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      01-20-2018, 11:12 AM   #837
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Maybe I have no imagination, but I like almost all the non-camouflaged bits, including the grill, but I cannot picture the car without camouflage. If it looks like an evolution of the current/prior Z4 that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Of course, looking more like the concept wouldn’t be bad either! As long as interior & tech are updated big time.

Most important question: does it come with a stubby antenna standard? ;-)
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      01-21-2018, 11:39 AM   #838
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IMHO, BMW is going to miss the mark on this one again...

They need to stop chasing after (and worrying about) SLK/SLC buyers, as the target demographic is different. Keep it a simple straightforward sportscar and not a tourer that thinks it can hang with anything Porsche makes.

If they're truly worried about sales, then perhaps they should slap an M badge to spur sales... after all, "real M" cars these days don't even have to have M exclusive engines anymore.

My bet is on Supra putting out a more focused product and killing Z4 sales.
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      01-21-2018, 03:41 PM   #839
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I think we need to see the fully revealed production car before we declare it be a visual dog. And we also need to see how it performs - who knows - the G29 may be the “droids we’ve been looking for”.

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      01-21-2018, 05:02 PM   #840
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CeEl View Post
Any hints as to when we can expect first buyers drive it in the US???
Launch is later this year.
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      01-21-2018, 09:49 PM   #841
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTT26 View Post
Launch is later this year.
Well, since we're 22 days into the year can you be any more specific? E.g., which season?
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      01-22-2018, 07:52 PM   #842
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So this is also what the new Supra will be based on but that is a hybrid. Will we also see a hybrid Z4?
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      01-23-2018, 10:17 AM   #843
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Pair Of BMW Z4s Spied In Different Trims Testing On Snowy Road

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Those brake discs really fill up the wheels.

Development continues on the much-anticipated replacement for the BMW Z4, and a new batch of spy photos catches two flavors of them under development together. The curvaceous shape looks svelte regardless of which parts are on the body.

These Z4s feature two different takes on the roadster's front fascia. One model (left) features a prominent black air dam that pokes out from the nose. All of the mesh in the inlets is also black. The other example (right) has a less aggressive look with a smaller intake in the center. Conversely, there are polished details for the grilles on this one.

In profile, these Z4s wear impressively large brake discs that fill the entire open area of the wheels. The calipers don't appear too large, but this combo should provide plenty of stopping ability.

Like the front, these two cars have different details at the rear. In the photo above, the Z4 in the foreground has two trapezoidal exhaust tips and a subtle diffuser between them. The other roadster wears a pair of circular outlets and has a smooth area in between. Otherwise, the vehicles appear to be the same.

Rumors point to multiple engine options for the Z4. A turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder would produce 180 horsepower (134 kilowatts) in the base s20i model, and the output would grow to 250 hp (186 kW) in the s30i. The M40i would use a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six with 335 hp (250 kW), and a range-topping Competition Package would allegedly push the power to 385 hp (287 kW).

The latest rumors suggest the new Toyota Supra, which shares a platform with the Z4, would debut first at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The Bimmer would premiere later but before the end of the year.
https://www.motor1.com/news/228235/b...-snow-testing/











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      01-23-2018, 11:37 AM   #844
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      01-23-2018, 12:00 PM   #845
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Some close ups.



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      01-23-2018, 01:53 PM   #846
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From Close: BMW Z4 And Toyota 'Supra'

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BMW is bringing a new generation of Z4 on the market this year, a car that shares its technology with a new Toyota coupe. Today we see the pair very close!

For these espionage photos, we thank AutoWeek reader Pascal van Timmeren and his uncle Anton Kroeze who came across the brand-new BMW Z4 as well as Toyota's new sporting entry on the boat to Sweden. The newcomers are very likely to be subjected to a series of cold tests there. The photos also show the completely new G-Class, a car that has already been officially presented to the world.

During the Concours d'Elegance of Pebble Beach, BMW showed last year with the Concept Z4al what it had in store for a successor to the Z4, a car where the name Z5 used to roar. While the new Z4 is just like a roadster, this time with a fabric hood, the sports duo developed together with Toyota seems to dry up like a real coupé. It is possible that the new sporting Japanese will be called Supra, although it can not yet be said with certainty.
https://www.autoweek.nl/nieuws/van-d...-toyota-supra/



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      01-24-2018, 12:53 PM   #847
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2019 BMW Z4: winter testing begins ahead of 2018 reveal

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Sports car is co-developed by Toyota and could get optional four-wheel drive; hybrid six-cylinder engine also expected

BMW is continuing to rack up the miles during development of its next-generation Z4 in order to ready the car for its 2019 launch date - and these new pictures of the car entering the winter testing phase of development show the car in greater detail than before.

