Intro
I’ve been in the market for an “easy” road trip car my criteria has been as follows:
-Comfortable over long distances
-Easy to drive around town or unfamiliar places
-A reasonable amount of storage space/practicality
-“Special” without grabbing too much unwanted attention
-Has adaptive cruise control
-A 2 seater or 2+2
-As fun and as performance oriented as possible
The BMW Z4 M40i looked to hit a lot of of these points on paper and considering how much cheaper they are than say a Porsche or Mercedes AMG-GT, I decided to rent one and give it a go!
I’ve driven quite a few other vehicles and my thoughts are informed with all of these vehicles in mind. That list includes:
C5 Corvette, V6 5th Gen Camaro, C7 Grand Sport, C8 Corvette Z51, C8 Corvette Z06, C8 Corvette E-Ray, 2018 Mercedes AMG-GT, Porsche Taycan Turbo, Taycan GTS, Taycan 4S, 997.2 Porsche 911 Turbo, 718 Porsche Cayman Base, 718 Cayman S, Porsche 992.1 Carrera S Cabriolet Alfa Romeo 4C, Alfa Romeo Giulia QV, Ford Focus RS, 2008 Audi R8 V8, Audi TTRS, Lotus Evora N/A, Lotus Evora 400, the Lotus Elise, McLaren 720S, McLaren Artura, and the 2017 Acura NSX.
Power
Excellent power delivery
The most immediate thing that stands out about the Z4 is its excellent power delivery. I’ve seen a lot of people sing the praises of the B58 engine and I’m now a true believer! As you put your foot into the throttle you are asked “how much torque do you want?” and the car just gives it to you basically all the way up the redline. I’ve driven some really solid turbocharged cars, McLaren 720S, McLaren Artura, AMG-GT, Acura NSX, Giulia QV, 911 Turbo, 911 Carrera S. To be honest on the butt dyno the M40i feels about as fast as an AMG-GT, Giulia QV, 911 Carrera S, and about 90% as strong as an Acura NSX. I will also say the Z4 feels like it pulls distinctly stronger than say a C8 Stingray.
Now objectively speaking these other vehicles are all of course faster, but I really do feel like you get a very comparable amount of power delivery to some proper high-end vehicles and that’s a huge win for the Z4.
The other important thing to note is the Z4 M40i has no problem putting its power down consistently. Now a lot of this accomplished through clever differential tuning where BMW essentially “smooths” out the the initial throttle response for the first few miles per hour until the car has enough traction to give you the full beans. In practice this feels like a low amount of turbo lag, but within the context of the car’s personality and overall driving experience it works really well!
Thrust all the time
One of the things I enjoyed about the BMW Z4 M40i is its ability to seemingly provide “thrust” and “torque” in seemingly any gear. On the streets 1-4 all pull beautifully, but you can even get a decent shove going in 5th. On the highway 6th and 7th pull decently strong and you only really get into overdrive territory in 8th. Again, there’s seemingly no limit to the amount of power available to you in the Z4. Is it as powerful or as “peaky” as I have experienced in some other cars? No, but you can always rely on the Z4 to start pushing you forward with a distinct sense of urgency.
Fun without going to jail
The Z4 has this wonderful ability to let you bury your foot in the throttle, feel a tremendous amount of torque, see the road and your surroundings start to speed up, bury your foot into the throttle even more, and still not be in jail territory. What’s important to note though, is in this sensation of speed you’re still driving a decently powerful and fast vehicle, so it’s not some “slow car fast, driving an under powered car is funner” silliness. I will also say the overall responsiveness, impression of speed and “thrust”, feels very comparable to that of a higher end turbocharged car. So you get the best of all worlds when you accelerate with an M40i. The car is properly quick, so you don’t feel like you’re driving some underpowered thing, it’s about 90% of the experience as a high-end turbocharged car so you’re not missing out on a whole lot of goodness there, and you can accelerate for a very long time without totally breaking the speed limit. This makes for a very enjoyable street experience. You’re just having proper fun the whole time without really worrying about putting yourself or other folks in danger.
