BMW says a fixed roof turns its ballistic Z4 M Roadster into a long-distance grand tourer called the Z4 M Coupe, which marks the return of the BMW’s first two-seater coupe for almost five years. Quicker than even the iconic M3, there’s no denying the M3-engined Z4 Coupe is far less compromised than its open-topped sibling – and its electrically-steered, run-flat tyred 3.0si stablemate. Throw in a $3300-lower pricetag that’s also $10,000 less than its controversially styled predecessor’s and on paper the Z4 M Coupe is almost too good to be true. But when you’ve got a compact two-seater sports coupe of the Porsche Cayman’s calibre to live up to, BMW’s cut-price super-coupe needs every advantage it can muster.
BMW Z3 M Coupe
Released: October 1998
Ended: December 2001
Family Tree: Z4BMW’s previous-generation Z3 roadster also spawned a hard-topped hatchback derivative, available only in M Coupe guise in Australia. Dubbed everything from the "bread van" to the "munster mobile", the niche model shared its 236kW/350Nm 3.2-litre inline six with both the E36 M3 coupe and the Z3 M Roadster. Like the latter, the Z3 M Coupe was available exclusively with a five-speed manual transmission from October 1998, priced at $137,000. A 141kW/275Nm 2.8-litre Z3 Coupe was offered outside Australia.
Super Test
Facebook Twitter Instagram