My personal car reviews: BMW Z4

MacGuffin

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Location
Wilhelmshaven, Germany
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'17 Ford Mustang GT Fastback
So I drove by my trusted car rental yesterday around noon to check if something interesting was parked there and if I could get it, if that was the case. I immediately saw that Z4, so I stopped and asked if it was taken.

"It's not taken but it's going out tomorrow".

"Going out" in car rental terms means, it's going to be sold secondhand as a fleet or company car after it's done its duty for the rental.

"So when does it have to be back?" I asked with a grin.
"It goes out at ten. You wanna have it till then?"
"Sure, why not? Weather seems fine for a cabrio." (I always try to sound a bit desinterested, even when I'm drooling)
"Okay, I give you the Golf price, because it's not a full day."
"Fine with me".

So to whoever bought this one: If you are reading this and recognize your car, be sure that I gave your new baby a proper shakedown, before it will probably only be used for carrying your wife shopping or to mettings with their friends, never making use of the paddle shift or the sport settings again :mrgreen:

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As you can see, it's the 3-liter 6-cylinder with 258 HP, or -- in BMW language -- an "SDrive30i".

258 HP doesn't sound too much but it is enough to propel the car from 0-100 km/h in 5.8 seconds, according to the data sheet. I managed about 6.3 seconds in my best attempt but hey, the tank was full and I'm a big, fat bloke. So I think it's ok. Way enough spare room to humiliate a Golf GTI in any case. But I' getting ahead of myself.

My first thoughts were: "Oh dear, it's cramped in here. Oh, wait... that's just because the previous customer must have been a midget. Ah, seat completely down and back and everything's fine. Wait, what's that? Now I have some kind of mound in front of me. Oh, that's just the bonnet."

After adjusting everything and finally finding out how to get the roof down without the car pinging to me in protest (you have to snap in the safety cover in the boot first), I could finally drive off and take some time to take a look at the interior and I must say I like it. Much. Not sure about the outside colour of the car but the white leather, the white alcantara in the doors and the dark wood on the dashboard completely match my taste. This definitely is a very nice place to be and I really like how BMW made the interior look asynchronous in some places to break the geometry. Needless to say that the quality impression is flawless. So I decided to give you some of the full sized pics instead of the shrinked down versions this time:

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Of course this is not a practical car. The boot space is tiny and there is only a tiny storage space behind the seats but at least with a net to fix things in place.

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The boot with the roof closed (the jacket is mine, nobody was killed in this car -- so far)

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The boot with the roof open. It only opens, when that safety cover below is snapped in place

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There is a tiny bit of storage space behind the seats for some snacks or drinks maybe -- or something to read. Not more

Also the outside visibility is rather poor, especially with the roof closed.

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That's the view I had. I held the camera right in front of my eyes for that. You can imagine that with the roof closed, I had trouble looking at traffic lights.

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If you wanna park backwards with the roof closed, I can only say: Good luck. Parking sensors should not be an optional extra anymore with these cars

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The wind hatch (or whatever it is called) kinda obscures the view through the rear view mirror

Enough talk about the inside. How is it to drive it? The Z4 has been praised by reviewers all over the world and I wondered if that was justified or not.

The first thing I have to say, is that the engine is brilliant. But that's no surprise, because it's a BMW 6-cylinder and those have all been brilliant for decades. The power is there immediately without a millisecond of hesitation and it stays until the engine hits the rev limiter.

They also did quite good work on the soundscape. The engine/exhaust has the full range from purring like a kitten over growling and roaring like a tiger to screaming like a... well, kinda like a leopard when you stepped on its tail (not that you ever wanna hear that noise for real).

Anyway, the sound is always pleasant, there is no screeching and its never shrill. Even at high revs thare is a certain burbly undertone, kinda like a sore throat. I dunno if the videos caught that right, though.

Only it could have been a bit louder. It's a nice sound but frankly I would have liked to see pedestrians jump, when I floored the throttle in town, instead of them looked anoyed at me, shaking their heads. A sports car should startle people with its sound, when you push the accelerator. And the Z4 is not quite there yet.