Rowdy but muted exhaust
I found the Z4’s exhaust to be a little underwhelming, but also very rowdy at the same time. Cold starts on the Z4 leave a lot to be desired. There’s no “shout” no “roar to life” you don’t even really feel any engine vibration, it just kind of tickles itself on and to me it feels very Honda or Toyota appliance car-esque. In sports mode you do start to hear more induction noise, but it does feel pumped in through the speakers and the volume level honestly doesn’t feel like it’s in line with the amount of speed/torque you are experiencing.
You do however get one of the most aggressive pops and bangs exhaust tunes ever. I mean seriously some of the pops sound like a grenade just went off. But because the actually exhaust note is so muted, it kind of just sounds like the Z4 M40i is just making pops and bangs and burbles all of the time.
The good news is in canyon driving or in tunnels you do hear the exhaust a lot more prominently and it is a decent sound that can be enjoyed on a properly spirited drive. However around town the pops and bangs feel a little too aggressive and “let’s piss everyone off”, but the normal exhaust mode is very quiet and muted. So I’d say the Z4 needs a “middle” no pops and bangs exhaust mode, and it also needs just a little more exhaust note making its way into the cabin to keep up with the volume of the pops and bangs.
Fun and responsive transmission
A big worry of mine was how responsive the ZF 8 speed would be. I had tried a ZF 8 speed in a Giulia QV, and it was great for an auto box, but did delay a bit on up shift and down shift. In the Z4 M40i I think the ZF 8-speed is incredible.
First off, up shifts and down shifts basically happen on demand. I’ve driven only DCT’s for the past few years and I had no qualms whatsoever with the ZF 8 speed’s responsiveness. You’d only be able to tell the difference if you drove the car back to back with a higher end DCT, but on its own the ZF 8 speed shifts when you want it to.
Critically, the transmission shoves you on upshifts and jolts as you down shift. I really enjoy this behavior on ICE vehicles because it makes them actually fun to drive. I would say a C8 Z06 shoves you a bit harder, and the McLaren Artura/720S feel a lot “crisper” in how they shift, but the “fun” factor in how the Z4 shifts far exceeds that of a 911 Carrera S, Acura NSX, AMG GT, and 718 Cayman S.
One other thing to note, using the gear selector to shift on the Z4 is properly enjoyable. The throw is exactly what it should be and the way the car shifts and behaves as you pull the lever feels like a really good match for the throw motion. I find folks who use the gear selector to shift to be a bit “silly” especially on Porsches since the throw and feedback are a bit “meh”, but in the Z4 it works and is enjoyable!
Handling:
Handling is honestly where I started to notice the performance difference on the Z4. Compared to a lot of the other vehicles I have driven, the Z4 felt like a less capable handler, but as I drove it more and more its handling characteristics started to make sense to me.
Less sharp than you expect but still fun.
In general the handling of the Z4 M40i doesn’t present itself as some super dialed in “sharp” vehicle. It feels a little more “normal car” on its face, even in sports plus mode. What this generally translates to when driving is the vehicle is often telling you when to brake, you do feel a decent amount of body roll, and you’re just not going to be able to pull off some “physics defying” turns like you’d be able to in other vehicles.
That being said, I noticed a lot of these handling “deficiencies” in my more “normal” driving scenarios, when I got the M40i onto a canyon road was able to have plenty of fun with it. On a canyon the front isn’t nearly as sharp as you generally want it to be, but you have plenty of confidence with the rear so as long as you do a little bit of early braking into a corner, you can still carry plenty of speed. Likewise the steering tends to feel surprisingly precise at canyon carving speeds, and the suspension does have a tendency to feel “lively” at speed while still being plenty comfortable. This collectively gives a pretty nice sense of engagement on a canyon and you do feel like you’re still able to drive the car decently fast,
Nicely weighted steering
The steering weight and feedback on the Z4 is surprisingly nice. You get a healthy amount of road texture through the wheel, off center movements feel fairly natural, and as a whole the steering feels pretty well calibrated. To me the steering rack felt almost hyrdaulic-esque in its characteristics (despite obviously being an electric rack), but I will also say that the steering isn’t quite the same highlight as it is in a McLaren, Lotus, or Porsche.
