The BMW Z4 M40i really packs a punch with speed and laser-like precision for tight corners
The M40i is packing Beamer’s signature straight-six engine — 3.0 litres of it with added turbo beans
I’VE got an announcement to make – my time with The Sun is coming to an end.
Next week will be my last column — and I’ve saved something special and Italian for it to go out with some tyre squeal — but this week I’ve been reflecting on the past four years.
I consider myself profoundly lucky to have driven some of the best cars in the world.
Yet, frustratingly, I still could not tell you which one I would buy tomorrow.
The closest I have come to any meaningful advice for those with a blank chequebook would be: Aim for the 50-grand mark. I have found once a car costs more than that it takes a lot to justify the spend.
And once it starts bothering the £100,000 mark you would need a lottery win burning a hole in the current account. But £50,000 is the sweet spot.
This price bracket is swollen with cars that offer real driving thrills yet are affordable enough to live with every day. They have cropped up on these pages time and again, as benchmarks of quality.
But here is the roll call one last time: Porsche Cayman, Audi TT (probably the RS), Alpine A110, Ford Mustang, Jaguar F-Type (four- cylinder).
The BMW Z4 has never featured in that list but I drove the new version last week and am seriously considering adding it in.
For clarity, £50,000 buys you the top-spec Z4 M40i.
The entry-level 20i starts around £37,000, and there’s a 30i playing piggy in the middle. These two are powered by 2.0-litre turbo engines in different states of tune.
But the M40i is packing Beamer’s signature straight-six engine — 3.0 litres of it with added turbo beans — and squeezes out a highly respectable 340bhp.
To say it has some wallop would be an understatement. The 0-62mph time of 4.6 seconds feels even quicker thanks to a ride height so low you expect to feel your bum cheeks grazing the asphalt.
Unlike Z4s of old, the new one is wide and long — 84mm longer in fact — yet has a shorter wheelbase. This has sharpened handling, adding laser-like precision to tight corners.
So far, so track car, right? And here is why it makes good value for money — the interior is also first- class.
So rather than coming home with a clattery Caterham and incurring the wrath of the wife, the Z4 offers the best of both worlds.
The extra width is especially apparent in the cabin, with a yawning dashboard topped with a ten-inch screen.
The virtual driver’s display is attractive, although perhaps not up to Audi standards.
Key facts
BMW Z4 M40i
Price: £49,050
Engine: 3.0 litre turbo petrol
Economy: 33.2 mpg
0-62mph: 4.6 seconds
Top speed: 155mph
Length: 4.3 metres
CO2: 165g/km
And there is a host of tech, including “connectivity” apps to find out on-the-go restaurant information or be told when it is time to get the roof up because rain is coming.
The problem for me with the Z4 though — and one which probably keeps it out of that hallowed £50,000 club — is it is, well, a bit un-interested in the driver.
Fancy dynamic suspension and driver modes seem to take over the driving experience — everything is too easy, unengaging.
The steering feels muted, there is no conversation between the driver and the road surface.
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And while the car is extremely able, it just does not quite set your world alight, unlike the Cayman.
That said, you certainly would not be asking for your money back.
I just still have not found the one car I would buy tomorrow, that’s all.