I still haven't been able to make a final judgement of the road behaviour, though. This car has two faces, kinda like Jekyll and Hyde.

You can treat it like a cruiser and it will carry you soft and comfy. Not as comfy as a sedan or even a hatchback (you'll always have a clear impression of the structure of the road surface, no matter what) but acceptable. And in the "Normal" mode and in automatic it is completely unspectacular, too.

But it can also be a real punk, tail-happy with its rear end kicking out, jumping and shifting over bumps in the road, yet sticking to the road in corners like a slot car. It seemingly tries teasing you into being more risky, when in "Sport" mode, whispering "Come on, is that all you can give me?" in its 6-cylinder voice to you.

That's a trap, though, because if you listen to that and reply "Watch and learn!", you'll be in trouble in no time. A few times the ESP had to kick in, when I was flooring it too early in a corner. So the "Sport+" button with the ESP off isn't really an option for me, being not a racing driver. At least not on public roads. I know my limits. But not everyone does. Better stay with your pimped hatchbacks, young ones ;)

By the way: It's the first time I drove a car with a paddle shift system, that really does work properly fast -- and not only in slow-motion. I needed a couple of minutes to get used to it and it surely doesn't come as natural, as a classic manual, but it still was fun. Strange thing is, that in automartic mode the car only uses 5 gears, while in manual mode you have 6 to your disposition. Weird...

A clear flaw in the road behaviour is the lack of directional stability: Take your eyes off the road for a moment and you'll find yourself getting near the left or right side of the road within seconds. You have to constanly look ahead and driving this car one-handed it a real pain, because the steering has a healthy heaviness. It's not a car for turning on the spot with one finger. In other words: Even when you're cruising, the Z4 demands your full attention, especially since it is kinda sensitive to crosswinds and ruts.

It's also not a long-distance car, not a GT, because even though it has a metal roof, the noise gets nearly unbearable at higher speeds. Honestly: It love to drive fast on the Autobahn but it was no fun getting this car to 260 km/h (it's top speed without hitting a limiter), because my ears started bleeding. I'd say that 140 to 160 Km/h is the maximum you can bear over a longer time -- or you put in some ear-plugs.

There's another thing that prevents you from driving fast, though: Fuel consumption. Honestly: I did about 100 km on the Autobahn and that made the fuel tank half empty!! First I thought: "Wow that tank must be really tiny". And it actually is: 55 liters, that's the same as my Golf.

But when I brought it back today, I talked to the guy from the car rental and he laughed and said, that he once drove a Z4 with that engine to Bremen (about 120 km from here) and wasn't able to get back without refuelling.

So if you drive the car the way it's intended to be driven, you will have to live with a binge-drinker. However, if you drive like a woman on her way to the gym, you can probably match the consumption figure of 27.7 MPG (8.5 liters/100 km) BMW published in their data sheets. Realistically, though, if you wanna have some fun, you probably will have to live with about 16-19 MPG (12-15 liters/100 km).

That's enough about econmonics, though, I think.

The bottom line is, that like a Mercedes SLK or any other hopelessly impractical roadsters out there, this is a car for fun driving only. For taking it out on a sunny day, looking for some empty back road and then have fun with the roof down.

It's a rather expensive solution for not having to go from A to B but still... I like it. Very much. But I think I couldn't live with it on a daily basis, because there will be times, when you simply have to drive somewhere and not just for fun. And that's when you will wish for another car, something relaxing and convenient. Trust me ;)

First videos are already up. I made two acceleration demos, one with the roof open and one with the roof closed:
[video=youtube;y-GT8UFPSbU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-GT8UFPSbU[/video]

Then I took it around town with the roof open:

And the inevitable Autobahn speed drive:
You can tell by the way the picture is shaking, that this isn't your usual, comfy Autobahn cruiser. This was quite stressy.

Coming up is some irresponsible driving on country roads ;)
 
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Is that U.K. mpg or U.S. mpg?
 
