BMW Z4 sDrive 18i

What is it?

A new, entry level addition to the Z4 range.  

The Z4 18i combines lower price with reduced taxes and a facelifted look.

Distinguishing features include a £2100 price reduction compared to the next model up, making the Z4 more accessible.

Aesthetic tweaks include headlights with white corona rings, additional chrome detailing, dashboard enhancement and LED lights on the sides.

The Z4 offers some new, optional design packages including previously unavailable colours like Valencia orange, mineral grey and glacier silver.

On the mechanical side, you are not short-changed because the 18i comes with the same engine as the 20i and 28i, but slightly de-tuned to 154bhp.

The standard six-speed manual gearbox can be replaced as an option with a seven-speed automatic, while the car can be specced to the heavens with all sorts of options, just like any other BMW, but this can quickly distort the price.

What’s hot

• This ‘de-tuned’ model is arguably as fun or more fun that its more powerful siblings, because you can exploit it more on real-world roads
• Lower weight than the six-cylinder range toppers adds dynamic appeal
  

  

• DAB-radio is now standard equipment, along with Xenon headlights, Bluetooth connectivity, USB interface and air-conditioning
• Folding hard-top roof adds hugely to security, rigidity and refinement, making the Z4 a quiet car on the motorway
• The roof stows away in just 20 seconds, and the process is entirely automated
• Sixth gear is civilised and reduces fuel consumption, which has a combined figure of 41.5 mpg
• CO2 of 159 is class G, or £170 per year, an acceptable figure for this class of car and far lower than the six-cylinder engine Z4s
• Standard 17 inch wheels offer better ride than the optional 18 inchers
• Even this model can be specced with the impressive Adaptive M Sport Suspension, which turns it into an entry-level track machine

What’s not

• Leather is standard across the rest of the range but remains an option for the 18i
• The optional sat nav got confused twice during our test, so don’t discount cheaper, after-market alternatives
• Virtually no one will spot the aesthetic tweaks over the existing Z4 – it remains largely the same car
• Surprisingly, the 18i offers no road tax advantage over the 20i and 28i because it’s the same engine producing the same CO2 and MPG figures in the EU test
• It’s hard to avoid ‘must-have’ options such as the wind deflector, which immediately pile on cost

Business Car Manager verdict

The Z4 embodies a time-honoured recipe for wind-in-the hair fun, with its very long bonnet, short rear and low, sporty stance.

The addition now of the 18i returns the Z4 to customers who might have previously owned a Z3, while retaining most of the technology and all of the sophisticated styling of the Z4.

Above all, we think this car is more fun to drive in the real world, particularly given that outright speed is far less relevant to an open-top car.

There will always be die-hard fans for a straight-six engine note over the gruffer but still rorty four cylinder engine offered in the 18i, the 20i and the 28i, but given the substantial savings in company car tax and fuel consumption, the four cylinder engine will be more than adequate for most customers.

While canny buyers will ignore the aesthetic upgrades and bling wheels, and maybe even the expensive sat nav, they will find it hard to avoid paying an extra £1,495 for the Comfort Package, which brings much to the party – the must-have wind deflector, cruise-control, parking aids (visibility isn’t great), folding mirrors and an interior storage compartment (glove box is small).

That aside, this is a very appealing car with a wonderfully athletic look, exotic sense of occasion when sitting behind the enormous bonnet, and deep dynamic appeal only matched or improved by mid-engined, substantially more expensive alternatives such as the Porsche Boxster.

As a business car it is certainly….unconventional…. but as soft-tops go BMW Z4 is unpretentious and the running costs could be far worse, for far less fun. All in all the ‘man maths’ will be pretty straightforward.

All things considered, and given the essentially straightforward requirement for this type of car, the Z4sDrive 18i is the new pick of the range.

The Low Down…

…and what it costs