Apparently, the only thing more graceful and clever than the two-piece, aluminum retractable hardtop on the 2009 BMW Z4 Roadster is a human acrobat. His specialty was fabric and for two minutes he twisted and contorted in a fabric sash suspended from the ceiling of Detroit's Cobo Center. Perhaps he was mocking the old Z4's fabric top. When the sheet came off the 2009 Z4, he disappeared into the rafters.
Alongside the simplicity of a man in a unitard is the complexity of the post-flame-surfaced Z4 Roadster. Still, the addition of retractable metal panels hasn't visibly fattened up the tail, though as you'll read in our full story on the 2009 BMW Z4 Roadster, the car has put on over 200 pounds. Then again, with the 300-hp, twin-turbo inline-6 now the top engine choice, the extra poundage might not matter.
The hard-top 2009 BMW Z4 goes on sale this spring. -- Erin Riches, Senior Editor
sabastian says:
02:55 PM, 01/11/09
What's with the old-school automatic shifter? I thought the autos would get that new cell phone thing and the DCT cars would get a shifter like the M3. Weird.
billt9 says:
04:22 PM, 01/11/09
How do you make a turn in one of these without your nose sticking way out blocking traffic?
Potential drivers must have been pre-trained in the Pontiac Firebird...
hondacura4 says:
04:59 PM, 01/11/09
I like the front from a direct oncoming view but from the side the front proportions looks as if Honda had hand in its design. Not good.
I kinda liked the Z3, the (old) Z4 a bit less but with this version it looks like its turning into a cruiser (SLK) moreso than keeping with BMW tradition.
minibro77 says:
08:41 AM, 01/12/09
I like it. It is Z4 with a bit of 6 Series mixed in.