THE original BMW Z4 had a lot going for it. The styling still looks good today, whether you chose the soft top or the coupé, it was well built, drove well and wasn't priced exorbitantly. But soon Mercedes, Audi and Porsche were forging ahead with designs that put the Z4 quite a long way down many buyers' shortlists.
The solution was an all-new car that was launched without great fanfare but which was nevertheless a huge step forward. It's hard to believe the car appeared in 2009. Now used examples are available at reasonable prices. Here's what to look out for.
Like all modern BMWs, the Z4's on-board diagnostics indicate when a service is due. It's therefore important to discover when the last service took place and ask to see documentary evidence of this. Make sure the folding hard top mechanism functions exactly as it should and don't be afraid to be utterly pedantic when running through the electrical functions. Check the alloy wheels for kerbing damage and make sure the alarm and immobiliser system are functioning properly. Some owners will have specified their Z4 to the nines and will want to claw back what they can. Don't entertain any of it.
The Z4's long, swooping bonnet suggests six cylinders and BMW provided four such engines to choose from – the 204bhp 2.5, the 258bhp 3.0-litre or the 306bhp and 340bhp twin-turbo 3.0-litre units. The six-pot Z4s have always sounded and felt suitably racy. A subsequent round of revisions saw the engine line-up updated with an all-aluminium 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit, also toting BMW's twin-turbo technology. This debuted in two models, the sDrive20i and the sDrive28i, producing 184bhp and 245bhp respectively, and in both cases economy and emissions were significantly improved.
Unlike the 3 Series Convertible, the first car BMW made with a metal folding roof, this Z4 managed to retain the German brand's famed 50:50 weight distribution with the roof up, but ironically, it's with the roof down and the extra weight over the rear wheels that it feels most responsive. There's virtually no body lean and in the dry you rarely run out of grip.
Most original owners chose to pay around £1,000 extra for the Adaptive M Sport Suspension, which enables you to adjust the dampers depending on the driving conditions. Most of the time, you'll only use two settings, "Normal" and the stiffer "Sport", though there is also a "Sport+" setting which lowers the car by 10mm, firming things up still further for racetrack use and offering 10% more driver leeway before the stability control cuts in.
All Z4s come with BMW's Drive Dynamic Control system. This allows you to set your car up to your own preferences. That means altering the response of throttle, steering, stability control and even the gearchange times if you've opted for the six-speed (or optional eight-speed) auto that's available on the 20i and 28i models or the full-blown seven-speed twin-clutch transmission offered on the 35i variant and standard on the 35is.
It all works brilliantly, though the steering can still feel a little lifeless, no matter how you tweak it. This car had to replace coupé as well as roadster versions of the MK1 Z4, so roof up, refinement had to be peerless. And it is. Roof-down it's very different, but many will see the blustery feel as part of the fun of owning a car of this kind.
It's not too often that BMW builds a sporting car that is surprisingly good. We have come to expect a certain level of excellence from the Bavarian company but it's fair to say that the second-generation Z4 exceeded expectations. In fact, customer perception lagged a long way behind the production reality and only now is this car beginning to be recognised for what it is and that's a rival to the Porsche Boxster and/or Cayman that might just be a better all-round road car than either of them.
That means used prices are very firm, so bargains are hard to come by. The best car in the range, the sDrive 28i, is almost impossible to pick up as a used buy, so go for an early sDrive30i if you're chasing value. Whichever Z4 model you're looking for, it's hard to go wrong.
