either justify the price by superb design or serious performance but apparently it is oddly placed in the market, especially sdrive 3.5 version.
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      05-11-2009, 06:54 AM   #5
Niels
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jlstyle View Post
This car would have been much more attractive if it were $10k cheaper.
It's in the AMG/M/Porsche S territory without competitive performance nor brand image. (for regular z4)

You either justify the price by superb design or serious performance but apparently it is oddly placed in the market, especially sdrive 3.5 version.
Well, I first wanted to get me a Porsche Cayman, but I had to pay +60k EUR... Performance might be a bit less, but my Z4 "only" came to 47k EUR and I have both a convertible and a coupe...

I don't think you might want to compare the Z4 to Porsche/AMG/TT RS... Neither performance wise, nor price wise.

(My 5 cents... Eurocents, though!)
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      05-11-2009, 07:33 AM   #6
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This car is screaming for an M version which would address the handling issues. With the new announcement that the next M3 will likely be a twin turbo 6, I would think the logical choice would the same for a MZ4. Maybe they could squeeze more out of the 3.0 TT?
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      05-11-2009, 08:18 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Niels View Post
Well, I first wanted to get me a Porsche Cayman, but I had to pay +60k EUR... Performance might be a bit less, but my Z4 "only" came to 47k EUR and I have both a convertible and a coupe...

I don't think you might want to compare the Z4 to Porsche/AMG/TT RS... Neither performance wise, nor price wise.

(My 5 cents... Eurocents, though!)

Very true! Where I live, even the very basic Boxter is at least 20% more expensive if you wanted to compare the price. Cayman is much much more. You pay what you get and the Z4 is a really nice car to drive, even when I test drove the 23i.

We have so many traffic cops and speed cameras on the road and I just wanted to keep my driving licence and have fun at the same time.
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      05-11-2009, 11:23 AM   #8
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Also in Greece the cheaper Boxter costs 67.000 and the cheaper Cayman 66.000 euro. On the other hand the cheaper Z4 will be costs about 52.000-53.000 euro... Chaotic difference between the prices...
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      05-11-2009, 01:55 PM   #9
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Of course my pricing was based on US. I don't know about outside the US.
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      05-12-2009, 05:18 AM   #10
Niels
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jlstyle View Post
Of course my pricing was based on US. I don't know about outside the US.
That's why I stressed the "eurocents"

Different markets = different positions/ranking of the models
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      05-12-2009, 09:27 AM   #11
swedish_z4
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back to topic, hope that the review was any good to you all
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