Z4... the Jag that Jag never built?

Very true Guido!

TBH I was mainly thinking of the Austin/Aston/Jag.

I by no means think the Z4 is a car trying to be a classic british sports thing, it just occured to me that it was much closer to the fabled E-Type than most of Jag's own attempts.

I quite like the look of the new F-Type, especially in Coupe form, but I think it is massively overweight for a car with two seats.
 
I'll throw (the shape of) another one into the mix. . .

I can see the shape of the Marcos cars from the 70's - long bonnet and especially the tail in the Z.

Having owned a TVR Chimeara (which I only kept for a short while as I couldn't sleep worrying about reliability and I always felt like the Bandit or Tom Jones when I drove it :cry: ) Great car but I always think of my 3.0si as a reliable version of the TVR - guess the ///M version would probably be nearest.

:driving: :thumbsup:
 
Having driven a Tamora and being a little bit underwhelmed by it, the Z4M could definitely be seen as a safer alternative to a Tuscan. To be honest this doesn't bother me much as in coupe form certainly the Z4M is still a rare beast, though not as rare as any TVR.

I really look forward to TVR coming back, they were on the right track under the Russian but it was too little too late sadly. A little madness in the mix never hurts :)
 
I've heard that smolenski threw away all the old molds for the original bodyparts (for all the old tvr's!), so I'm not too sure about that 'madness' and ' never hurts'.... :?
 
I think the Z4 is closer to what the Triumph TR6 should have developed into.
Instead of the TR7 abortion.
 
I dont think that the z4 is anywhere close to any british car at all. If you look into the historic perspective, about all british car manufacturers had stopped building/developing I6 engines long before the z4 was made, except for tvr but those cars are way different in both design and quality :roll: .
The z4 doesn't brdige a 35 year gap to an old jag or tvr. The bmw heritage is way to unique for that as they did not stop with i6 production (on the contrary: they developed!) where about all others have chosen the more convenient way of building cars. I see a lot of the british car industry and it's development as an almost continious path of historic failure and cutting corners (that doesn't mean I don't like british cars though) where I see BMW as a development for succes in spite of holding on to their believes and design principles.

The closest to the z4 is maybe a toyota supra from a technical&design pov.
 
GuidoK said:
Also the e-type was always a relative expensive car with very high performance, to compete with ferrari's etc back in the days (although for a lot less). It was a 250+bhp (265bhp) sportscar in the early 60's. That was a lot back then.
I don't see how a z4 fits in that perspective. Nobody compares a z4 with a ferrari 458 or a porsche 911 turbo for that matter.
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A better comparison, time wise with the Z4 ///M, would be an F430 2004-2009 and the 996 Turbo 2005-2012. Though both will still have the ///M, without too much effort. Add a supercharger though and you have a reliable car that will keep up no probs. :driving: So performance wise the ///M did punch well above it's weight back in 2006.

Now where's me cheque book & Beedub. :thumbsup:

Having said that, the E-type was more akin to a Veyron, in performance tems, in it's day and the 16.4 was a rather quick car back in 2005. (even by Beedub's standards) :o
 
GuidoK said:
I've heard that smolenski threw away all the old molds for the original bodyparts (for all the old tvr's!), so I'm not too sure about that 'madness' and ' never hurts'.... :?
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TBH I was referring more to TVR's design and ethos as the good madness.

Smolenski was trying to get the car's better built and reliable, but the reputation was already shot to pieces. How reliable is an Elise? Probably very. How reliable do non-car people think it is? Oh, it's a Lotus, it must break all the time.

Peter Wheeler was not exactly a virtuous businessman either, tales abound of the appalling way TVR dealt with their clients.

Regarding comparing the Ferrari and Porsche with the Z4M.... the 997 (not 996) Turbo was about £90/100K minimum if memory serves, and the F430 was at least another £20k even at the beginning of its life. More than double Z4M money.

Every road test I've seen of a Z4M normally pits it against a boxster or a 350Z, which is much fairer from a price/performance perspective.

Oh and Guido, if you think British car manufacturing was lazy, the bike industry beat them to it by about 20 years! Incredibly complacent engineers in the face of (far superior) Japanese machinery.
 
JayEmm said:
Every road test I've seen of a Z4M normally pits it against a boxster or a 350Z, which is much fairer from a price/performance perspective.
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Both fine sports cars, but in pure performance terms the Z4M was sooo much quicker, back in 2006. Boxster crippled by Porches marketing strategy and the 350Z, as it's way cheaper, has a engine that hates to rev past 5k and is even more of a lard arse that the Z4. :lol:
 
I drove a Marcos Mantis (The modern one) about 100 yards once for some photography. The interior was, umm.... very "hand-built".... and not in a good way.

Interesting car.
 
When I was a kid, a Marcos in Orange I think (?) was travelling towards me at pace. . . John Noakes blew his horn at me as I ran across the main road in Doncaster (in anger I might add). He was there to unveil a new steam loco 'Blue Peter' at Doncaster works - think there were 250,000 people there - felt like it! never forgot the look of the car and the look on John Noakes face! :lol:

:driving: :thumbsup:
 
I can see what the OP was getting at.
When I was at school a boy in my class had a mother who worked in a toy shop so he got all the new Corgi and Dinky models when they came out, and I remember thinking when he got the Corgi E-Type Fixed Head Couoe in red that I would have a real one of those one day.
Barring a lottery win the only way that could happen now is if I sold the house and lived in the Jag!
But my N/A Straight 6 RWD 2 seater hatchback has enough similarities to make me happy!
And it's quicker than any standard E Type. :D
 
Mr Tidy said:
I can see what the OP was getting at.
When I was at school a boy in my class had a mother who worked in a toy shop so he got all the new Corgi and Dinky models when they came out, and I remember thinking when he got the Corgi E-Type Fixed Head Couoe in red that I would have a real one of those one day.
Barring a lottery win the only way that could happen now is if I sold the house and lived in the Jag!
But my N/A Straight 6 RWD 2 seater hatchback has enough similarities to make me happy!
And it's quicker than any standard E Type. :D
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My dad had an S1 FHC once upon a time, as well as the Z4MC that I now possess. I can tell you which one put a bigger smile on his face and it wasn't the British one. The jag was lovely, for sure, but as a car the Z4 outshines it in every way.

Perhaps I grew up in the wrong era, but I think the Z4MC is a much better looking car too (controversial, I know - the Jag is pretty but a little slim and feminine for my tastes)
 



I agree I think the Z4C is very much a modern E type, mine drove exceptionally well, 4.2, but it felt an old car, people were amazed at its ability to cruise at 100+ considering it's age
 
What an enjoyable thread. I too am in agreement that the Z4C makes its case for a continuation of what the XKE coupe brought to the motoring public - a quiet, snug two place environment looking out over a long hood. A "torquey" inline 6 that pulled strongly and revved freely (giving it that relaxed highway cruise or the ability to give the driver spirited and lightning quick performance). Good reading guys.
 
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