The BMW Z4 is now rolling out in dealerships and owners are getting calls to come pick up their new roadsters. Thus, Youtuber Doug DeMuro gets to review one. In his typical fashion, he goes over the ‘quirks and features’ of the new Z4 and, since this is a brand new Roadster in the BMW family, there’s plenty to talk about.
He kicks off with Comfort Access which is a rather new feature in the BMW universe, but not so new for other manufacturers. Basically, you can activate a function that locks and unlocks your car automatically depending on your proximity. You don’t have to touch the door or your key fob just walk up to it and it will unlock. I find it pretty nice but other car makers have been offering similar tech for years now so it’s nothing newsworthy.
Then he explains the design of the center armrest, something I found odd when driving the Z4 myself and, I’ll have to admit, something I did omit. The design of the two doors of the armrest is asymmetrical so that you can use the cup holders located inside. The Z4 has the cup holders inside the armrest for logistical reasons and by making the driver’s side cover smaller, you can basically close it and use them. Still, it’s going to be pretty annoying for the passenger and you’ll have to do some gymnastics to reach the cups.
As for how the car drives, he offers some input that may be surprising. His tester was an sDrive30i and that car comes with a 2-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine making 255 HP and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) of torque. Some may think that with that amount of power squeezed from such a small engine and using only one turbo, the car would be laggy but that’s not the case. That’s something I learned as well – and was surprised by – while driving the 330i, which shares its engine with this car. I’ll let you check out what Doug has to say now.
