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- 25 Feb 2007
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- 2,062
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Following on from my thread about whether to get a Nissan 350z or a BMW Z4, as you can probably guess from the thread title, I eventually got a Z4. It wasn't an easy journey (Details in the other thread) but I have finally got one.
Car spec includes:
So all in all it is pretty much a full spec, it just missing the nav and the extended leather option. Both of which I wasn't too bothered about getting.
Having driven the car for about a week now I thought I would share with you my first impressions of it.
Performance
It's quick, additively quick. Having come from a 2 litre diesel Volvo C30 that may not be saying much but I am finding myself having a constant smile on my face whenever I drive it. It has taken a bit of time for me to get used to driving a petrol car again but this is one of the things I like about changing cars, getting to know the car and how to get the most out of it.
If you wanted there would never be any need to take the car over 3k rpm as within this range there plenty of power for everyday driving. Take it above 4k rpm and things get interesting. The engine revs up very freely and things start to get blurry very quickly from the side windows
. I guess it is kind of like a V-TEC but not quite as obvious. I'm assuming this is the Vanos system doing this?
Sport mode doesn't seem to do too much in this car. I guess it makes the throttle response a bit better but that is about it. I'm assuming it is one of those things that you would only be able to tell the difference when you are on the cars limit.
Despite all this power (and using it) I have averaged 30mpg over my first tank of fuel which I thought was quite good going. I obviously didn't buy the car to save money on petrol but it is nice to see that it does pretty much achieve the figure that is quoted on the spec sheet
Handling
To be honest is have yet to really push the car to its limits round the corners. This is for 2 reasons
1)The car is new to me and I don't know how it will react.
2)The limits of this car aren't really safe on the road.
Even with the above said though that car seems very planted throughout the corners. Feedback is quite good through the steering wheel however if you don't have the car in sport mode the steering is a tad too light. Thankfully thought when it is in sports mode the steering is sharpened slightly as it is given a slightly heavier feel.
Interior
I personally love the interior of this car. I have always like red leather in a car and I'm so glad I managed to get one with it in. The seats are not a comfortable as those in the Volvo's (It would have been a major achievement if they had been) but on the whole they are very good. I think the piano black dash is a lot nicer than the aluminium one you get in most of the cars. It just seems to fit in with the design a lot better.
Boot space is good and on the whole probably a lot more usable the the space that was offered in my C30.
As with any car though it is not without its faults. I think the layout of the dash could have been better. This is one of the things that was really nice about the C30. Everything was simple to use in it. It is not so simple in this car. For example in the Z4, the cruse control is harder to use. It is all controlled by a stick (with no indication as to if it is turned on on the dash) whereas in the Volvo's was all on the steering wheel and much simpler to use. This may be down to this being a new car but I do thing the ergonomics of the car could have been improved.
In conclusion, I am over the moon with my new car. It has the perfect balance between performance, every day usability and running cost for me. I don't think I could have made a better choice
Finally, I went out and took some pictures of it this evening
Car spec includes:
- Multi function wheel
- Elec folding mirrors
- Composite 108 alloys
- Anthracite roof lining
- Individual piano black dash
- Sun protection glass
- Auto dimming rear view mirror
- Elec front seats
- ISOFIX child seat system (no idea what this is)
- Heated seats
- Headlight washers
- Parking distance control
- Rain sensors & auto headlights
- Xenons
- Auto air con
- Curise control
- Bluetooth phone prep
- 6 CD changer
- Aux Input
So all in all it is pretty much a full spec, it just missing the nav and the extended leather option. Both of which I wasn't too bothered about getting.
Having driven the car for about a week now I thought I would share with you my first impressions of it.
Performance
It's quick, additively quick. Having come from a 2 litre diesel Volvo C30 that may not be saying much but I am finding myself having a constant smile on my face whenever I drive it. It has taken a bit of time for me to get used to driving a petrol car again but this is one of the things I like about changing cars, getting to know the car and how to get the most out of it.
If you wanted there would never be any need to take the car over 3k rpm as within this range there plenty of power for everyday driving. Take it above 4k rpm and things get interesting. The engine revs up very freely and things start to get blurry very quickly from the side windows
. I guess it is kind of like a V-TEC but not quite as obvious. I'm assuming this is the Vanos system doing this?Sport mode doesn't seem to do too much in this car. I guess it makes the throttle response a bit better but that is about it. I'm assuming it is one of those things that you would only be able to tell the difference when you are on the cars limit.
Despite all this power (and using it) I have averaged 30mpg over my first tank of fuel which I thought was quite good going. I obviously didn't buy the car to save money on petrol but it is nice to see that it does pretty much achieve the figure that is quoted on the spec sheet
Handling
To be honest is have yet to really push the car to its limits round the corners. This is for 2 reasons
1)The car is new to me and I don't know how it will react.
2)The limits of this car aren't really safe on the road.
Even with the above said though that car seems very planted throughout the corners. Feedback is quite good through the steering wheel however if you don't have the car in sport mode the steering is a tad too light. Thankfully thought when it is in sports mode the steering is sharpened slightly as it is given a slightly heavier feel.
Interior
I personally love the interior of this car. I have always like red leather in a car and I'm so glad I managed to get one with it in. The seats are not a comfortable as those in the Volvo's (It would have been a major achievement if they had been) but on the whole they are very good. I think the piano black dash is a lot nicer than the aluminium one you get in most of the cars. It just seems to fit in with the design a lot better.
Boot space is good and on the whole probably a lot more usable the the space that was offered in my C30.
As with any car though it is not without its faults. I think the layout of the dash could have been better. This is one of the things that was really nice about the C30. Everything was simple to use in it. It is not so simple in this car. For example in the Z4, the cruse control is harder to use. It is all controlled by a stick (with no indication as to if it is turned on on the dash) whereas in the Volvo's was all on the steering wheel and much simpler to use. This may be down to this being a new car but I do thing the ergonomics of the car could have been improved.
In conclusion, I am over the moon with my new car. It has the perfect balance between performance, every day usability and running cost for me. I don't think I could have made a better choice
Finally, I went out and took some pictures of it this evening
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
