BMW Z4 M Coupe

The story

Where the Z3 M Coupe was a happy accident, the Z4 version arrived looking like it meant every crease. Its roof runs into a fastback tail that finally makes sense of the long hood, giving it a tauter, more resolved profile than the Z4 roadster it shares a nose with. Underneath sat the high-revving S54 from the E46 M3, now with a sixth gear, a multi-link rear axle, a variable locking differential and brakes drawn from the most focused E46 M3s. Crucially, it kept hydraulic power steering while ordinary Z4s switched to electric.

On a fast road it feels like one solid object, settling early into a corner and refusing to be knocked off line where the older car would squirm. It is not gentle company: the ride is firm, the clutch heavy, the cabin dark and the view backward poor. Car and Driver found it exactly as quick to 60 mph as a Porsche Cayman S, though the Porsche won on polish. BMW built only 4,581 in 3 years, and a GT3 racing version later won 11 of 16 VLN races at the Nürburgring, proof the shape was more than handsome.