Hey chaps,
Running on from the thread title I thought I’d give my view on the new Z4 and 718 having driven both.
The Zed has been out now since March this year, a completely new design from the chassis up along with engines in collaboration with Toyota with their new Supra. The Zed replaces the old E89 Z4, a very soft cruiser car, in no way a sports car, too soft and heavy with a very questionable chassis and dead as a dead thing steering feel. Good meaty engines however, but now a very dated car and severely lacking in toys which adorn new cars nowadays. Having said that I’ve still got a E89 35is, 340bhp from a twin turbo straight six, forged internals as standard and a very good DCT box. As an everyday car that you can drop the roof on its spot on, it’s my third one....
The brief from BMW was to build a sports car capable of taking the fight to the 718, so they threw away the folding hardtop as in the E89 and went back to fabric to save weight. Next was another straight six with a single twin scroll turbo in the flagship M40i, producing approx 340bhp again. A ground up new chassis, longer overhangs and wider track, large four pot front calipers, and a new electric steering rack. Adaptive dampers complete the chassis. Nothing was transferred over from the old car. Cabin wise it gets new up to date screens and infotainment system, adaptive cruise, HUD, etc. So is it any good? Being truthful I wanted it to be, a fully loaded Zed is 55k, whereas a fully loaded 718 GTS is as you all know, a big saving. It was looking good, lap times on the Nurburgring in testing were superb, a smidge faster than the M2. So I tested one, knowing it was between the Zed and a GTS. The simple conclusion was I was utterly bored senseless after two hours out, in fact I took the car back early on the test afternoon. The problem is it’s, imho, more of the same but with admittedly a better chassis than the old car. It’s far too big, still too heavy, in fact it’s 40kg heavier than the old car, despite losing the hardtop..! The seats are very limited in adjustment, there’s still no steering feel, the top HarmonKardon stereo is rubbish with no high end offering like Burmester. it doesn’t have cooled seats on offer, etc. It still doesn’t feel like a sports car, it feels cheap inside if you ignore the fancy screens, in fact it relies on them to add a bit of flair. It’s again a good daily run to work or motorway car, but as a fun, pure driving fun car it falls way way short. The 718 is everything the Zed isn’t. Personally I don’t think it’s worth anywhere near 55k, 40 tops for a brand new fully loaded flagship car would be about bearable if you must have new, I’d wait a year and let it dive bomb in depreciation, they’ll have to give these things away to shift them.
Why do we buy a 718? If it’s because it’s so **** good at what it’s designed for then that’s the exact reason why I wouldn’t buy a G29 Zed4 because it’s no **** good at doing what’s its designed for. BMW have lost their way, the true M cars are extinct, the new stuff is boring, badged up marketing rubbish that is way over priced. They are relying on huge engines in the supposed M cars to try to get over how stale the cars are. I’ve got a 37k mile Z4M roadster, it’s as agricultural as an old Massy Ferguson tractor, a mad as a box of frogs engine and the sophistication of a house brick. But it’s FUN...it uses the engine, running gear, diff and brakes from the E36 iconic M3 CSL. It tries to kill you, but if it fails and you show it whose boss it rewards you with a good old dose of smiles, something the new BM’s simply don’t deliver, it’s the same with the 718, stuff the exhaust sounds, get over it, it still sounds good, and it’s FUN...!!
Imho Porsche have absolutely nothing to worry about from Munich, in fact I bet they’re sniggering like naughty school boys finding their first dirty magazine.
Running on from the thread title I thought I’d give my view on the new Z4 and 718 having driven both.
The Zed has been out now since March this year, a completely new design from the chassis up along with engines in collaboration with Toyota with their new Supra. The Zed replaces the old E89 Z4, a very soft cruiser car, in no way a sports car, too soft and heavy with a very questionable chassis and dead as a dead thing steering feel. Good meaty engines however, but now a very dated car and severely lacking in toys which adorn new cars nowadays. Having said that I’ve still got a E89 35is, 340bhp from a twin turbo straight six, forged internals as standard and a very good DCT box. As an everyday car that you can drop the roof on its spot on, it’s my third one....
The brief from BMW was to build a sports car capable of taking the fight to the 718, so they threw away the folding hardtop as in the E89 and went back to fabric to save weight. Next was another straight six with a single twin scroll turbo in the flagship M40i, producing approx 340bhp again. A ground up new chassis, longer overhangs and wider track, large four pot front calipers, and a new electric steering rack. Adaptive dampers complete the chassis. Nothing was transferred over from the old car. Cabin wise it gets new up to date screens and infotainment system, adaptive cruise, HUD, etc. So is it any good? Being truthful I wanted it to be, a fully loaded Zed is 55k, whereas a fully loaded 718 GTS is as you all know, a big saving. It was looking good, lap times on the Nurburgring in testing were superb, a smidge faster than the M2. So I tested one, knowing it was between the Zed and a GTS. The simple conclusion was I was utterly bored senseless after two hours out, in fact I took the car back early on the test afternoon. The problem is it’s, imho, more of the same but with admittedly a better chassis than the old car. It’s far too big, still too heavy, in fact it’s 40kg heavier than the old car, despite losing the hardtop..! The seats are very limited in adjustment, there’s still no steering feel, the top HarmonKardon stereo is rubbish with no high end offering like Burmester. it doesn’t have cooled seats on offer, etc. It still doesn’t feel like a sports car, it feels cheap inside if you ignore the fancy screens, in fact it relies on them to add a bit of flair. It’s again a good daily run to work or motorway car, but as a fun, pure driving fun car it falls way way short. The 718 is everything the Zed isn’t. Personally I don’t think it’s worth anywhere near 55k, 40 tops for a brand new fully loaded flagship car would be about bearable if you must have new, I’d wait a year and let it dive bomb in depreciation, they’ll have to give these things away to shift them.
Why do we buy a 718? If it’s because it’s so **** good at what it’s designed for then that’s the exact reason why I wouldn’t buy a G29 Zed4 because it’s no **** good at doing what’s its designed for. BMW have lost their way, the true M cars are extinct, the new stuff is boring, badged up marketing rubbish that is way over priced. They are relying on huge engines in the supposed M cars to try to get over how stale the cars are. I’ve got a 37k mile Z4M roadster, it’s as agricultural as an old Massy Ferguson tractor, a mad as a box of frogs engine and the sophistication of a house brick. But it’s FUN...it uses the engine, running gear, diff and brakes from the E36 iconic M3 CSL. It tries to kill you, but if it fails and you show it whose boss it rewards you with a good old dose of smiles, something the new BM’s simply don’t deliver, it’s the same with the 718, stuff the exhaust sounds, get over it, it still sounds good, and it’s FUN...!!
Imho Porsche have absolutely nothing to worry about from Munich, in fact I bet they’re sniggering like naughty school boys finding their first dirty magazine.
