20 Feb 06
But find the right road or, ideally, private race track, and the Z4M will show you another side to its character, one until now merely hinted at by its engine. In short, and so long as you turn off the traction control, this car is an animal. With more than enough power to overwhelm the grip of the tyres in a slow corner, a short wheelbase to make sure that when the back moves it does so very quickly and a nice, even weight distribution to help keep everything under control, indulging the hooligan that lurks deep within most of us is a delightfully simple pursuit. Good though a Boxster is, it can't do this.
And that, in essence, is what the Z4M is, a yob with a private education and closer in character to a TVR than anything produced by either Porsche or Mercedes. It lacks civility not only in its ride quality but also in its noise levels hood up or down. The cabin is looking old, there's not much legroom for taller drivers and now the battery's been relocated to the boot, there's precious little room back there.
So a flawed diamond for sure, but a diamond nonetheless. It's not a car you can stay angry with for long, not with an engine like that to cannon you up every straight and one of the most amusing chassis to indulge the devil in you at every (safe) corner. Yes, the Boxster is the better car, and by pricing it substantially ahead of the Porsche BMW is showing a confidence in its product that, frankly, I don't share. But for those who like their driving pleasures rough and ready, rather than silky smooth, the Z4M has a mighty appeal. Most important of all, to me at least, it is a proper, unreconstructed M-car. In an era when BMW is using the M badge to ever less noble ends, that is hugely reassuring.
