Magus Cars India

BMW recently unveiled its hottest ever roadster to come out of its factory gates yet. Abhishek Nigam takes a look at the latest Z4.

It was James Bond who brought forth BMW’s most modern mass-market roadster the Z3 in front of the world. Armed with a self-destruct system, parachute braking and stinger missiles located in the side vents, the Z3 debuted in style. Apart from its starry movie debut, the Z3 also won various accolades for being a great car. Over the years BMW has upped the game for its roadsters and kept churning out one fantastic vehicle after another

The immediate successor to the Z3 was the Z4. Introduced in 2002, this chunky Bimmer came in both roadster and coupe forms. In fact it was so good that almost immediately after its debut the car grabbed the ‘Design of the Year’ accolade from a reputed automobile magazine. Cut to the present, BMW just recently launched a redesigned version of its Z4 Roadster. The new model represents the first complete redesign since the inception of the Z4 badge itself. Look at it from any angle and it’s difficult to mistake it for any other car. The shape is an interplay of striking contours and soft mergers which fully captures the character of this vehicle from its characteristic kidney grille to the powerful wheelarches at the rear. However, it’s the way this roadster effortlessly negotiates straights and bends that gives it a distinct personality. The side view is dominated by the dynamic flow of the car’s shoulder line connecting the front and rear wheel arches and accentuating the stretched, athletic look of the Roadster. Further characteristic design features are the extra-large engine compartment lid extending far over the wheel arches, the black A-pillars, the gill intakes at the side with their integrated LED direction indicators, as well as the slender rear lights with their three-dimensional LED-fed rows of light units. BMW’s radical design revolution hasn’t always been aesthetically successful, at least in the eyes of the BMW faithful. But BMW styling now seems to be hitting its stride, recapturing some of its former pleasing proportions. It appears that the steady hand of BMW designer Adrian van Hooydonk is getting the beloved Bimmers back where they need to be.

Stepping inside reveals an interior which is as radical as the exterior. It’s more visually pleasing, and includes a slew of comfort and usability improvements. Notably, the traditional hand brake is gone in favor of an electronic setup. BMW’s latest automatic gearshift is present. The audio system is built around an 8.8-inch LCD screen, featuring a 1280 x 480 pixel resolution, and an 80GB hard drive, with up to 15GB of music storage. A 650-watt 14-speaker sound system rounds out the list of high-tech features. No BMW is however complete without the renowned iDrive system and the Z4 is the first BMW roadster to feature the same. The system itself is made up of a Controller on the centre console and a folding, high-resolution Control Display on the instrument panel, allowing the driver to intuitively and safely mastermind all available functions through standardized movements of the controller either tipping it in one direction, turning or pressing the controller as required.

Seating is extraordinary as well. The seats with integrated headrests come stitched in high quality leather in a choice of three colours. The same colour is used on the lower section of the instrument panel and on the armrest of the door lining as well as the armrest on the centre console. Giving shelter from the elements of nature is a folding two-piece aluminum roof which takes some inspiration from the BMW Z8’s elongated profile. This two-piece roof structure in lightweight aluminum shell technology opens and closes electro-hydraulically at the touch of a button within just 20 seconds.

You develop a real sense of respect for the car and
the technology that allows it to perform the way it does –
both on road and off it.

We approach a steep downhill slope where the trail just seems to drop away from you. Since we don’t have a good view of the approach to the descent, Justin, the Land Rover driving instructor, suggests that we step out of the car to get a better sense of what lies ahead. We jump out of the confines of the Range Rover’s luxurious cabin onto a slippery surface of loose sand and rocks – suggesting that this may get somewhat tricky.

The Range’s parked just before a sharp left turn leading to the descent, which means that we have to turn the car and have it pointing straight before we start heading downhill – try going sideways through a steep downhill slope and you’re likely to find yourself on your roof very quickly. We get back in the car to activate the Range Rover’s Hill Decent Control (HDC), after which we proceed to navigate our way through trees on either side of the trail – taking a wide line so that we can straighten the car before we start heading downhill in earnest.

Justin now suggests that I simply keep the steering pointed straight and take my foot off the pedals. ‘Take my foot off the pedals?’ I look at him like he’s a man with a death wish but he nods reassuringly. The car lunges forward for an instant before the tires find grip and the Hill Descent system uses traction control to manage our downhill speed. I use all my will power to avoid following my natural instincts of standing on the brakes, which could possibly cause the car to pitch sideways and, as previously explained, eventually leave us sitting on our roof. The tires fight the surface for grip the whole way but the Hill Descent Control uses the angle of the slope to control our speed beautifully. We make it to the bottom of the hill without incident, and, in retrospect, quite easily – the technology in the Range Rover proving triumphant once again.

I’m attending the Land Rover Driving School at Quail Lodge in Carmel, California – one of the most scenic parts of the US west cost. Set amidst some of the best golf courses in the world, there’s about 100 acres of private forest land owned by Quail Lodge. This is used by Land Rover to educate anyone who cares about the finer points of off-road driving – in some of the best machinery in the world suited to the task. The Land Rover Driving Experience is an off-road driving school set up by the company in different parts of the US, essentially with the aim of providing owners or prospective owners the chance to experience the true capabilities of their vehicles in a safe and controlled environment, and, most importantly, sitting alongside professional driving instructors.

The terrain at the Land Rover Driving Experience allows you to experience steep assents, descents, a moonscape of craters, rocks, and a lot more. And it’s only after you’ve conquered these varied obstacles that you realize the true capabilities of these tremendous machines. You develop a real sense of respect for the car and the technology that allows it to perform the way it does – both on road and off it. And the one thing that strikes you is the ease with which the Range Rovers traverses said terrain without alarming its passengers in the least. The only quality required of the driver is that he or she should be capable of providing smooth and measured inputs, so as to not upset the balance of the car. Do that, and the Range Rover will get you out of almost any situation with consummate ease (see our review of the Range Rover Sport to get a better understanding of the on-board systems that allow the car to perform the way if does).

The flip side of this ability, of course, is that the vehicle is so capable and it’s laden with such advanced technology that, as is quite often the case in such situations, the driver is largely eliminated from the equation – it’s almost as if the vehicle does what it’s capable of in spite of the driver. Consequently, the level of involvement is reduced, while the level of amazement is heightened. Nevertheless, you do remain in awe of the capabilities of the Range Rover – whether it’s during excessive side-angle tilts, descending or ascending impossibly steep slopes, the level of wheel articulation or range of travel, and the inherent stability of the vehicle. And all this in a car that can be taken straight off the showroom floor. The great shame, however, is that most owners will never actually experience what their vehicle is capable of. At any rate, they can be safe in the knowledge that their Land Rover can get them out of near any situation if need be.