handling issues v boxster s

original guvnor said:
I think the journalists missed the point with the Z4MC. It was always intended to be a niche product - BMW only imported 200 to the UK in its first year!

It was designed to be a car for enthusiasts, for people who want to track their car, a bit like a GT Porsche might be. It wasn't supposed to be a brilliant all-rounder.

The Cayman/Boxsters are mainstream models . Very, very competent ones at that, and ARE designed to be brilliant all-rounders.

Comparing a limited-run enthusiasts, track-orientated car versus a mainstream model is a bit silly.

Maybe so but the problem was that it wasn't extreme enough to fit that niche either. Cups ala CSL and better suspension and our cars would have been worth far more now.
 
They arent serious track oriented cars either, so it is a complete niche. It doesnt matter really as long as you love and enjoy it thats all that matters really.

BMW were never that interested in making the Z3 or Z4 M cars they were both spare time project cars. But im glad they took the time to make them :thumbsup:

TBH I love the 911 Sport classic would be all over it! If they weren't so redic expensive!
 
tomscott said:
BMW were never that interested in making the Z3 or Z4 M cars they were both spare time project cars. But im glad they took the time to make them :thumbsup:
I'm not sure you're correct regarding the Z4MC: I think that BMW always intended to make a Coupe version of the Z4 and with an ///M flagship model in both Coupe and Roadster.

The Z3MC was definitely an out-of-hours project by 6 engineers who were dissatisfied with the handling of the Z3 ragtop and its scuttle-shake characteristics and they set about sorting it out, and the thing that they deemed most important was a roof :fuelfire:
It's oddball looks are because its a hotrod from a Z3 donor. It looks to me that the Z4 was designed as a Coupe with the ragtop as the variant.
 
Not sure about the Coupe being the original design Exdos, interested tio hear why you would think that though?

Strange to me that they would then release the Coupe 3 years later, because to me the Coupe design definitely looks like it was designed around the Roadster. One look at the panels and interior tells me that.
 
daz05 said:
Not sure about the Coupe being the original design Exdos, interested tio hear why you would think that though?

Strange to me that they would then release the Coupe 3 years later, because to me the Coupe design definitely looks like it was designed around the Roadster. One look at the panels and interior tells me that.

unfortuately its true... this car was always designed as a roadster the coupe definitely came later, you can tell by the interior.....
either way i love the z4m r/c equally, its the car itself i love.
 
daz05 said:
Not sure about the Coupe being the original design Exdos, interested tio hear why you would think that though?

Strange to me that they would then release the Coupe 3 years later, because to me the Coupe design definitely looks like it was designed around the Roadster. One look at the panels and interior tells me that.

The reason why I think that the Z4 was designed firstly as a Coupe is all down to the lines of the side view of the car. It really is an elegant design (i.e. simplicity of line with no superfluous detail) : in fact it's an aesthetic masterpiece!

Once you've got that design on the drawing board, you can then work around that shape and then remove the roof and then design a boot-lid and a soft-top for a roadster. BMW had already discovered from its Z3 roadsters and coupes, that the Z4 ragtop would be the better seller, so launched the Z4 ragtop first to capture a sports car market for the brand. I'm sure that in the case of the Z4 platform, BMW intended to produce a Coupe from the outset, so it made sense to design both an E85 and E86 at the same time rather than produce the E86 as an afterthought as was the case with the Z3MC, but that doesn't mean that BMW had to release them both at the same time. The Z3MC's "Marmite" oddball looks are because it was an afterthought and functional design, whereas the Z4MC was always meant to be good-looking from its conception. Likewise, I'm sure that BMW learned a lot about chassis stiffness from the difference between a Z3 ragtop and the Z3MC, so I expect that it put that knowledge to good use in producing the Z4 as a much stiffer chassis where the maximum stiffness of a Z4 Coupe chassis would be the optimum, then the engineers could produce a roadster in which they lost the minimum amount of stiffness by removing a roof from the design. I just don't believe BMW would make the same mistake twice of producing a Z4 Coupe design as an afterthought.
 
I don't believe they would learn all the lessons from the Z3, then refine a roadster with great torsional rigidity, launch it, and keep a coupe variant back for 4 years....

I think they designed a great roaster, then stuck a lid on it


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exdos said:
The reason why I think that the Z4 was designed firstly as a Coupe is all down to the lines of the side view of the car. It really is an elegant design (i.e. simplicity of line with no superfluous detail) : in fact it's an aesthetic masterpiece!
The fact that you can take the roof panel out without the pillars collapsing tells me it was designed as a roadster and the coupe bit was grafted on the top.
 
carl said:
exdos said:
The reason why I think that the Z4 was designed firstly as a Coupe is all down to the lines of the side view of the car. It really is an elegant design (i.e. simplicity of line with no superfluous detail) : in fact it's an aesthetic masterpiece!
The fact that you can take the roof panel out without the pillars collapsing tells me it was designed as a roadster and the coupe bit was grafted on the top.
Interesting.. The roof panel on a coupe is removable?
 
Couple of bolts and some glue iirc. Search out six speeds thread on when he changed his out.
 
It was definately a roadster first, the coupe was an afterthought.

There are some old pics around the net of the coupe concept, which was out after the roadster was on the roads. The concept got a great reaction so they decided to make it.

2005-BMW-Z4-Coupe-Concept-FA-Open-Hatch-1920x1440.jpg


The wheels were 19" on the concept, they only ever made them in 18" and they don't look half as good.
 
still imo one of the best looking cars around...... Didnt think id ever say it but.... bangle was a genius!!
 
I just came across this webpage: http://www.netcarshow.com/bmw/2006-z4_m_coupe_uk_version/

In the article it quotes from Adrian van Hooydonk, Head of BMW Brand Design, who says: ""Interestingly, the new Coupé was actually designed at the same time as the original Z4 Roadster in the late 1990s. BMW's hugely successful launch of new models in recent years left some of the more niche models on the drawing board. But my design team and I pushed for this car and an opportune time to engineer the car for production. Designing the two Z4 models simultaneously ensured that both share a common design theme and a cohesive appearance,"
This confirms exactly what I was suggesting: the Z4MC was NOT an afterthought,but part of the original design of the Z4 platform. :D :poke:
 
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