Written by: Martin Ward
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 

Back to Scotland for the second time in a week and this time the sun shone with a temperature of 18 degrees with clear blue skies. We drove from Inverness to Dundonnell, past the Lochs and past the mountains; some of which still have over a metre of snow on them. This part of the world has stunning scenery, especially when the sun shines and you can get the roof down.

 

That is exactly what we did all day, have the roof down; it goes up or down in twenty seconds. For the first time on a two seat Convertible from BMW, the company has chosen to use a two piece aluminium roof instead of the traditional cloth roof. This has been done following customer clinics where they said security was an issue, as was safety in case of an accident. BMW also wanted a quiet car and a warm car when the roof is up, which will be the majority of the time. However, luggage space is sacrificed when the roof is down as the retractable hard top has to be stored in the boot space but when the roof is up, the luggage area is huge.

 

BMW are launching the new Z4 with a choice of three engines: a 23i that produces 204hp, a 30i that produces 258hp and the twin turbo charged 35i that produces 306hp. The combined fuel consumption figures range from 30.1mpg to 33.2mpg and all have a top speed of over 150mph. We drove the sDrive 35i first which is fast but it felt safe, solid and on some of the twisty mountain roads, it never ran out of power. On the return journey we swapped into the sDrive 23i, which after driving the 35i, we thought it would appear underpowered and unremarkable but this wasn’t so. The 2.5 litre engine in the 23i goes from 0-62mph in 6.6 seconds and it feels even faster than that on the road. The 204hp is more than enough for this type of car. We drove the Z4 over a total of around 150 miles on a variety of roads and we found the 23i to be the best balanced, the easiest to drive and the most comfortable; a better everyday sort of car. There will be enthusiasts who want a lot of power but in reality it is unnecessary. The price of the sDrive 23i is £28,645 on the road; this does seem to be good value. The 30i is £32,660 and the 35i is £37,060. All cars come with a good level of specification but you would need to spend around £2,000 to have a few nice goodies. The new Z4 offers a good all round package. This car has got plenty of style, is great fun to drive and is high in quality in regards to both interior and exterior. It has the added advantage of being a hard top Coupe and the price for all this looks to be reasonable.

  

The current Z4 was built at plant Spartanburg in North America but the decision was taken to move production to plant Regensburg in Bavaria so it will be built alongside the BMW 1 and 3 Series. This move allowed the X3 to be installed in the States which is where the model’s biggest market lies.

  

It was a good day out around Inverness in a very nice sports car with spectacular scenery. We go to many parts of the world but Scotland on a sunny day cannot be beaten.

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