Thursday 17th August 2017

BMW Z4 Concept for Pebble Beach

It's BMW's "roadster tradition, reloaded", and it should be coming to showrooms soon!

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You'll know the deal with BMW concepts by now. They're released to much fanfare, often in a silly colour, then they make production not too long after with precious few changes. By and large, that's a very good thing actually: see the i8 (once the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept) and the previous M5, which was just the concept with numberplates on.

Hey good lookin

So it would be very surprising to find the next Z4 look significantly different to this Concept Z4. And you know what? We'll stick our head above the parapet here and say that's a good thing as well. There are bits of Z8 to it, bits of i8 and some of the recent concept too: the 8 Series, the Gran Lusso, cars like that.

BMW says the car is "an irresistible purveyor of thrills" - that really should go on a Tinder profile - which boasts "lithe and compact proportions, a dynamic silhouette and an emotionally appealing use of forms." Senior Vice Pres of Design Adrian van Hooydonk goes further, describing it has "total freedom on four wheels". Crikey.

More modestly and more tangibly, Hooydonk believes the Concept Z4 is "an all-out driving machine"; hopefully this carries over to the real thing because, being frank, none of the BMW roadsters since the Z3 have really delivered on their dynamic promise. Those various models have never been short of competition either, and that won't change for this Z4: already we have very good Boxsters, TTs and F-Types, with further left field alternatives if you fancy too.

While still clearly a front-engined, rear-drive drop top, a few key details have been altered for this concept. Note shorter overhangs, for example, with the driver placed more centrally, and more compact proportions; if the old Z4 was a bit of a cruiser, this would appear to be more of a sports car.

Well yes, there's some junk in this trunk

Despite its concept billing there's plenty to see of this Z4's interior too. It's described as a "pure-of-purpose driving environment" - someone give this person a raise - with a traditionally BMW driver focus to the controls: note how the dash is angled in, and also how the driver's seat is black rather than the orange found elsewhere. This is to create an area "that wraps around the driver like a capsule, producing a very sporty sensation." Hey, if it's good enough for Ferrari...

So that's the Z4 Concept, set to wow the Pebble Beach crowds over the coming days. No word yet on a production version, but surely it can't be too far off. Just perhaps not in orange, OK?

[macky17]

Looks very handsome to my eyes. Like it. Here's hoping it doesn't weigh 2 tonnes and they've ditched the runflat tyres.

"being frank, none of the BMW roadsters since the Z3 have really delivered on their dynamic promise"

Really? The z3 handled like a bag of crap. The mark 1 z4, especially the coupe, was a lovely thing to drive - again especially once the tyres are changed.

Edited by macky17 on Thursday 17th August 18:31

[g3org3y]

LIKE

[helix402]

Sadly the trimmer ran out of orange cloth half way through the job.

[Nerdherder]

Great looking cars have a certain degree of elegance to them. This..

[leakymanifold]

Why - what's wrong with orange? Is that a dig at Dan T for choosing an f-type in orange?
I like this z4 a lot. Looks promising and hopefully they'll sell it interesting colours.

[kambites]

Hmm, the first word that springs to mind is "bloated".

[Burnham]

Very nice

[g7jhp]

Very shark like which harks back to earlier BMW models.



It could be promising in the right colour.

Edited by g7jhp on Friday 18th August 09:15

[jaykay42]

kambites said:

Hmm, the first word that springs to mind is "bloated".

As much as it pains me to say so: That's exactly what I first thought!

... to my eyes BMWs used to look ace... that seems quite some time ago, come to think of it...

[iSore]

That's lovely.I liked the original E85, a very sharp looking thing for 2003 but really didn't like the E89 at all - it looked like change for changes sake and spoilt it.

This though looks proper.

[WJNB]

The great big gaping apertures at the front are horrible & oversize otherwise its a beauty.
Please let it be a proper BMW sports car & not another car for women of a certain age to commute to the health club in.

[lee_fr200]

I love it! Very nice and modern

[kambites]

It'll be interesting to see how big it is. The pictures make it look more of an SL competitor than an SLC one.

[ocrx8]

I like a lot.

Front reminds me of an AMG-GT, rear 3/4 a 981 Boxster.

[9k rpm]

WJNB said:

The great big gaping apertures at the front are horrible & oversize otherwise its a beauty.
Please let it be a proper BMW sports car & not another car for women of a certain age to commute to the health club in.

I echo your comments although given it's likely to be a folding hard top (the article makes no mention of what the roof is made of) I'm not holding my breath.

[IainR]

Looks really nice. The (hopefully inevitable) M version could be very tempting.

My 1999 Z3 1.9 was a great zippy little thing back in the day. A real old school sports car. Hopefully this is the spiritual successor.

[ruggedscotty]

its a folding soft top - hard top has been junked for weight saving.

looking at an M version aswell - 450-500 hp ive heard mentioned. will give other bm's a run it will.

[kambites]

Is this likely to be the car which is going to share a platform with the new Toyota, or to sit beneath it in the range?

[anonymous-user]

kambites said:

Is this likely to be the car which is going to share a platform with the new Toyota, or to sit beneath it in the range?

Same platform as next Supra.

[kambites]

I thought it was generally accepted that would be called the Z5, not the Z4?