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The pride of Spartanburg: the BMW Z3
Forbes, May 6, 1996 v157 n9 pS27(2)
Author: Jones, Parnelli
IT WOULD BE FAIR TO SAY I am not usually a big fan of small cars. Maybe it goes back to spending so much time inside cars that felt like they had been painted on you, cars that fit tighter than your jeans and where you couldn't move enough to scratch your...er, nose. After a few hours in an old Indy monster, trapped in the 150-mile-an-hour lane and breathing the fumes, you start learning how to appreciate one of those fat-cat cruisers with a great big leather scat wide enough to lay down and take a nap on. You enjoy throwing your arm over the back of the seat and stretching out your legs.
Over the last few months, though, most of the noise in the car world has been about something small and hot. And, as a conscientious, hard-working automotive journalist, I go where the action is. Or, in this case, I get someone to bring it to me.
I wanted to drive the new BMW Z3 roadster and see for myself what all the shouting was about. But I probably would have wanted to put the car through some paces even if it hadn't been the star of the latest James Bond movie. There were at least three good reasons for being curious about the Z3.
First, because it's a Beemer. We all know that the Bavarian factories don't design any junk. The BMW--any BMW--has that good, unmistakable solid feeling of careful, German engineering that everyone likes and responds to in a car. You appreciate it just slamming a door. The other car companies around the world have pretty much caught up, but there's still that little something that makes you think the Germans own the franchise.
The second reason I was interested in the car was that it is built in Spananburg, South Carolina. I didn't expect that Americans would build a German car any better--or worse--than Germans. But it still struck me how much the world of cars has changed--right down to who makes them and where--since I first started driving. And how all that change has made for better cars, which is the bottom line, as they say.
My third reason for wanting to drive the car had to do with something that never changes. They call it money. Everyone likes a deal. And the Z3 was priced at just under 30K (base price $29,320), which seemed like a bargain. Word was that both Mercedes and Porsche were floored by the price, since they are scheduled to bring competitive cars out in the next year or so, but they hadn't been planning on giving them away. Maybe, people said, BMW was going to sell the car as a kit ... you do the final assembly and paint the thing. Something like that.
Well, I got a Z3 to drive around Los Angeles, and I am here to report, straight out, that BMW isn't selling any kits, and that the car is as exciting as the price. It is, as the kids would say, a "fun car to drive," even though I have to admit that I enjoyed it more on the little winding hill roads than I did on the freeways in traffic, where I like to sit up high and feel like I'm a running back with a bunch of 300-pound, steroid-shooting gorillas out in front of me. In the Z3, I felt more like a little flanker who had gone over the middle and was surrounded by linebackers breathing fire.
But that's getting ahead of the story. Let's start at the beginning. The first Parnelli question is always: does the car have enough power?
When I want to go, I want to go. I can't be waiting for the engine to catch up with me.
The Z3 is powered by a 16-valve, four-cylinder, in-line, dual-cam engine that produces 138 horsepower. So the car, which only weighs about a ton and a quarter, and is front engine, rear drive, has plenty of power. It hits 60 mph at around 8.5 seconds, after all, and has a top speed of 116 mph. My only complaint is that it's a little weak down in the low end, and you need the rpms to make it perform (that's generally true of four-valve technology). I didn't have any problem, especially with the crisp five-speed transmission--an automatic is available for about a thousand bucks more--and clean gear splits to help keep the car running where it needed to be.
But the Z3 may not suit the style of some American drivers who came along in the days when displacement meant power, pure and simple, and are still stuck there. Drivers like that, if they can't change, might want to wait for the six-cylinder engine that will be coming along next year in all its 316 horsepower glory. Or buy a muscle car with a push-rod engine.
So, let's say that the Z3 passes the first and most important Parnelli test.
The answer to my next question was much easier to answer. Is the car fun to drive?
The answer is: yeah, man.
When you come right down to it, you just about always feel good sitting in a convertible, even when the car is standing still. On the move, the Z3 feels absolutely positive and precise. For a small car, it has a relatively long wheel base (96.3 inches) and a low center of gravity. Big, fat 16-by-7 inch wheels and almost a 50/50 weight distribution. You have to really work to make it come loose from the road. (I always try, just to know where the edge is; like stepping up close to the rail when you're on the balcony of a high building.)
The Z3 has rack and pinion steering that is very responsive, and disc brakes all around that will stop you in a New York hurry.
It's handling that really makes a car fun to drive, and this car has truly superior handling. You can get into the driving without having to make Indy 500 kind of speeds. That's the point of the little roadsters, and always has been, going back to the MG and beyond. In fact, that's what this car reminds me of--the old MG, with modern technology and engineering.
But that's only part of it. Everyone knows that a sports car has to have the look, or all that performance and engineering won't count for the steam off yesterday's soup. Style is what you like, and I have to say that I like the way this car looks. It has the rounded, graceful lines that I think of as classic, but at the same time, there's a flow to the car that makes it contemporary. (I could probably write about fashion, too, if anybody asked me.) In short, this is a fine looking car on the outside. And the inside isn't too shabby, either. The dash was clean and uncluttered. Some people have complained that BMW stuck with what they had been doing in other cars, but that's okay with me. I think a digital, high-tech dash would be out of place. The upholstery in my car was leather and felt plush and supple. The biggest surprise was just how comfortable the interior of the car felt. It wasn't like I was wearing the car.
The Z3 is a small car, for sure, but it felt almost big. You won't be doing a lot of hauling--the five-cubic-foot trunk is only serviceable--or carrying a lot of passengers. But that comes with this particular territory. As a matter of fact, I kept thinking that this was a car that fills a particular niche, and fills it just about perfectly. I imagine that there are a lot of FYI readers who are like me they have a few years on them. They run their own company, they've gotten used to a little comfort and they can afford it. But every now and then, they like to open up the corral gate and turn it loose. (I broke my back snow mobiling when I opened that gate a while back.)
The only warning is you may have to wait a bit to have your fun. BMW is only building 35,000 Z3s out of the Spartanburg plant for the 1996 model year and, sorry, six out of ten of those are headed overseas. The U.S. market gets only about 14,000. All you can do at this point is run down and get your name on your dealer's waiting list, or you can hire a broker to find one for you. Or you can just cool your jets.
It'll be worth it, believe me. You can pretend you're James Bond. Or, you can just enjoy the wind in your hair and the pleasure of feeling young again. The Z3 is a kick.