Quinte Szence - In This Latest Battle For Sports Car Supremacy, We Present The "Purist's Division"
Peel away their luxury, the added weight of air-conditioning and electronic gizmos we take for granted, and the BMW Z4 M Coupe and Porsche Cayman S are the quintessence of what dyed-in-the-elbow-patch-wool enthusiasts of the postwar era considered "serious" sports cars. These modern minimalists have fixed roofs that add rigidity to the Z4 roadster and Boxster. They have naturally aspirated six-cylinder engines, not musclecar V-8s, for low weight and smoothness. The mid-engine Cayman's engine enjoys ideal placement and a boxer piston configuration for a lower center of gravity. if the Porsche 911 Turbo and Corvette Z06 are about power and grip, the Z4 M and Cayman S are all about balance.
In April, we declared the new Cayman heir-apparent, lord-in-waiting to the Porsche 911 sports-car-icon throne. The following month, Bavaria's sport-sedan purveyor unleashed its latest M Coupe, a Z4 with power from the E46 M3's inline-six.
The challenger Z4 M coupe is the hardtop version of BMW's second generation, American-built sports car, introduced for 2003. As a coupe, the Z4 is rakish and masculine, the best interpretation yet of Chris Bangle's controversial "flame surfacing" design theme. its proportions recall everything from the Jaguar E-Type coupe to classic Delages, Talbot-Lagos, and the Bentley Speed-Six coupe.
Riding in it, you'd never guess the Z4 M has near-perfect weight balance. you sit far back in the chassis to make space for a monster motor. but this sports car seems ready for a drive on a European country road circa 1950 and recorded on grainy black-and-white film.
The distinctive roof channel recalls Zagato's lovely designs, and two longitudinal "precision lines" in the M's hood mimic the channel. The front fascia of the M coupe and Roadster have a bumper, spoiler, and grille frame distinct from everyday Z4s, with Xenon headlamps,deeper grille kidneys, and black vertical slats. black-accented air intakes are enlarged for the M's greater brake- and engine-cooling needs. The coupe's rear bumper is distinct from the Roadster's in M and non-M versions and has a diffuser with cutouts for four exhaust tips. The new bumper and the roof's sweep into the tail trims the Z4's infamous Bangle Butt.
It's tight inside. The rear window's vee seems exaggerated, and the thick c-pillars create blind spots. Our interlagos blue test car came with a black interior featuring a new carbon-leather dashboard, a carbonfiber weave pattern. it's businesslike and much more appropriate than the wood trim inside the red car we drove for a couple laps at Road America.
The interior of our Guards Red cayman S feels airier, with better outward visibility than in the Z4 coupe. On track or road, the difference is startling. you'll need perfect vision or strong eyeglasses to see over the bimmer's hood, while the porsche's drops away quickly, leaving only its pontoon fenders in sight.
Both have near-perfect driver's interiors, with well-bolstered seats and good steering wheel-to-driver-to-stickshift relationships. The BMW's thick, leather-wrapped go-kart steering wheel has reached the limit on how fat you'll want a wheel rim, though.