Today was not only the launch of the new generation Z4, G29, but my first experience of the new model too. A keen young salesman gave us the speel, I had asked to drive the 30i, but the car they had ready was a sDrive20i Sport, which has 197 HP 0-60 in 6.6 seconds and claim fuel consumption of 37.2 - 38.2 MPG. The car has an enormous full width boot measuring 281 litres, as they have reverted back to the soft top, so no longer limited by the roof folding mechanism. Under the bonnet, the car boasted a 2litre twin turbo engine, the plastic cover obscured the view of the engine. The Salesman drove it out onto the forecourt and Sandy & I were away.
Exterior styling aside for the time being, the car we were driving had the comfort, the driving assist and the technology package, I found the instrument cluster a bit confusing at first, being used to the analogue dials, tacho and speedo of my E89. Leaving it in auto and selecting sport mode, the car seemed quite lively on the accelerator, accompanied by the lovely raspy exhaust note with the twin tail outlets, one either side of the car.
Heading out East on the A47, we were initially challenged by the number of speed limits as we went through the various built up areas, the head up display makes driving in these confined areas simple, I did notice that if I went 5 miles an hour over the speed limit, the speed limit indicator flashed at me angrily and the indicated speed colour turned from white to red. When at last we got out on to the open road, I found suspension wise the car was well set up, given that our Norfolk Roads are extremely undulating, the suspension soaked up the bumps which were unnoticeable in the cabin. As we got in to heavy traffic, we turned off the A47 towards Sandringham in a nice little section of twisting and turning country roads, I switched the auto box to manual control and used the paddle shifters to select the gears, pushing the car a little on the corners, it was very satisfying to accelerate hard and change up a gear and down a gear as you come into the next corner.
The gear box has 8 forward gears, which means there is enough gears in there to play with on all the numerous bends. Although the engine speed wasn't immediately apparent to me on the tacho, I reverted to instinct, the engine seemed to pull best between 3000 and 5000 revs. There was no roll on the suspension as I thought there might be initially and the car felt quite at home on the corners.
We headed to Sandringham for a quick photoshoot and then back to Listers BMW garage in Kings Lynn, all in all, we had the car for 50 minutes of sheer driving pleasure, even the photographer was impressed and her usual shouts of 'Slow down' 'Mind that pedestrian' and 'You're approaching a 30 mile an hour limit' were forgotten as she soaked up the luxury of the extremely comfortable and supportive leather seats.
In conclusion, do I want one, yes, can I afford one, Ummmmm!!! Now where did I put that lottery ticket!!!!
Mike & Sandy
It's a bit picture heavy, hope you enjoy them.
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