Gadgetory

roadsters have never been a big part of BMWs business but they are an important one it's a whole DNA thing let's see how strong the family chromosomes are doing in this top of the stack 2013 z4 s drive 35 I guess and check the tech now an S does not look dramatically different from a 35 i but there are about seven or eight key differences overall let's run them down it's about 12% more powerful comes with a DCT gearbox only is it mpg or two thirstier has an active suspension weighs about 50 pounds more those about 0.3 seconds faster has fancy leather and costs almost $9,000 more all things being equal now in arguably the best feature of a z4 is this the retractable hardtop that is an absolute wonder of engineering and it actually does something that most convertibles can't do gives you confidence I know this thing's never gonna leak and then I'm never gonna feel like I don't want to put it down because it's gonna wear out the plastic window or something none of that going on here high-quality 20 seconds cycling one way to the other and you can do it up to 35 miles an hour so it can double as a speed break but look what happens when the top is down you know I'm gonna take a minute here to gripe about something I'm sick and tired of the organic era in interior design what are these shapes of this - sure it's beautifully done in materials but what is this weird silver a sort of waxed mustache shape and then you got this odd organic shape here and this slight tilt here and I miss symmetry am I the only one now let's go to the technology hit the iDrive button and peekaboo here comes your little friend a large though not BMWs largest LCD screen I'm glad they have it powerbal down and up like that because when you do park the car with the top down you don't want to leave that up I don't know why you just don't connected drive brings you to both BMWs apps which are pretty good and BMW online which is a separate deal it sets up the internet connection in the car to go online 3G so it can be painfully slow hm I mean painfully slow okay here we go news weather online search to me is the most interesting I don't care about my stock quotes while I'm driving anyone who really is serious about money sure as hell doesn't get their information here the online search lets you do a Google search and get results that are very much sort of oriented toward location and by the way BMWs when the last car makers it lets you actually do things while the car is moving you can run this guy wall driving it's not something to pull over for which may be controversial but at least it gives you the choice the main stuff you need in terms of media sources is all here but that doesn't mean everything radio is put into one area with am/fm satellite is optional the car has satellite prep only under the hoary old title of CD multimedia you've got your iPod I'm doing that through USB down here my phone is paired up for streaming VAT is included as part of the Bluetooth package you've got an aux Jack over here and with Apple devices you can do a plug-in echo to the screen which almost nobody uses and a key thing that we rarely see in these test cars but this cradle here you see it's generic right now that could be an iPhone or a blackberry cradle if you have that you dock your phone you're charging off of power in the car and you're connected to an external antenna on the vehicle you're still doing Bluetooth for the actual communication and streaming but that is a really cool option for very little money I even loaded up with our tech package look what happens when I go reverse nothing no rear camera standard or optional in this car ain't gonna happen given the fact that when the tops up the visibility is kind of crap and it's got a great big old painted surface waiting to be scuffed on the car behind you I think that is a serious omission now some drive controls you see this shifter it's the only one you're going to get and the transmission connected to it to the one you're going to get it's a 7-speed dual-clutch automated manual no automatic of the traditional sense and no manual in this car not at this trim level or power level next to it is your drive control comfort is kind of normal Sport tightens everything up including transmission of the engine response Sport Plus does that even more and turns off traction control to hang out the rear end rear wheel driver man I gotta say for a little car it's got the biggest hood in show business because they move the cut lines for the hood from the top along the fenders to the outside of the fenders gives it this great big expanse when it opens up until he spaces deep careful of these now this engine is your inline six with the twin scroll turbo not twin turbos but a two-stage single turbo tuned for various parts of the RPM raise a very effective unit in our past experience mounted longitudinally driving the rear wheels as I mentioned through that one choice DCT 7-speed transmission the numbers 335 horse 232 foot-pounds of torque each of those about 30 more than on the NA NASCAR zero to 60 for this 3500 pound ride is 4.8 about 0.3 faster than the MGP 17 24 19 about two mpg worse on city and highway than the non s car and of course that transmission is all you get on the S that dual-clutch I mentioned earlier blessedly the efficiency technology here is limited to brake regeneration to lessen the alternator drag but we do not have BMWs jerky start/stop system thank you let's go for a ride first of all this cars got a great exhaust note you're gonna spend a lot of time listening to that and playing it with the accelerator pedal when you open it up this car is a tremendously responsive ride when you're just driving in everyday traffic it feels a little more flat-footed than the AI model with just a basic basic ZF automatic it's a great automatic makes me think the 35i is the better overall car and I'm not sure I need the extra 12% horsepower and torque the cars fast but I think the margin of this over a 35 is a degree of frenetic not real ability that said it is fun when you tap into everything it's got I was also very pleased how moving the shifter from the traditional drive mode over to sport mode transforms the car in one click not having to fiddle with a bunch of profiles and nonsense or even having to get on the paddles and as with any z4 don't go out of the house with your hair sticking up cuz you're gonna get a lot of looks in this car and what's an ass so pricey little thing about 66 bass and right off the bat you're gonna add to that 20 to 50 for the tech package to get navigation with voice traffic BMW apps and a few other niceties Satellite Radio's 350 more parking sensors no camera at 7:50 automatic high beams 250 and the steel of the option list and they're very few of those in BMW land is that I phone cradle adapter for 125 bucks absolutely all-in were pushing 70,000 my mind keeps going to the possibility of the 35 I is the better buy overall for the modest improvement in performance you get here if you really want to track car with that last little bit ago you're not gonna get something with a big little heavy retractable hardtop now the other thing to think about it's very hard to make this your only car I mean it's highly impractical in terms of storage there are many times just in our week of testing it where I had to leave stuff behind and go back and get it the next day when I'd emptied out the trunk of the first amount of stuff I took home that gets old pretty quick but all in this is a very enjoyable car that carries forward a limited but important part of BMWs heritage you