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First Drive: BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by Max Earey.

First Drive: BMW Z4 sDrive35is
BMW's Z4 gets more brawn, but lacks finesse.

   



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| First Drive | Berkshire, England | BMW Z4 sDrive35is |

Officially, the Z4 range won't be getting an M model, so this new sDrive35is will be the range topper for those who want the fastest and most focussed version of BMW's stylish folding hard-top roadster. BMW already makes a Z4 sDrive35i, but the addition of an 's' at the end of that creates not just a name badge that looks like an online banking password but one that signals the most powerful version of the Z4 available.

In the Metal

That 's' brings much of what you'd get if you had your standard Z4 with the M Sport pack. There are deeper air intakes on the more aggressive bumpers, adaptive M Sport suspension, unique five-spoke 18-inch alloy wheels, sports seats and leather upholstery. It all looks very good too, the Z4 presenting its most assertive style in its range-topping guise. However, you can have all the M Sport bits - with the exception of the sDrive35is's unique rear 'diffuser' - on any of the regular Z4s.

What you get for your Money

Your £44,220 gets you all that kit listed above included as standard. Significantly you also get a more powerful version of the 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged engine mated to a seven-speed, paddle-shifted twin-clutch automatic transmission. The twin-turbo straight-six produces 335bhp at 5,900rpm and 369lb.ft of torque, allowing the Z4 sDrive35is to reach 62mph in just 4.8 seconds. It achieves that with no increase in consumption and emissions over the regular sDrive35i, with 31.4mpg and 210g/km quoted for the official combined consumption cycle.

Driving it

With 50:50 weight distribution, 335bhp and rear-wheel drive the Z4 sDrive35is should be an absolute blast. The purposeful resonance rumbling from the exhausts suggests so when you start it up, while the view down the long bonnet and seat positioning down low near the rear axle adds to the effect. There's a BMW badge on the bonnet too, which should mean that this range-topping Z4 is the driver's choice.

That illusion is shattered at the first bend. Where its roadster rivals will scythe around the long sweeping curves the Z4 was tested on with surefooted composure the sDrive35is never seems to settle. The rear wheels feel unusually keen to skip around; not in a playful, enjoyable manner, but in an unpredictable, nervous way. Playing with the standard Drive Dynamic Control function to change the Adaptive M Sport Suspension through its three different configurations does little to resolve this, the Z4 lacking the basic finesse that make its rivals so enjoyable to drive.

The front is equally lacking in decisiveness with the steering weighty but devoid of any real information, the result being a car that you're wary of when entering and driving through a corner. There's plenty of grunt though, the Z4 sDrive35is's engine providing ample urge, but the flickering stability light in corners when you try to use its power does underline the Z4's fundamental lack of composure. We've no doubt it's quick around the Nürburgring, but BMW's test drivers should perhaps have popped one on a ferry to see how the suspension copes with the undulating, rough-surfaced tarmac that passes for roads in the UK.

A Porsche Boxster S might not be able to deliver the Z4 sDrive35is's knockout 0-62mph time, but take both down a winding road and the Porsche driver would see off the BMW in no time at all. Sure, the Z4 would arguably make the better sound and can do its folding hardtop party trick, but the Boxster would deliver the sort of composure, feel and reassurance at high speed that's absent in the BMW.

Add BMW's frustrating push-me-pull-me paddle shifters that are counter-intuitive in operation and the Z4 sDrive35is reveals itself as an indecently rapid but surprisingly unresolved flagship model in the Z4 line-up.

Worth Noting

BMW put up lots of comparative data on the launch to demonstrate that the Z4 sDrive35is is a worthy replacement for the previous generation Z4 M Roadster. For all the talk of greater comfort, more performance and the impressive gains in economy and emissions the Z4 sDrive35is is some way off the old Z4 M Roadster for driver appeal, even with its famously uncompromising suspension.

Summary

It's just as well BMW hasn't put an M on this range-topping Z4 sDrive35is as to do so would ruin the lustre associated with the mighty badge. The Z4 works well at a different level, specifically lower down the range. Buy an sDrive23i and you'll enjoy the Z4 enormously, and if you must have the M Sport looks then just tick those option boxes, as it'll still be significantly cheaper than the Z4 sDrive35is.

The real deciding factor for us is that you can have a Porsche Boxster S for less, which BMW will argue is more expensive when you take into account specification differences. It's not about specification though, it's about driver appeal, and this BMW surprisingly offers very little.

Kyle Fortune - 29 Apr 2010



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2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is specifications: (with DCT)
Price: £44,220 on-the-road.
0-62mph: 5.1 seconds
Top speed: 155mph
Combined economy: 31.4mpg
Emissions: 210g/km
Kerb weight: 1600kg

2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.

2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by BMW.



2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by Max Earey.
 

2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by Max Earey.
 

2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by Max Earey.
 

2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by Max Earey.
 

2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by Max Earey.
 

2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is. Image by Max Earey.
 






 

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