Test drive BMW Z4 E85 2002 - 2006 convertible

Predator IV

Most relatives attract attention thanks to a rare body type. Z4 of those that excite feelings not only with design frills.

Fighting geometry
Do you have a resolution for shooting? The formidable appearance of two brave fighters in black uniform did not promise anything good. However, after a few seconds, seeing that we are photographing the not carefully hidden sights of one of the Moscow parks, the guards suddenly forgot about their issue. They saw him
 
How I understand them! The view of this formidable beast is more eloquent in any of our explanations. As if every square centimeter of its surface radiated power. Passion, power, pressure, swiftness to me, admitted that in no serial car I had to meet such a bewitching game of tense planes. A predatory fish that is about to swallow you, a fighting dog that will break without hesitation.
 
And at the same time, there is some sophisticated mixture of grace and solidity in it. She is in a long hood, and in the relief faces of the sidewalls, and in the wings contours, and in door -to -stamp. So I want to jump behind the wheel!
 
Z-family
The first car under the Z1 index saw the light in 1987. Thanks to the plastic body, a powerful 2.5-liter motor, doors electric drives and many other curious new products, this roadster (in the picture) was rightfully considered one of the most perfect cars of its time. True, it turned out to be too expensive, so only about 8 thousand cars were sold around the world until 1992.
 
In October 1995, Z3 appeared. He became the first BMW relatives built at the American factory of the company, and in commercially turned out to be much more successful. Until June 2002, more than 300 thousand relatives and Z3 compartment were produced.
 
The third serial representative of the Z-family was announcing himself in 1999 (the car debuted in the film about James Bond of the Golden Eye) 400-horsepower Z8 The fastest BMW for today.

The art of reincarnation
However, I will say right away that at first in that sunny summer day, Rogster caused me not only positive emotions. The first impression of acquaintance with him was by no means so rosy.
 
I jump over a wide threshold, falling into the seat, ply clapping the door wobblely ... How did I squeeze here? It seems that the spaces here are less than in the workplace of a different micro -lining. After a couple of minutes of in -depth acquaintance, skepticism decreased. It turned out that the warning electric drive can easily lower the seat lower, and the range of longitudinal adjustment is such that a person with a tall of 180 cm does not need to fully move the seat back and so enough. Okay, a tailored stylish steering wheel, adjustable in height and angle of inclination, pedals, levers and buttons with which you find mutual understanding the first time. Yes, just how to get rid of the feeling that the ceiling hangs over your head with a gloomy cloud?
 
  There is nothing easier in the relative! Moreover, how exactly is the roof of this BMW, perhaps one of the most exquisite car pleasures. I had to remove the iron caps from the Bocster and Audi-TT, to enjoy how the roof of the Mercedes-SLK and Peugeot 206SS is dashingly and the roof of the Mercedes-SLK is folded and removed. But in none of them this process is completely automated. And then only you need to hold a few seconds of the pressed button on the central console. Even the electronics fully know the operation of the clamps on the frame of the windshield. True, in the last moment of automobile striptease, the driver hears not the most pleasant buzzing behind him. But maybe an alien type of the Z-shaped mechanism should make such extraterrestrial sounds.
  
But how now the salon is transformed! Under the sun's rays, you begin to perceive its geometry in a completely different way. Not any BMW has such a complex shape of the front panel, a continuous strip of polished tree stretching between the doors. Very beautiful. However, I order the car for myself, I would probably prefer to see aluminum here, the same as on unusually stylish door handles, elements of the climate control unit, the steering wheel knitting needles, the central tunnel and the jaist of the checkpoint. I did not make a reservation, namely the joystick, not the lever, so it is okay. So clearly and to a millimeter is thoughtfully located. It is unusually convenient for them to jam the gear!
 
