When the BMW Z4 debuted in 2018, it checked almost each field for fanatics. Rear-wheel drive. A correct straight-six. A sporty, quick wheelbase chassis. Extremely, BMW even (ultimately) blessed us with a true-blue handbook transmission. However even with the slick ZF-sourced computerized, the B58 engine helped make the Z4 M40i right into a critical driver’s automobile. However BMW by no means constructed the automobile that appeared inevitable: a full-fat Z4 M. Weeks of ready turned to months of rumors, which was years of questioning. Now, the automobile’s leaving manufacturing. What a tragic missed alternative.
The G29 BMW Z4 M May’ve Carried On Custom
There’s a peculiar, maybe unintentional custom that outlined BMW for years. Regardless of no scarcity of competent, even wonderful, street automobiles, there was all the time one thing within the lineup decidedly extra…area of interest. Sightly oddball automobiles that appeared to exist solely as a result of somebody inside Munich wished them to. The BMW 1 Sequence M Coupe was successfully a parts-bin particular. Restricted manufacturing. A widebody compact with a manually tuned, barely chaotic persona. It grew to become an instantaneous traditional. Earlier than that, the BMW Z4 M Coupe was a fixed-roof oddity in a world that hardly requested for it. A naturally aspirated S54 stuffed right into a compact chassis that already bought in modest numbers. Equally, the unique BMW M Coupe — affectionately dubbed the “clown shoe” — was unapologetically bizarre. Taking pictures brake proportions. Polarizing design. Tremendous low manufacturing ensured cult standing.
We’ve now established a (give or take) 15-year custom of BMW making some really whacky automobiles. Earlier than the M Coupe, which debuted in 1998, you can make a case for the E36 M3 LTW, or higher, the BMW Z1. Afterwards, you can make a reasonably good case for the BMW i8 — though its pursuits have been decidedly extra mental. These weren’t precisely rational automobiles constructed for mass market attraction. They have been statements, and that’s exactly why the absence of a G29 Z4 M stings.
The G29 BMW Z4 M: A Missed Alternative
The bones have been already there. The G29 platform is able to dealing with way over the 382-horsepower B58 within the M40i. The S58 engine from the BMW M3 and BMW M4 exists. The engineering funding was already amortized — doubtless with assist, to some extent, from the Toyota Supra’s existence. However regardless of the BMW powertrain, switchgear, cabin structure, and underpinnings, the Toyota Supra — solely out there as a coupe — stays lighter and arguably the extra hardcore different to the Z4.
Which brings us to a different, associated sore spot: the Z4 coupe. By the late 2010s, BMW’s lineup was changing into more and more digital, insulated, and enormous. Hydraulic steering was gone. Curb weights crept upward. The M division’s automobiles grew to become objectively quicker however subjectively extra filtered. A compact, rear-drive, short-wheelbase Z4 M Coupe might have functioned because the religious counterweight — the analog punctuation mark in an more and more software-defined lineup.
BMW flirted with the concept, bringing the attractive Z4 Touring Coupe to the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in 2023. Concrete solutions for why the automobile by no means made it into manufacturing are nonexistent. Our intel advised an uber-low manufacturing run of fifty automobiles at a sky-high value of $250,000. In depth — and costly — additions from the usual Z4 like matching baggage and acres of leather-based within the cabin doubtless demanded that type of sticker value. Sadly, that is perhaps the reply we’re searching for. We doubt the M Coupe or 1M would’ve made it into manufacturing with that stage of customization and that type of price ticket, both.
The Almighty Greenback Killed the Quirky Sports activities Automobile
Up till the mid-2010s, there was all the time one thing a little bit rebellious sitting within the configurator. That custom, sadly, appears to have been stamped out by accountants. The insurgent spirit feels focus-grouped. Sure, you might have CS and CSL variants, however a mix of inaccessibility and — let’s face it — considerably minimal actual variations in character don’t fairly seize the spirit of these older oddball automobiles. The Z4 M40i is already changing into a little bit of a future traditional sans true M working gear. I believe a G29 Z4 M would’ve correctly carried on the mantle and almost instantly turn out to be the champion of the trendy M lineup.
So the place does that depart fanatics? If you need the full-weird BMW expertise, you’ll must look backward. Search out an M Coupe. Monitor down a 1M. Or take the search aftermarket. Graft wider fenders, retrofit a set roof, bolt up some energy mods, and make your individual Z4 Coupe. Neither choice fills the hole left by the G29 Z4 M that by no means was. And that’s a darn disgrace.