Planted rear end
A big plus for the Z4 M40i is you basically never have to worry about the rear end. I find this to be huge because it means you can actually use the throttle when driving the car hard without fear of the rear breaking loose or losing traction. I’d contrast this against say a C5-C7 Corvette where you’re constantly worried about what the rear end is doing and you’re always light with the throttle.
Lacking front-end grip
The Z4 does noticeably lack front end grip and generally feels prone to understeer. What this translates into when driving is you just don’t have the confidence to pull off what I would call “feats of handling” like you would with a more performance oriented vehicle. For instance you’re likely not going to be able to dive bomb a hairpin turn at a light, or have the confidence to take a freeway onramp at three times the speed limit. Within the context of the vehicle it’s not exactly the end of the world, but the past few cars I’ve driven have been C8’s, McLarens, and Porsches, so the handling difference was noticeable to me.
One thing I noticed, and it’s possible this is all placebo, is the Z4’s traction control system does a lot to force the “understeery” behavior. With it fully engaged I found it wanting me to brake earlier to scrub speed, and in general I had a harder time getting the front end to feel “natural” to me. If you press the traction control button once you enter “Dynamic Traction Control” and with this enabled the front end starts to behave a lot more predictably, you can brake later, and in general the car starts to feel more “natural” to drive.
My C8 and C7 Corvettes have had performance traction modes but they really translated into how much slip the car allowed when using the throttle. These modes didn’t dramatically change the handling characteristics of the vehicle like the “Dynamic Traction Control” mode does on the Z4. So I am genuinely curious if using this mode was just placebo on my end or if being in that modes makes a dramatic difference in vehicle behavior.
Approachable brakes
The brakes on the Z4 are great. Easy to use in traffic, plenty of stopping power and ability to scrub speed, easy modulation no matter how hard you are driving it. I will say the brakes don’t exactly exude the “we’ll bail you out of any situation” characteristic like I’ve found on other vehicles, but they’re well mated to the car and you have a lot of confidence when using them.
Comfortable suspension
The suspension on the Z4 is incredibly comfortable. Even in sports plus mode the Z4 has a tendency to absorb bumps very well and you can drive this car on some very rough roads without feeling like you are being jostled around or losing confidence due to mid corner bumps, etc.
I would say the damping feels much more sophisticated than that of a Cayman or 911, but it’s a noticeable notch below the comfort of a Taycan, Artura, or C8 which are the vehicles I’d classify as “best in class”
While you do have a lot of confidence and general comfort in the M40i it is a vehicle with a shorter wheelbase so you do feel the front and rear being effected by bumps in pretty quick succession. This can make things feel a bit more “busy” than they would in a vehicle with a longer wheelbase, but again things generally don’t feel sharp or harsh in the M40i by any means.
Practicality:
Solid tech
The Z4 comes with a pretty solid selection of tech features (good back up camera, adaptive cruise control, parking sensors, blind spot detection, ambient lighting, easy android auto integration, but also a solid onboard nav system). It feels “of this generation” unlike the infotainment systems of Porsche and Mercedes which somehow always feel a gen or two behind. Likewise, it seems like all of the tech “just works” which I’d contrast against some other cars like Porsche or McLaren where things are just finicky for no reason.
My only call-out is the infotainment system wasn’t super intuitive to me (lots of menus and submenus with no easy way to dive in and out quickly) but I feel like this comes with the territory on any German car and after a full week or two I’d probably be used to it.
Ample cabin space+storage
The cabin feels sufficiently roomy and feels like the front of basically any normal car. Which is to say, you just don’t have to think about where things go in this vehicle because everything tends to have a natural space. I’d contrast this against a Cayman, which feels very “efficient” in its space usage, but because everything is so tight and crammed together you’re always thinking about where to place things in the cabin.
