Z4 M Coupe - new street machine

17. Juni 2006

BMW Z4 M Coupe

The M Coupe is back, and this time it doesn't look like a clown shoe.

With a base price around $50,000 and 343 hp in a light body, it will do 0-60 in less than 5 seconds.

The BMW M Coupe is the production version of the wildly popular Z4 coupe concept shown at the 2005 Frankfurt auto show.

With the outgoing E46 M3's fantastic inline-six (making 343 hp in the M Coupe) and limited-slip differential, but with hundreds of pounds less weight to haul around, this coupe will accelerate from 0-60 in less than 5 seconds.

BMW pegs the Z4 M Coupe's weight at 3104 lbs, which is 150 lbs heavier than the 295-hp Porsche Cayman S. If you're counting, that makes the Z4 M Coupe's power-to-weight ratio 8 percent better than the Porsche's. Enthusiasts have complained bitterly about all the technology-for-technology's-sake in recent BMW cars, and somebody at the M division is listening: Like the Z4 M Roadster, the Z4 M Coupe comes with a conventional 6-speed manual transmission, conventional hydraulically assisted steering, and conventional springs and shocks. This is like missionary sex with Jessica Simpson — no bad thing. The Z4 M Coupe will cost approximately $50,000, and for around $10,000 less, there will also be a non-M Z4 coupe with a 255-hp inline-six. Both cars arrive in the U.S. in late summer of 2006.

from CAR and DRIVER

http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/experience/0,4664,1156___bs-TQ%253D%253D%2540bb-RFU5Mg%253D%253D%2540sit-bmwuk,00.html

pics all BMW and ams

27. Juni 2006

28. Juni 2006

Car & Driver put " missionary sex with Jessica Simpson " in print, when refering to the Z4 M Coupe? ...Okay.

Anyway, while the new M Coupe is all fine and well, a fabulous ride by most accounts - there seems to be something missing from the equation. In their recent test, C&D just ranked it behind the Cayman - ( a car named after a cluster of caribbean islands popular as a corporate tax shelter, and as a vacation spot with rich white folks who buy nice cars but have no skills. Talk about target marketing!

It seems the consensus is that the Z4 M Coupe feels somewhat numb compared to the Cayman. I'm hoping BMW is not losing their way in the quest to strike a perfect balance in remaining the " ultimate driving machine " and providing the toned down performance and electro crap that a large majority of the market has come to expect of a luxury make. This is a cross roads.

The old M Coupe, may have looked like a gym shoe - something I really liked actually, but it was more pure. This is why it is fondly remembered. BMW M is for drivers - something that should not be lost in translation.