I think it's because at higher speeds the car lacks stability in general. Did you watch the Autobahn video? I couldn't hold the camera steady, because the car was so jumpy at times. Not that it's dangerous but it keeps you busy all the time and it isn't the relaxed kind of driving I like in an Audi A6 for or a Mercedes E-Class Coup? for example.
 
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^ Me too, I like the row of circular switches underneath the vents.
 
So here is the said irresponsible driving :D



At 1:26 in the second video the car actually jumped over the bump and had all 4 wheels in the air for a fraction of a second.
 
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No idea, I never drove the previous Z4.
 
I think the old one looked tuffer than this. This is more like an SLK so it has a bit girly image. It's not a proper no nonsense type of roadster.
Haven't driven any Z4 so can't say which one is better to drive. Probably the new one.

Nice review by the way. The interior looks very nice. Love the leather on the dashboard.
There are nothing hopelessly impractical in this car though. There are windows, there's a roof, there are door handles, there are storage space, it's an automatic :blink:, it won't overheat, it won't break down all the time, it won't toast your legs, it's still pretty quiet, greenpeace won't blow it up if you leave it somewhere, you can go over speed bumps with it, it's small and easy to park and you can equip one even with cup holders! Ok, the fuel tank is a bit small. :lol:

I don't think the ESP off button is that bad. It just makes the driver more responsible.
 
Nice car and nice sound! You can see the fuel needle dipping at full speed, that thing is thirsty :lol:
If it's that tail happy BMW could tie the off-button to the GPS and mark it RACE instead.
 
There are nothing hopelessly impractical in this car though. There are windows, there's a roof, there are door handles, there are storage space, it's an automatic :blink:, it won't overheat, it won't break down all the time, it won't toast your legs, it's still pretty quiet, greenpeace won't blow it up if you leave it somewhere, you can go over speed bumps with it, it's small and easy to park and you can equip one even with cup holders! Ok, the fuel tank is a bit small. :lol: I don't think the ESP off button is that bad. It just makes the driver more responsible.

If you think it's too unmanly for you, you can always try what I did: Go out at 5 o'clock in the morning at 8? C and drive around for an hour with the roof open in just a sweat shirt. You'll be glad there's heated seats :p

Nice car and nice sound! You can see the fuel needle dipping at full speed, that thing is thirsty :lol:

You can say that out loud, man. Here are two screenshots from the Autobahn video for comparison. First a screenshot at the beginning of the video, before entering the Autobahn:

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It's 4:42 p.m. and the odometer shows 3273 km. The estimated range is 404 km.

And here's 4 minutes and 15 km later:
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The needle of the fuel tank has dramatically dropped. As has the estimated range: It's now 357 km. I can tell you that by the end of the Autobahn drive about 20 minutes later, it was down to 250 km and the tank was half empty. And after I took the video, I mostly stayed below 180 km/h.

But of course one of those new GM V8's they spend a billion dollars on, will be a lot more economical :p
 
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Lovely interior, exactly what I expected from BMW.

And great review as usual!

oh btw, have you tried to redline the engine/gears yet? With the paddle shift model, you can only rev the engine to 7000rpm in neutral, but the box changes gears @ 7500rpm when full throttled.
 
oh btw, have you tried to redline the engine/gears yet? With the paddle shift model, you can only rev the engine to 7000rpm in neutral, but the box changes gears @ 7500rpm when full throttled.

Frankly I'm not sure, since I didn't always look at the rev counter.
 
Another awesome review. :cool:


You've probably been asked this many times, but what kind of camera do you use and how do you mount it?
 
I use this one:
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I picked it, because it had the least rattling noises of all the digital cameras in the store.

As for how I mount it, I usually use a tripod and fix that with duct tape. In my review of the Audi Q7 you can see it on the pictures.
 
before it will probably only be used for carrying your wife shopping or to mettings with their friends, never making use of the paddle shift or the sport settings again

:lol: That perfectly describes my mom and her Z4.

There is one key difference between the old and new model Z4s. The old don't have the hard top, so there is always a very large space in the back for storage. A surprisingly large space, which my mom makes good use of with groceries as well as hauling stuff around for work and leisure.
 
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