The 2019 BMW Z4 is faster than an M2 around the Nurburgring
New on-board footage shows the BMW Z4 M40i is a proper little sports car
Forget your preconceptions – the new BMW Z4 is a proper sports car. While the model has historically been know as more of a soft roadster, better-suited to cruising slowly along sun-drenched beach fronts than attacking a track, new footage shows that might be about to change.
German car magazine Sport Auto has taken what appears to be a pre-production version of the new Z4 on its legendary "Supertest", which sees its resident racing driver take on the Nurburgring Nordschleife in the latest performance cars. Incredibly, the Z4 didn't just perform well, its time of 7m 55.41s means it lapped the track a full three seconds faster than BMW's M2 model.
The M2 is BMW's entry-level performance car, but it's no slouch. Widely regarded as a better drive than the M3 and M4 – its bigger, faster and more expensive siblings – it packs 360bhp, more than the 340bhp in the Z4 M40i tested here. It also packs some serious performance parts like chunky tyres and clever suspension that make the Z4's feat all the more impressive.
This raises two important questions. The first is just how incredible will a proper "M Division" Z4 be? And if the Z4 is already this impressive, just how ridiculously rapid will the new Toyota Supra be? The Japanese car maker has been working with BMW to build a twin car built on the same platform but with more of a focus on performance. What a time to be alive...
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Comments (7)
Which would you go for – BMW Z4 or Toyota Supra?
Z4, the supra looks weird
I hope so many people buy a Supra. And Toyota thinks, "We really ought to have listened sooner to the groans that went up daily for over a decade."
James May is going to loooooooovvvvvvee the ride.
That Z4 looks just as the new Fiat 124 spider. The Supra is more of interest to me!