+ btw it has front and rear parking sensors which show up on the nav screen ;)

“The long hood/short rear deck has been a characteristic of many American muscle cars. Looking out over that elongated hood, as opposed to sitting in a sports car like a Porsche Cayman or Boxster where you can’t see anything but asphalt, has a charm all its own.”

Kinda makes you wonder. Definitely have to drive it myself to see if the hood is visible or not.

I think it’s a beautiful car. I’d go with the 255 HP, NA engine and heated seats…thanks but no thanks to the white interior and Premium Package…and the “normal” 6-speed manual, and I’m in for just under $50k.

Walked across the street to the Porsche man and test drove a Boxter S and Cayman S. WOW…. never drove a Porsche before, but my next car will definitely be a Cayman S. It was like a whole new world of motoring opened up that I never knew existed before. Up to this point I was in love with my 335i daily driver. The Cayman makes the 335i feel like a toy. Still love the bimmer, but my wife will soon become it’s primary driver.

The first gen Z4 looked like Joe Camel’s nose, the latest reminds me of the car Peter Griffin from Family Guy drives in and out of a tunnel. Obviously the German engineering design team spend most of their summer’s wandering the European love parades.

And your complaining about the front end of the new Lancer.

Well, Look at this grill looks like it’s a smiling mako shark. Remember that movie “Finding Nemo”? looks like the shark that was chasing a little fish with huge smile on it.

The white interior…er, no, that’s just way too Rodeo Drive.

And yes, it certainly is a shame that you can’t see the hood from the driver’s seat.

it’d would be best with 17 inch wheels, non-turbo 6 and a proper automatic gearbox. and personally i think it looks great, but then i loved the original Z4 too.

This has traces of Bangle; will he rot in hell? Or will his sins against aesthetics be forgiven by a benevolent God?

thanks!

Agreed. The icon of the phallic-style sportscar, the E-type Jaguar is all bonnet when in the driver’s seat. The big bulge over the engine, the louvers (which shimmer with heat every time you stop moving) and the fender lines at the outside. It just has a menacing, big-cat feline presence about it. It is a shame that nobody has been able to recapture that view in a modern car.

–chuck

To be seen speeding down Sunset Blvd with your trophy wife/mistress

$60,000? What are they nuts?

Absolutely not.

It was a fun car, my wife loved it, we could fit all our stuff for a weekend in the trunk, and it returned 32 mpg on the highway with the top down at 80 mph.

More weight, more price. Not for me.

Like energetik9, I had an M Roadster – around 2000 – and thought it was a blast to drive. There were some nice touches on that one – deep-dish M wheels, lit-up M logo on the shifter at night, and buttery Napa leather. No, it wasn’t quite right at the limit in the handling department. It was damn fun though. I agree that the new one is a porker and way too expensive. Put that BMW suspension, driving feel and M engine to work in a lightweight version with a proper manual tranny and I think it would find its true audience. We don’t really need leather – especially not ridiculous cream colored leather. Give us some Alcantara Recaro-type buckets and lose the ridiculous novelty crap that passes as BMW controls and interior design while you’re at it.

And I second the comment about South Carolina having nothing to do with how this thing is built. Are you really implying that Americans can’t put together a vehicle as well as the Japanese or Germans? It really isn’t about the worker as much as it is the quality of components, assembly process, overall management and work environment. That applies to nearly any industry. My Honda Element and Accord are both built in Ohio by Americans. You can check the reliability of those two, but I think you know that they are some of the most reliable vehicles in the world.

Don’t Germans have any shame?

It’s one thing to actually sell such an ugly vehicle, but it’s quite another to sell it at such an astronomical price.

No need to say more.

Fun review, especially the dealer+pants part…

It is disheartening to see this car take a big step away from the sports car ideal. But then I suppose that’s where the market is.

TrueDelta doesn’t yet have reliability stats on either the Z3 or Z4, but hopes to have them later this year. Due to our research process, we could have results for the new Z4 well ahead of any other source, if enough owners sign up to participate soon enough.

http://www.truedelta.com/reliability.php