BMW Z4M Coupe 2007 Review

Road Test

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 4.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 4.0/5.0
X-factor: 4.5/5.0

It might be politically incorrect to say so, but there are definitely cars that display gender-specific characteristics. Even in the realm of performance cars, there are boy cars and, err, less boy cars.

BMW's Z4M Coupe is very definitely a 100 per cent boy car -- testosterone-positive like Floyd Landis' yellow snow… From its M3 running gear to its fat-rimmed small diameter steering wheel, there's little if any doubt about the car's intentions. The engine's sonorous tones are magnified in the coupe's tight as a drum cabin -- in fact, there's even more inline six-cylinder 'music' in the hardtop fastback than in the first-to-market roadster (even with its soft roof down).

The coupe's Bangle-approved lines (the BMW design boss says the Z4 Coupe is his favourite model) have been toughened up with a 'blown' bonnet and deeper, more aggressive front, side and rear valances. There's big wheels and (non-runflat) rubber that pokes out at both ends. Inside there's heavily bolstered buckets and a quasi carbon-cum-leather dash detailing that is part-biker's jacket, part-S&M dungeon. Like I said, this is very definitely a boy car.

Control weighting is none too subtle either. The throttle requires a decent shove, the clutch requires attention (more later) and the steering weights up quickly when the car is driven aggressively -- no bad thing compared to the PlayStation-light soulless electric steering of the standard Z4 coupe and roadster. And though it requires some heft at higher levels of commitment, with the muscle comes excellent feel and feedback.

Like its M3 cousin, the Z4M coupe never hides its feelings -- nor too much in the way of road surfaces. Big potholes catch the relatively short travelled rear suspension out but in most cases the handling ride trade-off is well resolved. You won't forget you're in a sportscar around town (nor would we want to) but once the speeds increase, it's comfortable enough.

Performance is a given -- 100km/h comes up in around 5sec and the car's only getting warmed up when it breaks the old ton mark. Its midrange in-gear urge is prodigious -- easily overpowering the rubber when the safety nannies are turned off. And note they can be turned off -- a one-button task.

There's plenty of torque on tap from quite low down, but the engine is just as happy to rev. Just remember to run it in properly (BMW's M Division dictates a strict bedding-in schedule to get the best from the close-tolerance six) and take notice of the staged redline when the car is cold.

The strongest part of the running gear, however, is the brakes. Big drilled and ventilated discs suggest big stopping power and they fulfil their promise. Only racers will require more. If ever there was a car whose combination of go, stop and turn begged for a racetrack or Targa stage it's this one.

And alas for some buyers this will also be the Achilles' heel of the Z4M Coupe.

Such is the precision and tautness of the drivetrain, that it requires its driver to be 100 per cent attentive and 100 per cent committed 100 per cent of the time. It's not that the car's handling is challenging, nor the power too aggressive, rather that the car prefers an all-or-nothing approach.

Try and ease away from the lights and the super strong clutch's narrow take-up point must be metered just so. Too much throttle and not enough clutch and the loud and brash six will whinny into its upper rev range. Too little and it will stall.

Being tentative with the take-up point will turn the Z4M into a two-door 250kW-plus kangaroo that can hop across the next intersection. Take off hard in first and then temper the urge in second and chances are it'll do the same thing.

The car rewards assertiveness -- sidestep the clutch, mash the throttle and you escape the above indignities. But that doesn't only seem mechanically unsympathetic, it attracts the attention of the boys in blue like little else. Trust me…

In a time when BMW is refining its M-cars to the point where they demand no more from their drivers than a 320i Exec, this writer can't help but love the sheer rawness of the Z4M Coupe. Indeed, given the amount of technology pencilled in for the next-generation M3, this car could end up the last true, old-school M. But I'd be remiss if I didn't detail the above -- the Z4M is not a user-friendly everyday driver in the way of, say, a Cayman S.

That said, if you're after a hairy-chested, superbly built and engineered 'boy' sportscar, then the Z4M takes some beating.

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