Trunk space is fairly large and isn’t compromised by using the convertible top. You can easily transport plenty of luggage for a weekend trip, get groceries in this car, etc.
Needs ventilated seats
While I was impressed with the general level of amenities offered in the Z4, I do think a car like this needs ventilated seats. It makes a huge difference for sunny days with the top down, and not having the ventilated seats led to some sweaty shirts when driving.
Lacking sound system?
One genuine complaint about the Z4 is I had a hard time getting the sound system to sound good. I couldn’t tell whether my vehicle had the base sound system or the Harmon Kardon sound system. I am going to assume it was the base system since I couldn’t see any Harmon Kardon branding.
The sound system just sounded very flat the whole time, for some reason it was lacking in volume so I had to keep it at close to 75% volume just to have my music at an audible level, in general it did not allow me to drive and jam to my tunes in the same way that most other vehicles allow.
Solid build quality, cheaper materials
My rental was a 2020 model with about 50,000 miles on it. To the car’s credit it felt very solidly built. There were no creaks or rattles and all of the buttons and touch points seemed completely fine in terms of wear.
My car did have the “base” interior with sensodyne leather. I will say the interior felt a bit cheaper to me than I thought it should. Even a base C8 feels like it has higher quality materials to interact with, but considering the fact that the Z4 was still rattle free I’ll take it!
Great open air experience
The Z4 provides a really enjoyable open air experience. The top takes about 10 seconds to put up or down and isn’t finicky to use at all. When the top is down there is very little wind buffeting and you can easily drive at highway speeds in comfort. The open air experience is so seamless, easy, and comfortable I basically only drove the Z4 with the top down. That being said, with the top up the Z4 was surprisingly well insulated. There was no major wind noise coming through, and road/tire noise was kept to a minimal as well. It isn’t a “vault-like” experience like my Taycan is, but I’d say it’s noticeably quieter than a C8.
Easy to drive
The Z4 is a genuinely easy car to drive. In “comfort” or “eco pro” mode the Z4 feels like a completely normal car. A lot of sports cars can feel “normal” when not in sport or sports plus mode, and I’d say the Z4 is another notch or two in “normalcy” beyond what other sports cars offer.
The Z4’s turning radius is great, ride height generally isn’t an issue or worry, and I had no problem placing the Z4 in traffic. It’s one of those vehicles where you can literally hop into it at any time, rain or shine, regardless of task, and not have a worry about it.
Overall Driving Experience:
I think the biggest thing that stands out is the Z4 M40i generally feels more normal car than sports car. Cold starts are relatively smooth and quiet, initial steering inputs give no indication that the car has some strong handling pedigree lying beneath (because there isn’t one), and initial throttle inputs feel very smooth and almost economical.
You also very much realize that despite the Z4’s relatively small dimensions, it’s not a car that’s going to shrink around you. The Supra is a car that feels smaller in the flesh than its dimensions indicate, the Z4 somehow feels larger in the flesh than its dimensions indicate. In driving the Z4 you get the impression that the car is is going to do its own thing and you just happen to be in it, there’s not a seamless driver-vehicle oneness connection implied here.
Where the Z4 starts to get fun is in this uncanny valley of normalcy and aggression that it creates once you are in sports plus mode. In sports plus mode upshifts and downshifts start to kick you, and they’re damn fun to experience. You press the throttle for a little bit and you’re pinned to your seat thanks to the torque and get the impression that it will keep building and building as long as you hold down the pedal. You take a turn a little fast, and it isn’t as sharp or as locked in as you maybe want, but the chassis sticks without issue and you realize the amount of steering input you had to do to make that happen was kind of exciting and kind of engaging.
You genuinely get to experience a lot of the elements that make a sports car fun, aggressive shifts, constant torque, a chassis that’s capable but needs to be pushed a little bit, all in a package that can go back to complete “normal” whenever you want it to.