The future Z4 model, which is expected to go on sale in March 2019, can be seen wearing production-spec bodywork covered by light camouflage. It sits on smaller diameter wheels than earlier spotted cars, suggesting it's a lower specification model.

The latest sightings follow an earlier video (see below), where the car looks composed when cornering at pace and can be seen wearing winglets on its nose - suggesting BMW was assessing the car's performance when under load.

Powering the new Z4 will be a choice of BMW's latest turbocharged petrol engines. The Z4 sDrive30i will get a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder that produces about 248bhp, while more powerful variants will likely get a turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder, shared with the M240i, producing about 335bhp.

Both engines will come with standard rear-wheel drive and a ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox.

The Z4 shares parts with the upcoming Toyota Supra, and is similarly expected to be offered with a hybrid drivetrain. Such a drivetrain would likely come with four-wheel drive.

BMW's decision to equip the Z4 with the same rear axle as the M3 and M4 rear suggests its hardware will be compatible with the 425bhp twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight six-engine of those models, or the 365bhp turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder powerplant from the M2, along with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

This car would be badged as an M model and therefore get its own bespoke bodywork and a more focused chassis set-up.

BMW has been testing development versions of its next Z4 for almost a year. It announced the future car's arrival back in 2015 and revealed a concept version to preview its design last year. The soft-top, two-door model is expected to be revealed later this year before sales kick-off in 2019.

The car's relation to the Toyota Supra comes as part of Toyota and BMW's decision to co-develop a new sports car platform.

While the BMW will be a convertible, the Toyota will be a spiritual successor to the Supra and as such will wear a hard top, as shown by spotted development cars.

Inspiration for the Toyota's design has been taken from the striking FT-1 concept, first seen at the Detroit motor show in 2014.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...-specs-details











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      01-24-2018, 01:28 PM   #848
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Quote:
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You can see really good how the cameo has changed here between last summer (first post) and now winter.
I saw those pics too on autoweek. I wonder if that is some kind of foil they put over the top half of the headlight and the taillights of the z4? To hide some new details in headlight technics?
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      01-24-2018, 01:54 PM   #849
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GuidoK View Post
You can see really good how the cameo has changed here between last summer (first post) and now winter.
I saw those pics too on autoweek. I wonder if that is some kind of foil they put over the top half of the headlight and the taillights of the z4? To hide some new details in headlight technics?
I think it's to camouflage the above each other instead of side by side lights - just like they usually camouflage the manufacturer logo for some reason. So people don't know which car it is? I really don't know why they are doing it. Or maybe something is missing and they don't want people to scream bloody murder.

Anyway, I agree, I really like how the car is slowly coming along. Maybe it's because of the close ups.
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      01-24-2018, 02:15 PM   #850
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I'm still puzzled about those headlights. There's still a huge area that is covered with cameo.
We can see the low beams (they're sitting in the lowest area), and the indicators are on the side, under that prismatic tape, but whats under the rest? the high beams? (is there place for that?) or some other stylish accent?
This could be an interesting car. The first z4 had a lot of styling features that were continued in almost all lines that followed, being the first car that Bangle really gave a lot of stylistic design elements (of course the e65 7 was earlier with the bangle butt, but that wasnt a new edge car design that Bangle featured on the e85 z4 and following 3, 5, 1 series etc)
I wonder if this z4 will forfill a similar role, breaking the now used 'evolutionary design' method (compared to Bangle's revolutionary design method)
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      01-24-2018, 04:58 PM   #851
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One thing that's more obvious with the G29 Z4 than most of the other recent BMW offerings...

It used to be, the wheels are pushed out as far out to the front corners as possible on most BMWs. Here's a profile of an E46:



Here's an E86 Z4 Coupe:



Here's an E89. Still "small" front overhang but the overbite is growing.



Even as late as the early 201x, the overhang in the front is miniscule.



Considering some of these are inline 6 engines, having the front axle pushed out so far near the edges means the bulk of the engine sat behind the front axle, even on a block as long as an inline 6. Also, the strut towers in relation with the strut makes a very LARGE caster angle. The most exaggerated of which is the first Z4 platform, where the stock caster angle is as high as 7.5º (the M3 by comparison is 5.7º) with the front of the engine block parallel to the central axis of the front wheels.

The M4's front overhang is about the same as the E92 M3.



Look at how much the front overhang has grown on the new 8 series,



5 series:



Older 5er:



G29:



At this point the front wheels are now sitting near the middle of the front fender. This has two negative effects. The engine, unless it's a 4 cylinder, sits on top of the front axle. The car may still "retain" a 50/50 weight distribution, but the more mass is distributed over the actual axle, the less responsive the steering will be. Second, it's unlikely that it's going to have a large caster angle like previous BMWs. Large caster angle leads to sharp, responsive steering. The drawbacks to continue to put the wheels all the way to the corner up front, there's less space to collapse for front collision and pedestrian collision protection. The large caster angle produced by pushing the wheels all the way out to the very corner and reducing the overhang means the front end tend to tramline a lot more than say, a car with minimal caster. So pulling the wheels back sacrifices steering feel and response, but increases drive comfort.

