Driving Sports

It seems like the new model releases are coming out fast and furious ahead of the gutted Detroit Auto Show on January 11, 2009. Today, BMW chimes in with a freshened model of its own, in hues of a convertible roadster. I'll be frank. I've always thought the previous Z roadsters were a bit contrived. They didn't move very well, didn't look very good, and seemed like a lot of money for what little you were getting. Kind of what I imagine a strip club in Oregon would be like. 

Now, if you could set aside that image for a moment, let's get back to the new 2009 Z4. I'm having some trouble with this new design. How can the same company that makes the Z8, one of the finest looking roadsters ever built, continually make such a clustermuck of its little brother's designs. Where the first Z3 looked like it was inspired by a tennis shoe, the follow-up Z4 had a real issue with the creases going out of control -- especially that crazy line bisecting a line, bisecting yet another line, around the sidemarker. In the new model the confusion moves rearward. Look just behind the door handle; there are some lines there that just aren't sure what they're doing. It's like the designer went to get a coffee and forgot to come back. Granted, the crease moving from the headlight, over the front wheel and along the door is a rather clever piece of steel, but it doesn't hold a candle to the clean simplicity of the Z8.

I'm sure many blogs will be gushing about the new "muscular" and "bolder" look of this new one, but I'll disagree. Just like the last Z4 and the Z3 before it, I expect the buyer of the 2009 to not be young, presumably popular dude they show in the press photos. Nope. It will probably be the same older, modestly successful businesswoman that wants to express her sense of independence and success as embodied in not just a BMW, but a BMW roadster. This is based on any surveys or data, it is based on what I see around me on any given day, in the city where I live. I simply don't see guys driving any generation of the Z3/4. I would, however, encourage any BMW owners that are young, successful, straight and socially outgoing dudes to, by all means, call me out in the comments below. I'm expecting crickets. 

If you are considering this car, you will probably want to know that for 2009 it can be had in two different models: the incomprehensibly named BMW Z4 sDrive35i, which sports a twin turbo-charged 300hp inline-6 good for 0-60 in 5-seconds, or the BMW Z4 sDrive30i which has a 255hp mill which can do 0-60 in 6-seconds. Both motors displace 3.0 liters, regardless of their names, and can be bolted up to the standard 6-speed traditional transmission, or a seven-speed, paddle-shifting, twin-clutch setup. 

Amenities include all the things your average Z4 buyer really wants: Dynamic Stability Control, a plush leather interior, a nice stereo and a convertible tin top that retracts in 20 seconds; a full eight seconds slower than the Mazda MX-5 PRHT takes to perform the same trick. 

Every time I drive a BMW Z4 I'm disappointed in the lack of sportiness and handling in what should, by all rights, be a properly sporty roadster (in spite of its fussy looks.) I will continue to hope that this new model will deliver to the street what it's cousins could not. Naturally, I'll let you know when I finally get a turn in it.