BMW Z4 Consumer Reviews BMW Z4 Expert Reviews 2011 BMW Z4 Photo Gallery 2011 BMW Z4 Specs By Kurt Gensheimer Blings: Most attractive modern BMW roadster design yet Exhilarating, more powerful twin-turbo inline 6 Lightning-fast shifts from the 7-speed dual clutch tranny Retractable hard top delivers best of both motoring worlds Dings: Too much technology for the inherent simplicity of a roadster Too much weight for the inherent svelteness of a roadster For the price of one Z4, you can buy both a hard and soft top Miata Ruling : Not quite the ultimate driving machine, but most definitely the ultimate luxury and technology machine which strays from the traditional characteristics of a roadster. Wind in your hair, bugs in your teeth, a sore back, ears that ring for days, the fiercest case of sunburn you’ve ever had, a heater with less ferocity than an asthmatic 90-year-old; these are the experiences most people associate with 2-seat roadsters. And despite what some of these may seem as uncomfortable, that’s exactly what the experience in a classic roadster is supposed to be; uncomfortable but real as a heart attack. Think Austin-Healey, MG, Datsun 1600 and the Porsche Speedster; these are cars which helped define the uncomfortable-yet-endearing persona the 2-seat roadster. Mazda understood this concept and in 1990 released the Miata, which went on to sell more than 850,000 units, the highest-selling 2-seat roadster in history. Why was it so wildly popular? Because Mazda took the visceral road feel, light weight and deft handling of a classic 4-cylinder roadster and modernized it with more safety features, accouterments and a heater with the ferocity of an asthmatic 60-year-old. Now of course the Bavarians could not take the success of Mazda without developing a roadster of their own guise. After all, BMW was one of the early pioneers of the roadster, putting their blue and white propeller badge on one of the most beautiful roadsters ever designed; the 507. The same car which inspired the über-roadster Z8 and the model we’re discussing today, the Z4. Design Since it’s introduction in 1996 as BMW’s first modern roadster, the Z3 took Mazda’s formula of mixing visceral road feel with modern amenities and upscaled it with German luxury, engineering and the addition of a 6-cylinder engine – a step Mazda still has never taken

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