I drove the Z4 sDrive35i (what a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid name; there's even a ridiculous badge with this horrible combination of letters and numbers) around Ann Arbor and environs over the Memorial Day weekend and came away impressed. First, the exterior styling is about perfect, with the long, sexy hood, the curvaceous rear, and the handsome 19-inch wheels. The interior is also very nicely designed, with an appropriately upmarket ambience. This was one of those cars that, after it got a little dust on it over the weekend, I dug out the detailing spray and a chamois and cleaned it up. I didn't want this car to be dirty while it was in my possession, even if I were just driving to the grocery store.
The Z4 sDrive35i's body structure is notably stiff; every time I went over rough pavement, I marveled at how well this very tightly screwed-together roadster absorbed the bumps, the heaves, the asphalt patches, and the railroad crossings. Structural rigidity appears to be first-rate.
Our test Z4 sDrive35i is equipped with BMW's 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, for which I had mixed feelings. Shift quality is uniformly smooth and quick, but the driver interface is a little fussy. I found myself playing around with the stubby gearshift lever more than I would have liked, and I found the shift paddles to be only marginally useful, which is what I find with ALL shift paddles (some day, we're going to look back at shift paddles and wonder why we thought they were so cool).... Read full article