BMW Z4 sDrive35is

The story

The sDrive35is never tried to beat the Porsche Boxster at its own game. BMW took the N54 twin-turbo six, added an overboost function that lifts torque to 369 lb-ft for a few seconds at full throttle, fitted a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission and firmer adaptive dampers, and pointed the result at the open road. The power arrives smoothly and keeps arriving, the exhaust hardens into a rasp near the redline, and the gearbox cracks off downshifts with an encouraging bark.

With the retractable hardtop raised it is a snug, refined grand tourer; with it folded away, an ordinary coast road becomes an occasion. That double life is the point, and also why a press corps busy timing laps mostly preferred the Boxster. The long hood and clean shoulder line tie it to a roadster tradition BMW traces through the 507 back to the 315/1 of 1934. Values fell hard after new, which leaves it among the better buys for anyone who would rather cover ground beautifully than chase a stopwatch.