I love it . Review on BMW Z4

I have absolutely no knowledge of what’s under the bonnet and my review here is “simply personal experience” and just that. I bought the car last year after I test drove it for less than 30 minutes. What sold me, I guess, was the hairpin turn that I got to negotiate at 55 MPH and at that point it seemed like I was in heaven!!!! In the last one year I have had the opportunity to enjoy it every single day. I am truly in love with it. The fastest I have been is about 120 mph for a few minutes on a Tollway at about 4 in the morning with no traffic and I can classify that experience with my stint at bungy jumping …. Exhilarating.

As far as the way this car looks, I like its dynamic and masculine lines. Some commentators are up in arms about the way Chris Bangle, BMW’s chief designer, has used the “flame surfacing effect” — the mixture of concave and convex surfaces on the flanks of this and BMW’s other new cars. Controversy isn’t a bad sign anyway, but I have to say I like it. Tastes are peculiar and diverse. I think the sculpted line at the bottom of the door, for instance, angles forward and up into the fender, stops at the wheel, resumes and becomes the line along the front edge of the hood. This appearance gives the Z4 the identity of an honest sports car, not a converted coupe or a shrunken four-seat ragtop.

I love the sleek interior with chrome and black leather and the dashboard controls are few and nearly intuitive. And I am still discovering a plethora of subtle features throughout the car. The brake lights, for example, aren't simply on or off. If braking force is unusually hard, they brighten even more to give cars behind a visual cue that you're nailing the anchor pedal.

And the fact that my music is literally on my fingertips (on the steering wheel) when I am cruising at unusually dangerous speeds.

I don’t know much about the engine, but it sounds great at just about any rpm, part or full throttle. In aggressive driving I have been able to get the stability control to kick in a couple of times, but never felt it was intrusive. Whenever it kicked in I was glad that it did.

With the top down, buffeting is really low. I guess, the bodysides help here, but I think the windshield and body of the car are also doing something to channel the airstream away from the interior. I have driven the car on highways and it remains really comfortable with minimal Damage to my hair.

Oh and $1200 for the sports package is truly worth it. Dynamic Driving Control, I think that’s what BMW calls it. To me it's a button marked ''sport'' on the console. Push it, and some fun things happen. Power-assist to the steering is lessened so the driver gets a better feel for the road. The engine responds more quickly to the gas pedal. I haven’t used it much , trying to save on gas, but whenever I do it just feels good. Also the 18’’ wheels are the way to go (they come standard with the sports package) , the 16’’ won’t look right.

In summary, it just lets me go from whatever speed I am going at to whatever speed I want to go at within a second ( may be 2).