First, I'm not a shill for BMW cars. I've owned 3 of them (325e, 535is), the latest a Z4 3.0. I've also owned 8 different MBZs and currently have a beautiful CLS 500 in the garage, too. But, Im growing weary of all the trash heaped on the Z4. BMW failed to market this car for whatever reason. There was only one commerical ever produced for the car and damn few print ads. It is much faster than the '02 Miata SE I traded in on the Z4 or the RX-8 I also sold. I've driven an S2000 a number of times and it is a helluva track car, but would be a horror to live with as a daily driver. The noise is deafing. But it goes like stink on an autox track. The Z4 does pretty well too without track rubber as many were surprised in my last event. The Z4 will never beat a Boxster S with equal drivers or the S2000 for that fact (all in A Stock). But the Z4 is a comfortable luxury sports car with fine handling and it has been trouble-free for me. In all the mags, they get the Z4 to 60 in 5.5 and with stock rubber it will pull
.91g on a skid pad. Boxsters are fast but they are high maintenance cars. As for the Z4's looks, lots of folks tell me they think it really sharp, men and women. What amazes me is the all the current auto mags are raving about how good the Z4 coupe looks, but still scorn the roadster. They are almost identical except for the roof and trunk lid. Sure that gives the coupe different lines at the rear,but everything else is the same. In road racing, the Z4s cleaned up in B Stock at the SCCA nationals...the 2.5! The simple fact is that for some reason, BMW didn't love this car enough to market it...maybe for fear that the 3 Series convertible would suffer? In closing, there is no Miata or S2000 that would stand up as a daily driver and provide the thrill of the Z4. A comparable Boxster will cost$5-10k more plus the expensive maintenance. Oh, I also previously owned an SLK and I would take the Z4 over it any day. The new SLK is very good and better than the old one, but I can't get my golf clubs AND cart in it. They both fit in the Z4.![[screwy]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_screwy.gif "Screwy [screwy]")
I guess I shouldn't leave out the 350Z here, but like the RX-8, it lacks the quality of the Z4. It is cheaper and fast but the convertible is short on storage capacity, too. I've owned an embarrasing number of cars in my life and still can't see the reason for the Z4's lack of success. I will say that for the several thousand sold to date, I rarely ever see a Z4 in an auto sales ad. So, those of us who bought them must see the "goodness" in BMW's seemingly bastard child. ![[chair]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_chairshot.gif "Chair Shot [chair]")
.91g on a skid pad. Boxsters are fast but they are high maintenance cars. As for the Z4's looks, lots of folks tell me they think it really sharp, men and women. What amazes me is the all the current auto mags are raving about how good the Z4 coupe looks, but still scorn the roadster. They are almost identical except for the roof and trunk lid. Sure that gives the coupe different lines at the rear,but everything else is the same. In road racing, the Z4s cleaned up in B Stock at the SCCA nationals...the 2.5! The simple fact is that for some reason, BMW didn't love this car enough to market it...maybe for fear that the 3 Series convertible would suffer? In closing, there is no Miata or S2000 that would stand up as a daily driver and provide the thrill of the Z4. A comparable Boxster will cost$5-10k more plus the expensive maintenance. Oh, I also previously owned an SLK and I would take the Z4 over it any day. The new SLK is very good and better than the old one, but I can't get my golf clubs AND cart in it. They both fit in the Z4.
I guess I shouldn't leave out the 350Z here, but like the RX-8, it lacks the quality of the Z4. It is cheaper and fast but the convertible is short on storage capacity, too. I've owned an embarrasing number of cars in my life and still can't see the reason for the Z4's lack of success. I will say that for the several thousand sold to date, I rarely ever see a Z4 in an auto sales ad. So, those of us who bought them must see the "goodness" in BMW's seemingly bastard child. 
![[hihi]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_hihi.gif "Hi Hi [hihi]"){kind=icon}
My thing is that BMW has,to this point, failedto promote the Z4 in any manner. I think it is a very good sports car and its performance is first rate, if not the best in class. Life is full of compromises and the Z4 does that well in my book. Boxsters are wonderful cars, but they are high maintenance (with high costs) cars as are all Porsches. With the Z4, maintenance is included and it requires damn little. In over 5k miles, the only problem I've encoutered is a blown speaker and it is not driven easily either. I run it in autox on a monthly basis. So, having owned dozens of vehicles, including a number of sports cars, British, German and Japanese, I think that I'm somewhat qualified to render an educated opinion. It's very good sports car, but gets damn little recognition, even from BMW!![[;)]](/images/smilies/wink.png "Wink [;)]")
I think the style does take a little time to grow on you, but still,since I've had mine (7/05)lots of people, young and not so young, have commented positively about it. Then again, I never see them listed in used cars in the ads or see them on the dealers' lot. So it would seem that those who buy them keep them realizing what a good sports car it is.