But the biggest impact is still having more of the engine's mass over the actual steering wheels. One of the reasons why many journalists like the 228i over the M235i is because the 4 banger has the entire engine sit behind the front axle, leading to a much quicker set up front and better and more accurate steering wheel movement to turn-in response. Oddly, by moving the wheels back and having the engine sit right on top of the front axle will actually improve the front end grip, at the expense of actual feel/responsiveness of steering. See M2's small-ish front overhang:



I think BMW realized that, as their car continue to increase in length, width, and interior dimension, you can no longer package the car with optimum handling characteristics, but you'll have to start sacrificing that razor sharp handling feel for packaging purposes. That massive front overhang is likely going to result in the 4 cylinder G29 having superior handling characteristics over the 6 cylinder version.

Which, if the engine plans leaked earlier is any indication, the Toyota Supra version with the 4 banger will probably be far superior to the Z4 version with the 6 cylinder engines dynamically.

Mark my words.
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      01-24-2018, 05:13 PM   #852
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Also, I suspect that was the reason why the earlier camouflaged prototypes show a set of front canards while testing on Nurburgring. I'll bet the early prototypes suffer from poor front end grip and feel and needed the canards to provide additional downforce at high speeds on the 'Ring. Because no other BMW prototypes needed canards that I've seen. The additional overhang probably resulted in a higher polar inertia and lead to front end instability at speeds seen in the corners at the 'Ring.

IF I had to put money on it, I'll bet the car will cruise GREAT but handle like sh*t. At least by BMW standards. Same thing plagued the original 8 series and that thing had an enormous front overhang. As did the original 6 series.





Both cars were known for their comfortable cruising at high speeds, but neither was going to take "anyone in the twists."
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      01-25-2018, 10:55 AM   #853
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Possibly the increase of the front over hang might have to do with new pedestrian safety standards, and additional cooling for turbocharged/ performance engines.
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      01-25-2018, 11:21 AM   #854
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Sad to say, but Hack, you're probably right on the money with your assessment.
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      01-25-2018, 03:15 PM   #855
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jts1981 View Post
Possibly the increase of the front over hang might have to do with new pedestrian safety standards, and additional cooling for turbocharged/ performance engines.
No. I'll bet the increase in overhang has to do with increasing the size of the passenger compartment. Look at the 5 series picture. Imagine it growing in dimension INSIDE, having to push the windshield further and further forward. Thus the firewall has to sit further forward. In order to accommodate a long, inline 6 engine, the entire engine compartment needs to move forward, but since elongating the wheelbase is impractical, the front wheels stayed where it's at. Thus increase in overhang, engine sits further forward on top of the front axle instead.

The increase in overhang has everything to do with the ever increasing demands of more size and space than pedestrian protection, IMO.

Here's another illustration of the overhang issue.

2 series (RWD):



Small overhang like the E46/E9x/E85/6/9. Smaller chassis in relation. The E9x is about the same size as the E39 (also small-is overhang).



1 series (FWD) sedan:



While the overhang is "small", proportionally it's a much larger percent of the front end engine compartment than normal RWD BMWs. Because it has to accommodate FWD architecture, not for pedestrian crash standards (China has zero pedestrian crash protection standards to speak of).

I suspect, as more and more BMWs move to FWD and AWD architecture, you'll see that overhang grow longer and longer. Soon all BMWs will have a huge front overhang to anticipate the possibility of going FWD/AWD.

Mark. My. Words.
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      01-25-2018, 08:05 PM   #856
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The HACK View Post
I suspect, as more and more BMWs move to FWD and AWD architecture, you'll see that overhang grow longer and longer. Soon all BMWs will have a huge front overhang to anticipate the possibility of going FWD/AWD.

Mark. My. Words.
Unlikely.

Today’s modular matrices are very versatile and evolving into CLAR WE and FAAR WE. These will last through 2030 and most probably be the final non-born-electric BMW platforms. A unified electric vehicle architecture will then take over and accommodate FWD, RWD, and AWD equally. EV integrated drive modules are compact and will open the door to tighter packaging than combustion engines.
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      01-25-2018, 11:47 PM   #857
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The angle and camera lens also play a role. The new 5 doesn't look that bad in this photo.

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      01-26-2018, 06:55 AM   #858
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The overhang may have an impact on handling. Or then again, if BMW's engineers have been crafty with the vehicle's design, it may not. The truth will be in the road tests of the production car. Its definitely something to watch for in those reviews.
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