{"id":3033,"date":"2019-04-05T01:52:53","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T01:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/routehunters.co\/?p=3033"},"modified":"2019-04-05T01:52:53","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T01:52:53","slug":"g29-bmw-z4-the-all-round-european-roadster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/?p=3033","title":{"rendered":"G29 BMW Z4: The all-round European roadster?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Its no secret most manufacturers are ditching big capacity\nNA engines for more emission friendly force induction engines. The previous\ngeneration Z4 was already offered with 2.0 turbocharged engines, and so does\nits arch rivals the Porsche Boxster 718. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So when BMW Malaysia pulled a surprise reveal of the BMW Z4\nat the launch of the BMW 3 series on the 28th<\/sup> of March, we were not\nsurprised to know that it came with a 2.0 turbocharged engine. Does the 2.0\nliter turbocharged engine undermine the Z4\u2019s driving experience? Let\u2019s find\nout! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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A mark of a good roadster has to be its performance, and how\nit makes the driver feel. The G29 on paper at least has all the right ideas.\nIts got the same 2.0 turbocharged engine from the G20 330i M Sport, which puts\nout 258bhp and 400Nm of torque. That\u2019s a whole lot of torque to be spread via\nthe 8 speed gearbox for a 2 seat roadster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That gives a headline figure of 5.4 seconds. To put that\nfigure into context, that\u2019s faster than the 300bhp plus Honda Civic Type R. The\ncar tops out at 250kph, which we feel is irrelevant for an open top car like\nthis, where even 150kph is going to feel like you\u2019re about to break the sound\nbarrier.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We can\u2019t stress the importance of having 400Nm from 1550rpm \u2013\n4400rpm to play with across 8 gears. That too in a 1500kg 2 door roadster. On\nthe various slow speed and mid speed corners you see on some of Malaysia\u2019s\nfinest back roads, this torque band and torque figure will be very helpful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chassis <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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This is where BMW says most of the improvement has taken\nplace. The wheelbase is now shorter than the outgoing model, while width and\nlength has increased. The wider track and shorter wheelbase is said to help\nwith turn in and agility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s no secret that the current Z4 shares a lot of its\nunderbody workings with the current generation Supra. And if that car has the\nlowest center of gravity when compared to the Toyota GT86, a stiffer chassis\nthan the carbon bodied Lexus LFA, then the Z4 is sure to have a much more\nperformance oriented chassis when compared to the outgoing model<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With M Sports dampers and Variable Sports Steering its sure\nto have high performance capabilities. How exactly they will all come together\non our challenging back roads remains to be seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The User Tech<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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This is where the G29 BMW Z4 truly aces when compared to the\ncompetition. Just like the BMW 8 series and the G20 3 series, the Z4 comes with\nBMW\u2019s Live Cockpit Professional which requires a detailed video presentation on\nits own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What we can tell you now though is that the BMW Z4 comes\nwith the Digital Key system which transform selected Android smartphones into\nthe key of the car. Which means you can authorize up to 5 people to lock,\nunlock and drive your Z4 without having to hand them the actual key!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a surprising twist though the new Z4 comes with a canvas\nroof, instead of a folding metal top. I am going to miss the folding hardtop of\nthe previous generation car, but I guess the weight saved from ditching that\nsetup must have been lucrative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supra connection<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Is the Supra connection such a bad thing? When you just say\nyour BMW roadster is developed alongside a Toyota then it may sound a little\nweird. However when you realize said Toyota is one of the most iconic cars of\nthe 20th<\/sup> century, a darling of the silver screen and the replacement\nfor a car that was built for racing homologation, then the connection isn\u2019t such\na bad thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verdict<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The G29 BMW Z4 is slated to be priced around the RM460,000\nmark, with a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty program. That\u2019s significantly\ncheaper than a 2.0 turbocharged Boxster 718. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G29 BMW Z4 could be a great piece of kit, which you\ncould very well use as a daily and could be extremely rewarding when on the\nopen road. The connection to a certain Japanese sports car icon just heightens\nits appeal seeing how well received the latter is. If only we can grab it for a\ntest drive\u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Its no secret most manufacturers are ditching big capacity NA engines for more emission friendly force induction engines. The previous generation Z4 was already offered with 2.0 turbocharged engines, and so does its arch rivals the Porsche Boxster 718. So when BMW Malaysia pulled a surprise reveal of the BMW Z4 at the launch of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-image"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/routehunters.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/The-All-New-BMW-Z4-2-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/routehunters.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}