BMW Z1
The BMW Z1
The first time I see the dark metallic green Z1, editor Brett Fraser is arriving at the office in it. I meet him just as he slices through a roundabout, the Z1's wheels glinting and windscreen flashing in the morning sunshine, and I suddenly realise I've never ever seen one of these roadsters in Britain before.
If I had, I'd have remembered with its razor-sharp nose, blistered arches, evil-looking headlights and wacky, drop-down doors, it looks distinctive enough to widen your eyes and make you gasp a little. It's an unforgettable car.
When Fraser stops and gets out of the lowered door, he's grinning. Those doors, I remember seeing pictures of the way they sink vertically into the Z1's fat sills, rather than opening out, but I never realised how exposed the driver is when they're down, or how they work. Fraser presses a small button on the side of the car, and electric motors whirr the door and window up. We both laugh - now that's what I call a James Bond gadget.
It's odd, that BMW launched this beautifully detailed, ultra-modern roadster as recently as 1988, and just 5 years ago, in 1991, you could still order one in your local Bee-Em showroom. The way BMW has been hyping the arrival of the Z3 roadster, you'd think its been decades since it last built a sports car.
But that probably suits BMW GB, because the Z1 wasn't a success in the UK, and since production ceased in '91, the last BMW sports car has fizzled into oblivion. Too slow and heavy (despite all-plastic panels), too expensive (£37,000 in 1990) and available in left-hand-drive only, just 71 (out of 8000 produced) were officially imported to the UK. Compared with the cheaper, American-built Z3, that's a teeny number. BMW plans to sell Z3s here by the bucket-load.
And when I see our silver, left-hand-drive Z3 for the day, there's no doubt in my mind that BMW will do just that. It looks utterly fantastic in the flesh, bulging with muscles no photo can communicate. A swooping bonnet, pumped-up arches, and, on this car, some monster l7in Alpina wheels make it rounded compared to the Z1's smooth angularity, but it has the same aggressive stance, the same coherence in its lines.
So the Z3 will outsell the Z1: right-hand-drive and an expected basic price of around £20k will see to that. But eight years on since the Z1 was launched, has BMW actually built a better car in the Z3? The Z1 is more controversial and more powerful than the Z3: has BMW lost some bottle with its new car, even if it does sell more?
There's been a lot written about the Z3 already, and after five minutes behind the wheel, I'm surprised, enlightened and disappointed by the way it lives up to its reputation. Yes, it's true, the Z3 has only a 1.9-litre, four-cylinder engine, and no, 140bhp doesn't punch you hard when you floor it, but like the Compact (same engine), it's so smooth and usable, it's undeniably lovely to control. And yes, the handling is safe, understeery and undramatic, but its fluid composure is pure BMW, its ride superbly pliant.
These things you can live with, but harder to forgive are the frustratingly light steering that's devoid of feel, the body roll that saps your momentum, and the bland interior that looks like a parts-bin special even more than the parts-bin Compact. The Z3 ends up feeling like a topless Compact, as though it represents the very least BMW could do to build a sports car: beautifully designed and built, but no sports car magic, no character. It's a case of German efficiency overcoming what your guts tell you a sports car should feel like.
However, climb into the Z1 after the Z3, and all your preconceived ideas about characterless German engineerinG are immediately thrown out the vertically sliding door. Climb into, this interior, and you get a real feel for the concept car that the Z1 once was. Sculpted leather seats, a 'modular' dash, and a simple, motorbike-style binnacle. Grasp the thick, three-spoke wheel, kick the engine into life, and you're more captivated than you were in the Z3 already. From the earliest starter whine, the sound of the Z1 brings home the major difference between these two cars. The Z1, despite its plastic floor and panels, weighs a hefty couple of hundred pounds more than the Z3, but fortunately it's endowed with a 170bhp 2.5-litre straight six, nabbed from the last 325i. It may not feel much quicker than the Z3 (in cold figures it is - 0-60mph in the Z1 takes 7.7secs, the Z3 takes 9.3) but the multi- cylinder burble underpinning the tappety whirr of the valve gear, and that white-hot exhaust crackle all BMW six-cylinders emit when you rev them hard, makes it much more exciting and memorable than the smooth Z3. What the Z1 lacks, like the Z3, is sporty handling. Its steering has more weight, more integrity, but it steers another car of dazzling ability, enormous grip, and underwhelming drama. With its doors lowered, exposing you to the wind from the hips upwards and the tarmac inches beneath you, it offers you more raw sports car sensations than the Z3, but it still wants to grip, not slide, and it wants to be competent, not cheeky.
So the Z3 picks up where the Z1 left off in terms of usable, safe handling, but other than that, the Z1's genes seem to be left behind forever. Today, just as it was at launch, the Z1 is brave, different, original and ever-so slightly weird. In comparison, the Z3 seems good-looking but characterless, diluted and far too 'safe'. Only when the Z3 gets a 2.8-litre six cylinder, some time next year, will it really come to life. Even then it'll never beat the Z1 in terms of daring creativity.
And there's a sting to this tale, too. With its long waiting list, and no firm date yet for right-hand-drive cars, left-hooker Z3s are commanding a premium both in Germany and the UK. BMW reckons the Z3 1.9 will cost around £20,000, but our silver car, one of the few in the UK at the moment and loaded with options like electric seats and air con, is on sale at Sytners of Nottingham for £28,850. Rarity costs.
Unless you fancy a Z1. With their left-hand-d4ve Z1s are just as undervalued as they always were; Sytners just sold a low mileage example for under £24,000. The Z1's a much more fascinating prospect than the Z3, so I can't understand why ifs cheaper. I just hope it stays that way, till I've saved up.
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