What do women really want? Pretty much the same things as men, it turns out. Well, at least when it comes to sportscars. Women, though, seem to be better at expressing their feelings and ideas. Maybe that’s why they did such an amazing job designing the new 2009 BMW Z4 Roadster.
Every so often, you read about a car company designing a car “that appeals to women.” The results of this brilliant approach have run the gamut from strange, patronizing sleds like the 1955 Dodge La Femme to simply adding console hooks for women’s purses in modern sedans.
When it comes to designing a great sportscar, there is only one target customer: The driving enthusiast. Male or female, it shouldn’t matter. With the 2009 Z4, BMW appears to have cracked the code.
This is the roadster uninhibited, built as only BMW could do it, with a lusty inline-six powerplant, slick transmission and a suspension that seems to read the road. Gaze at the classic long-hood, short-deck proportions that have been turning ordinary citizens into sportscar nuts for 60 years. Wonder at the engineering that could fit an aluminum retractable hardtop into the Z4’s svelte body.
When BMW set out to design the next-generation Z4, it wanted designers that could really dig down deep and unearth the soul of a sportscar. Therefore, it held a competition between its two design studios in Southern California and Germany. Designers submitted their ideas anonymously, and BMW picked the best ones.
The winners were Juliane Blasi, 32, responsible for the exterior, and Nadya Arnaout, 37, who designed the interior. “If you look at the car, you should not be able to see whether it was designed by a woman or a man,” Ms. Blasi told the New York Times.
Let’s have a closer look at BMW’s newest roadster.
First, the new Z4 has a retractable hardtop. It offers all the fun of a roadster with the top down, and all the security and comfort of a grand touring coupe with the top up. The push of a button transforms the car from one to the other in 20 seconds. Top up or down, the design is stunningly sleek with great visibility all around.
Under that long hood, you have a choice between two stellar engines: The Z4 sDrive 30i model is powered by a 3.0-liter 255-hp inline-six and can take you from rest to 60 mph in just 5.6 seconds. The sDrive 35i gets a 300 hp dual turbo 3.0-liter six and can hit 60 in five seconds.
The numbers only tell part of the story. You’ll really feel a push in your back as you accelerate, especially in the turbocharged Z4 sDrive 35i. That’s because it develops its 300 lb/ft of peak torque just off idle and holds it through 5,000 rpm.
The standard six-speed manual transmission in either model shifts with typical BMW precision. A quick-shifting six-speed Sport Automatic is available for the Z4 sDrive 30i, featuring steering wheel paddleshifters for manual shifting when desired.
The Z4 sDrive 35i inherits a version of the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission from the incomparable BMW M3, also with steering wheel paddleshifters. You experience racecar-quick, clutch-less manual shifts or smooth automatic shifts when you prefer.
In the new Z4, you can set driving responses to your mood with the Driving Dynamics Control feature. Select the NORMAL, SPORT or SPORT+ settings to tune responses of the gas pedal, power steering, shifting and stability control. The optional Adaptive M Suspension adds ride and handling control to the mix.
The Z4 is a sportscar you’d want to drive every day, not just on warm sunny ones. Available luxuries make every drive a joy and include the intuitive new iDrive system with navigation and popup 8.8-inch LCD screen, premium audio, heated seats and steering wheel, eight-way power seats … and much more.
Stay tuned as we explore the new Z4 in greater detail in the months ahead, but don’t let that stop you from test-driving one now.
