BMW’s Z4 is not a sports car to ignore. Those edgy and adventurous lines combine with long-bonnet, squat-tail, wide-track proportions to produce the meanest looking sports car since the 1960s Shelby Cobra. The inline six-cylinder engines are the same as used in other BMWs, but they come to life in this trim, lightweight two-seater, delivering exhilarating performance with an exhaust note to die for. The Z4, which comes from the same plant in Spartanburg, USA that builds the X5 BMW soft-roader, is bigger inside than the Z3, too, with a lower-set driving position and more spacious boot. But it’s best to think very carefully if the idea of a set of bigger, optional wheels appeals. Optioning-up the Z4 is likely to open a can of handling worms.

BMW Z3
Released: January 97
Ended: December 02
Family Tree: Z4THE original BMW Z3 roadster arrived Down Under in January, 1997, as a 103kW 1.9-litre four-cylinder, before adding a 141kW 2.8-litre version in April the same year. The 1.9 four was replaced by the 110kW 2.0-litre six in June, 1999, which itself was superseded by the 125kW 2.2-litre six in October, 2000. A month earlier, the Z3 2.8 was replaced by the 170kW 3.0-litre Z3 which, along with the 2.2, was discontinued in December 2002 before its Z4 successor lobbed six months later.
Facebook Twitter Instagram