German Car Zone

This will be interesting.

I'm hearing some great stuff about F01/F02 Individual.

The know-how from Goodwood has been very successfully integrated into Individual division. And the results are fantastic! Cant wait to see the babies.

And even harder to anticipate: the production version of Gran Turismo by Individual.

You are too generous...

More dynamic shots of driving across areas of the 90 mile beach , car looking good on film even from the arial shots the car totally sticks to the road especially on those high drop dramatic New Zealand cliffs.
Agile Dynamics brought to you courtesy of BMW "S" Drive and not something to go into now but the time will come.
After The beautiful lands of New Zealand , familiar territory in Cape Town , South Africa. Plenty of coastal scenic roads in the planning but also permission for a Sunday morning blast through a deserted city , roads closed and inbetween the high rise buildings the city will be alive with the sounds of turbo charged Six cylinder power. Similar to what was done in Sydney except that was a cruise just to raise the roof.

Sports car? what truly makes a decent sports car is it handling?, agilty? , performance? , acceleration like a bullet fired from a gun? All the bases have been covered with the Z4. Without reference to the weight , there is some very innovative techniques used within this car to counteract such claims. Maybe we got things round the wrong way with "The dawn of a new era" and could have used this with the Z4. As both cars are effectively giant leaps from their previous incarnations.
Truth be told though this term could also apply to the Z4 also as the sun sets on the E85 The countdown to sunrise (E89) begins.

Next : This is your 5am alarm call...

Thanks Scott,

I think that while "Handling and Agilty" are very important parts of the mix that is a sportscar, lightness it the single most important feature of a sportscar.

The conv hardtop is going to make this a pricey machine. BMW needs to be very careful. Paying 45k for a 230hp 3500lb conv dosent sound too appealing. I dont see a base Z4 coming in less than that.

45 Kwhat for a base price ??? K$ or K€ ???

If you mean 45 k€, I think a reminder is necessary !!!

The current Z4 base price is 29900 € ! 45000 € means + 50% !!!!! For still a z4, we're not talking about a z6 !

and:
The SLK 280 (231 HP) costs 41 850 €
The Audi TT 3.2 Quattro (250 HP) costs 43 800 €
The Porsche Boxster 2.7 (245 HP) costs 45 700 € and it's... a Porsche !!!

I absolutely love BMW and I do think it's a wonderful brand but there's still a little gap to reach Porsche's image and legend...

And to say the truth I was about to buy the e85 when I heard of the e89 and wanted to buy it right after its launch but if the price is 45k€, I'd rather buy a Boxster for the same price...

Frankly if BMW really increases the price like that, I bet that this z4 sales will be really catastrophic...

I really cross fingers for BMW... and for me !

BTW, Eni or Scott, I suppose you're not really in this kind of matters (I mean pricing) but could you give us any clue on that ?

I'm keeping my eye on this one.

In my dreams, the new Z would come in at <3200lbs with a 340+hp twin turbo inline 6.

Well I can dream, right...

Base model (2.0i) too which you refer only came in after 2,5-3 years. Lowest engine at introduction was 2.5i, price must have been around 33-34k euro (depending of country). I expect the 3.0i and 3.0i tt to start at a price of around 40k (3.0i) and 45k (3.0i tt) euro this time.

No, that would be $. $45k = €30k

Cars are very cheap in the US.

The 2.5i costs 32.900 € today (Germany) and was indeed the first introduction engine, but today, considering the economic situation, the ecological matter, oil prices and low émissions reglementations, I think they will introduce a 2.0 from the beginning, but I could be wrong...

And well your prices would be really fair: 40k for the 3.0i and 45k for the 3.0ti.

But I really think it will be more... Much more ! The 3.0si costs today 42.250 € so It will be at least 50 k€...

For me 5000 € increase would be fair, that would mean the 2.5i at 38 k€...

You have to compare the original 2.5i with the current 2.5si (35.900 euro in Germany). The current 2.5i is the successor of the 2.2i (6 in line).

The current 3.0si costs indeed already 42k+, but i think that the 3.0i in the new Z4 might be the low-power version as used in the 125i and 325i, so you have to add more or less 5k euro to the current price of a 2.5si. Don't know ift they will introduce immediately the 3.0i in the higher power version since he gap with the 3.0i tt is too narrow, even with the tt in 326hp configuration. Don't forget they will add a metal roof, which is more costly to produce.

BMW has the policy to introduce first the larger engines and after a couple of years the smaller engines (smaller margins). However, they are sligthly changing this policy, for example the E92 and E93 got the basic engine already after 6-months.

Since petrol engines are becoming again more popular in Germany (% sales of diesel cars has gone down the latest months), BMW should introduce asap the 2.0i tt, otherwise al lot of potential buyers might switch over to Volkswagen related products (even their 1.4i tt outclasses the BMW's 2.0i in every single test). Maybe the Z4 will be the first one using this engine in a year or two?