After living with the BMW Z4 M Coupé for several days and putting many hundreds of miles under its wheels, I have come to the conclusion that I definitely would not want to buy this car. I suspect, though, that Gary might like it a lot more than I do.Gary and I used to live in the same town, and we started motor racing at roughly the same time (I think he may have taken part in a couple of events the year before I did my first). The class in which we both competed was one for cars which, though they could be very highly tuned, had to be road-legal, and to make sure that they were it was a condition of entry that the cars had to be driven on public highways both to and from the race circuits.That rule - one of the top ten most stupid I have ever encountered in motorsport - was introduced to dissuade people from modifying their cars to the extent that they became unendurable to drive for any distance, but of course if you wanted to be competitive that was exactly what you had to do.I spent many long hours experiencing sensory overload from roaring engines, screaming gearboxes and kidney-thumping suspension, and I hated every second. But Gary loved it, possibly more than he enjoyed the actual racing, and he could no more understand my distaste than I could appreciate his enthusiasm.All this happened some time ago, but it felt like yesterday when I was driving the M Coupé. BMW makes a big deal out of the fact that its M Sport division developed the car on race circuits - specifically the Nürburgring in Germany - and to me this is the crux of the problem.Although I haven't taken a Z4 M to a test track, I think I know enough about it to be sure that it would perform extremely well there. In fact, it might feel rather like a genuine racing car, which is not the same thing as saying that it feels like a good high-performance road car.To me, it is only part of the requirement of high-performance road cars that they can be driven quickly. It is at least as important that they can be driven slowly, since this is what they will be asked to do most of the time. In some conditions where quick driving is possible (though by no means all), the Z4 M is a splendid machine; in conditions where slow driving is all that can be managed, it is a major disappointment.The Z4 M is at its absolute best when the roads are both well-surfaced and either dead straight or gently curved. Through a series of long, fast corners, its combination of power (343bhp at the top end, with quite a lot of urge at lower engine speeds) and amazing lateral grip make it a wonderful car to be in control of. And that might not be too much of a shock, since long, fast corners are the principal ingredients of the Nürburgring.It's less impressive on the tighter stuff, where a surprisingly light application of throttle can set the back end squirming. You're unlikely to get into trouble because the traction control chimes in just when you need it, but that's at an early stage in the proceedings.You might claim in the Z4 M's defence that it's a muscle car which demands a "real" driver to get the best out of it, but as far as I'm concerned that's a 1950s attitude. In this century it should not be beyond the wit of a company like BMW to build a car whose back end easily copes with the amount of power the Z4 M produces.But even this is a minor issue compared with the car's behaviour when you just want to get from A to B. A booming resonance throughout the cockpit when the engine is running at slightly under 2000rpm is merely the start of the matter; much worse is the fearsome ride which makes you feel you've become involved in a road traffic accident every time you run a wheel over a cat's eye. Then there's the steering wheel, whose rim is far too thick, the obstructive gearchange and the clutch, which is so heavy and sharp that smooth operation takes several days of practice.One possible argument in the Z4 M's favour is that there are supercars which are equally uncompromising and require similar amounts of effort and concentration to drive. If you buy a Ferrari or a Porsche, for example, you don't expect it to be as easy to manoeuvre as a Ford Fiesta.But even if you doubt that this is a good thing, you can hardly deny that Ferraris and Porsches have a compensating magic about them which BMWs don't. There is not that much of an aura surrounding a badge which also adorns the bonnet of an entry-level 1-Series.The irony behind that point is that BMW does build high-performance cars which are fabulous to drive. It might seem that if it's possible to build a real stonker of a car such as the M3 CSL or the M5, all other quick BMWs should be just as impressive. The Z4 M disproves the theory.Isn't there anything to justify this car? Yes, of course there is. It looks and sounds fantastic, and although the shape suggests that there's not room for much behind that huge bonnet, the Z4 M is actually quite practical. Two of us took one on a weekend break, and with a moderate amount of forward planning we were able to carry a decent amount of luggage with us. We could even have taken more if we had made better use of the wonderfully useful compartments in the bulkhead behind the seats.But you get all that with the Z4 3.0 Si Coupé (see road test), which succeeds where the M fails and is also around £10,000 cheaper. The extra money will be spent willingly by people who want the more aggressive look, the greater potential and the extra kudos of the M badge. The fact remains, though, that the Si is easily the better car. Engine 3201cc, cylinders Power 321bhp @7400rpm Torque 258ib/ft @3250rpm Transmission 5 speed manual Fuel/CO2 25.4mpg / 268g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 5.4sec Top speed 155mph Price From £35351.00 approx Release date 02/09/1998
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