2009 BMW Z4 Side-by-Side Comparison Starting MSRP $45,750 – $51,650

2009 BMW Z4 HardTop
News reports suggest affluent car shoppers are putting off new purchases, keeping their current wheels and treading water as they wait for the economy to pick back up. If you're in this group, BMW's redesigned Z4 isn't your most responsible option, but if times were good you'd snap it up in a heartbeat.

It's an agile, sharp-looking roadster with decent cabin space and surprisingly livable ride quality for day-to-day use. So be an optimist: The new Z4's timing may be less than ideal, but it's too good a specimen not to consider.

I tested a Z4 sDrive35i. There's also a less powerful Z4 sDrive30i; you can compare both to the 2008 Z4 here. This year's Z4 gets a standard power-retractable hardtop, much like BMW's 3 Series convertible. That means there's no fixed-hardtop coupe, as the outgoing Z4 lineup included, nor is there a high-performance Z4 M, also offered previously.

Sharp Styling
The previous Z4, conceived during the worst of BMW's avant-garde styling years, always looked a bit off. It was the sort of car you'd park nose-in so others might admire the rear and never see the front. There's no need to hide anymore. The low-slung Z4 looks well-proportioned and aggressive, with a long hood, a short tail and a cabin planted rear of the car's center. The grille is larger and more upright, and the headlights have a furrowed, menacing appearance. It's an angrier look, but I'll take it over the previous Z4's headlights, which lent the car a vapid expression.

The sDrive35i adds titanium-colored inserts in the grille and lower air dam; the sDrive30i retains black inserts throughout. BMW says the power top takes about 20 seconds to raise and lower; I hit that time lowering it, but putting it up took 22 seconds. The whole operation requires the car to be at a complete halt; some powered tops function when the car is in motion, at least up to a certain speed.

Twin-Turbo Fun
The Z4 sDrive35i is perhaps the best application yet for BMW's twin-turbo six-cylinder. Power is abundant, starting out strong — and lacking any noticeable turbo lag — and sticking around all the way to a speeding ticket. Sports cars from the Nissan 370Z to the Porsche Boxster S feel less immediately powerful, peaking only as the tach swings past 3,000 rpm or so. BMW says 60 mph comes in 5.1 seconds for the Z4 sDrive35i. That's a figure both competitors narrowly beat, but in the everyday sense the Z4's balance of power all over the tach makes up for the deficit.

Other Bimmers offer the same twin-turbo engine as the Z4 — and accelerate as blazingly fast — but the Z4's stick is a welcome change from the rubbery, longish shifters BMW installs elsewhere. It feels closer to the manual in the Infiniti G37, which I believe is the gold standard for stick-shift precision. Flick it from one gear to the next, stab the gas for a quick rev-match, then accelerate onward — it's a delightful thing, and that's not a compliment I've paid a BMW manual in a long time.

A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic with steering-wheel paddle shifters runs $1,525 on the sDrive35i; the sDrive30i offers a traditional six-speed automatic. The Z4's dual-clutch transmission debuted in the M3 a couple years back, and it was BMW's first such transmission. Thanks to lickety-split shift times, the dual-clutch automatic gets the Z4 to 60 mph a hair faster than the stick shift. (This is the norm for dual-clutch automatics, a reality that I, a stick-shift purist, have only grudgingly accepted.)

All-disc antilock brakes bring the Z4 to a quick halt, though I noticed that the first few inches of pedal travel exact minimal braking. Other editors found that helped fine-tune deceleration, but I prefer the Boxster's brake pedal, which felt more linear.

If the 300-horsepower sDrive35i's $51,650 asking price is too steep, the normally aspirated, 255-hp sDrive30i starts at $45,750. It hits 60 mph in 5.6 seconds with the manual and 6.0 seconds with the automatic — likely a noticeable enough difference from the twin-turbo engine for you to feel in everyday driving, especially when comparing the automatics. Here's how the drivetrains compare:

2009 BMW Z4 HardTop

2009 BMW Z4 HardTop

2009 BMW Z4 HardTop

2009 BMW Z4 HardTop