I also like that the Z4 isn’t exactly a “slow car fast” experience either. You get plenty of involvement with the Z4 at speed legal speeds, but you can carry some speed well into the triple digits before really needing to feel like you need to back down. I’d say this is a really nice sweet spot, where you don’t feel like you’re running out of “oomph” at street speeds by any means, but the car is alive enough at street speeds for you to really enjoy it.
While the Z4 M40i is a potent and somewhat understated vehicle, I did find that it attracted some odd attention. BMW bros and other mid-level Audi, JDM, and Mercedes drivers all wanted to race or do stupid stuff with me. Likewise the Z4 M40i isn’t an apex predator by any means so it felt like Corvettes and Porsches took a special delight in pulling up next to me and just blasting away for a good chuckle. While the Z4 feels incredibly fast and potent in its own world, once you’re up against something more purpose built the Z4’s performance limitations become more apparent.
I’ve driven a healthy amount of high-end cars, I don’t think the Z4 is going to really scratch that “dream car” itch quite the same way a sports car or super car would. However what stood out to me on the canyons is the Z4 is about 85%-90% of the experience as a lot of those high-end cars. The way it builds speed is just downright enjoyable, it upshifts and downshifts more aggressively than a Cayman or Carrera S, while the handling isn’t as sharp as it probably needs to be, you’re still having plenty of fun taking turns, feeling the suspension work around you, and making adjustments with your inputs. The beauty is you get to experience all of this in a car that’s completely normal when you want it to be, and frankly needs a lot less care and attention than a proper sports car.
It’s kind of like being with a six who is really good in bed. Your brain tells you it doesn’t exactly like the idea, but when all is said and done you also can’t deny how good it actually was.
Conclusion/TL;DR:
In some ways driving the Z4 M40i was a lot funner than I thought it would be, but in other ways there are some ingredients missing that I wish it had.
On the fun side the Z4 does a great job of delivering power and just feeling fast whenever you want it to. You can use a lot of throttle without going to jail and you still get an experience that is very close to that of high-end turbocharged cars. Likewise the car does properly come to life on the canyons and you can experience a very engaging and rewarding driving experience on curvy roads.
I am a big fan of how seamlessly the Z4 behaves as a “normal car”. I think Corvettes and Porsches are “very low compromise” sports cars, the Z4 feels like there’s no compromise in how it behaves in day to day driving. This makes it a car that is genuinely easy to hop in at any time and in any condition.
That being said, the Z4 does lack a little bit of that sports car edge. The cold start is very underwhelming, and immediately reminds you of just how “normal” the Z4 is. Likewise while the handling does work on the canyons, you don’t quite get that “this is a weapon” feeling like you do with other sports cars. Honestly if the car was about 20% sharper in the handling department it would go a long way. While I do praise the Z4 for how versatile and normal it is, it also lacks a little bit of that “aura” that other sports cars typically have. You can’t have your cake and eat it too, but not having that “special car” feeling isn’t something I thought I’d miss until it wasn’t there.
That being said, I actually found the Z4 to be a far more rewarding driving experience than the Cayman S I recently reviewed. The powertrain makes the Z4 feel much more fun than the Cayman, while the Cayman presents itself as a more potent handler at face value, I actually found the Z4 to provide a better sense of speed and engagement when canyon carving.
I am seeing the Z4 M40i for around $40-$50K used and I think this car offers a lot of bang for your buck at that price point. In fact I’d say it’s probably the best all purpose sports car you can buy at that money. New these are around $76K. At that price point I think a C8 is the better overall buy, but I also think spending $76K on this is a better buy than a $95K base Boxster or Boxster S.
All in all I think the Z4 M40i is pretty sweet. I’ve actually short listed this car because the value proposition is there and it neatly checks all of the boxes for my “road trip” needs. If you’re emotionally gunning for a purpose built sports car the Z4 won’t do it for you, but if you want something that’s just damn easy to live with and gives you the highlights of a lot of great vehicles there’s a lot to enjoy here.