 
Holding one of these buttons pressed (second or third on the left), you can add and lay out a soft top

 
By the standards of relatives, the trunk with a volume of 260 liters seems just huge

 
Behind the backs of each of the chairs, large subwoofers are mounted
 
Several boxes between seats, a mesh on the tunnel from the front passenger and a convenient cup holder practical trifles are far from the most practical car
 
 
Cracking gait
Anyone who has managed to manage the predecessor of the four, the Z3 family, will surely agree with me that that car was able to be temperamental, quite sharply to pass turns and clearly write the desired trajectory. The current predator is even hotter, and the chassis, despite the fact that it remains fundamentally the same mac-farson in front, the multi-link suspension is even better adapted for dynamic and at the same time captivating movements for sports carrier. The hardness of the body, other shock absorber settings and wide 255/35 ZR17 in front, 225/40 ZR17 in rear, are also contributing to this almost 2.5 times (up to 14,500 nm/city).
 
Only about 2500 rpm Z4 remains a calm means of movement. The pedals, in fact, with rather short moves, for some reason, for some reason, for some reason, do not seem, in Bavarian tenacious brakes bribe smoothness. Choosing all three with a small steering wheel from the stop to the stop, you even begin to think that BMW, having received American roots (Z4 is collected only in the States, at the factory in Spartanberg), became almost a melancholic. In vain, I, it turns out, decided.
 
The arrow of the tachometer is not lower than three thousand, and my movements now resemble a teleportation in space invented by science fiction writers rather than ordinary accelerations! Five thousand, and those tired of the soul of high -frequency sounds were added to the bass ruset that you can hear on any Formula 1. The car can be transferred with extraordinary ease from a row, shifted from one turn to another. True, if you get into the turn more quickly, it turns out that my actions vigilantly controls the vigilant duet of anti-booking systems and dynamic stabilization, and the steering wheel is far from as informative as, for example, on BMW-M5. This is not for you on the gut? Feel free to click the sport button.
 
I know where he has a button
The role of the steering wheel amplifier for the first time on the BMW is performed by an electric motor (the Germans used an electric hydro -power), electronics are responsible for the sensitivity of the gas pedal. That is why the speed of the response to pressing the accelerator, and the force on the steering wheel can be changed just with the help of the cherished button with the inscription Sport, next to the lever of the 6-speed checkpoint. It seemed that after pressing it, even the suspension became even denser.
 
Now another thing! True, for some time I had to get used to more sensitive gas. Moreover, the ability to turn off the dynamic stabilization system using another button, DSC is essentially a fiction. In the bend, until the skid stops, the supply of fuel is still not increased.
 
But I'm not sorry for this for long. On straight lines I do not notice how I shoot up to 140150 km/h. Only the desire to go at such a crazy pace with the cleaned tarpaulin roof quickly disappears. The noise of the wind becomes simply unbearable. And only a few kilometers later, I clearly felt the dust gazed on my teeth.
 
Have a good hunting
No, I'm not ready to put up with this. But the ever -increasing number of Russian owners of naked cars are settled with this. Neither our dusty roads, nor the herds of member trucks, nor vandals that can cut them down with a knife along the defenseless canvas, nor far from the ideal of practicality, are stopped at any time, or the costs associated with the content of several (hardly anyone will become the only machine ) cars. So, Z4 will have fans.
 
For example, those who buy a 3-liter class already only because he is able to cause a sense of respect and envy, not only the owner of an ordinary car. You should have seen the eyes of that tanned macho on the Mercedes-Benz-SLK320-AMG, which Z4 was easily overtaken on Volokolamka! But the same fate can wait for the Audi-TT-DRTER-3,2, and even Porsche-Bukester. For nothing that they are all a dozen or two thousand euros more than four, in a traffic light race, they can hardly contrast a new predator. Beware, this spring he has already gone hunting!
 
BMW Z4 3.0i

Length x width x height, mm
 
4090x1780x1380 (4050x1740x1300)
 
Trunk volume, l
260 (165)
 
Turning radius, m
4.9 (5.0)
 
Road clearance, mm
110
 
Speed, km/h
250 (240)
 
Acceleration 0-100 km/h, with
5.9 (6.0)
 
Fuel consumption, l/100 km highway/city
6.6/13.5 (7.3/13.3)
 
Working volume, SMZ
2979
 
Power, L.S. at rpm
231/5600
 
Torque, kgsm at rpm
30.6/3500
 
Price, euro
56 900
 
 

In brackets, Z3 Roadster 3.0i parameters
 
Alexey Sergeev, photo Maxim Goncharov
 
 

Source: Magazine "Limousine" [07/03]