Expert review
BMW Z4 (2022 - ) review
The BMW Z4 is cracking on a and nearing retirement so BMW has given it the parting gift of a clutch pedal – nice!
The Autotrader expert verdict:
4.5
A proper sports car needs three basic ingredients: good engine, rear-wheel drive, manual gearbox. Right? Well, that WAS the way, once. And it's why BMW’s decision in 2018 to release this Z4 without a manual gearbox seemed weird, to some. It wasn’t actually that weird though. Automatic gearboxes used to be a very niche thing. Sluggish and expensive and only really suitable for lolloping luxury cars. If you wanted ‘control’ of your driving experience, you needed a clutch and a stick-shifter. But modern automatic gearboxes – the sort you'll find in, say, a BMW Z4 – do a better, quicker job of shifting gears than most humans do. And they're very popular in general these days. More than two-thirds of new cars sold in the UK now have one. Anyways… despite this, today, six years after this Z4's release, BMW has capitulated to enthusiast demand and produced one with a manual gearbox. It's a no-cost option on the fastest M40i version. A final hurrah for the petrol-era Z4, it makes the thing a little more involving to drive, but a little worse as a day-to-day car. Because manual gearboxes suck in traffic jams, hence so few people wanting them now. Still, either way, the Z4 is a lovely sports car, given it's quick with very nicely balanced handling, and yet comfortable. But not perfect. It's 60 grand for the manual one, and for that money we'd probably have a Porsche Cayman.
Reasons to buy:
- Brilliant engines
- Comfy for a proper sports car
- Manual gearbox option
Running costs for a BMW Z4
“In the M40i, your fuel economy will rarely get out of the twenties, and naturally it will cost more to insure and buy”
If you want the cheapest experience, go for a 2.0-litre M Sport, which will cost less than £50K, return about 30mpg (it’s a 38mpg car, officially), cost less to insure and less to repair. It’s quick enough, too. In the M40i, your fuel economy will rarely get out of the 20s, and naturally it will cost more to insure and buy. It’s a £60K car. The manual version, called “Handschalter” (it means “manual switch”, according to Google) is priced no differently to the automatic, although you can’t have it with the 2.0-litre engine.
Expert rating: 3/5
Reliability of a BMW Z4
“This and the Toyota Supra are basically the same car, so this could possibly prove THE most reliable BMW of modern times”
It’s both a blessing and a curse BMW interiors are so similar across the range. On one hand, it means the interior of this Z4 feels no more or less special than a basic 1 Series but, on the other, this parts sharing means said parts are tried and tested en masse. The sense of quality is outstanding too, top to bottom. There’s no sense that a BMW Z4 will be unreliable. And, in fact, the Z4 was a joint development project with automotive reliability poster boy Toyota – this and the Toyota Supra are basically the same car – so this could possibly prove THE most reliable BMW of modern times.
Expert rating: 4/5
Safety for a BMW Z4
“Given that this is a sports car designed to have a ‘pure’ driving experience, most people will appreciate the lack of digital nannying, we reckon”
The Z4 is as safe as a small car with a big hole cut in the top could possibly be. It received a five-star Euro NCAP rating in 2019, including a remarkably high 97 per cent score for adult occupant safety and rollover protection when the roof is down. It’s worth saying the Euro NCAP crash test is stricter in 2025 than it was in 2019, with more emphasis on active safety systems these days – driver attention monitoring and such like, plus the associated warning alarms. But given how intrusive these systems can be, and that this is a sports car designed to have a ‘pure’ driving experience, most people will appreciate the lack of digital nannying, we reckon. Lane-keeping assistant and blind spot monitoring are optional.
Expert rating: 4/5
How comfortable is the BMW Z4
“Of course, this isn’t a luxury experience. The ride quality is on the firm side, which means that the car ‘bobs’ a lot. It’s quite noisy at speed, too”
Sports cars like this always walk that difficult tightrope between having as much ‘driving feel’ as possible and being comfortable day-to-day cars. Those characteristics tend to oppose each other, given a car with in-built body roll, very light steering and flat, spongy seats will feel lovely, but will also take to corners like a hippo launched into a swimming pool. Thankfully, the Z4 gets the balance just about right, and it’s mainly because the driving position is fantastic. It’s low and hunkered down, like a sports car’s should be, but there’s also plenty of headroom, lots of steering wheel adjustment, and the controls are all very intuitively designed. Easy to fathom.
Of course, this isn’t a luxury experience. The ride quality is on the firm side, which means that the car ‘bobs’ a lot. It’s quite noisy at speed, too, because as insulated as the roof is, some wind noise still seeps through the pillars and window seals. But the main ergonomic gripe – and the most baffling one – is that in the manual version the pedals are so offset to the right that the clutch is basically in the middle of the footwell. It’s weird and slightly uncomfortable, like using that icon at the top of your phone’s home screen that’s just too high for your thumb.
Expert rating: 3/5
Features of the BMW Z4
“While the Z4’s interior is neat and high quality and all that good BMW stuff, it does feel “last generation” now, compared to the dashboard you’ll find in cars like the iX and the 5 Series”
Because this is designed to be a ‘touring’ sports car, as such – designed to be as good at a 200-mile motorway trip as it is on a country road – it comes with a load of kit as standard. And, of course, the only trim is ‘M Sport’. Leather interior, heated seats, digital instruments, navigation, automatic gearbox, electronically operated roof. You CAN spend a lot of money on extras, though: bigger wheels, brighter paint, brighter lights, louder stereo, electrically adjustable seats, head up display, gloveless gloves (heated wheel)… lots. None of this is cheap. And while the Z4’s interior is neat and high quality and all that good BMW stuff, it does feel “last generation” now, compared to the dashboard you’ll find in cars like the iX and the 5 Series. Less spectacular. Less special. That said, it doesn’t feel like it’s dropped as far back as the Porsche Cayman/Boxster’s interior, which looks positively retro in 2025.
Expert rating: 4/5
Power for a BMW Z4
“There is something lovely and old-school about the manual -–a dying breed of car combining a big turbo engine with a clutch pedal and rear wheel drive”
The Z4’s engine choice is really what separates it from something like a (much cheaper) Mazda MX-5. Aside from the quality of the interior, the prestige of the badge, and a cabin big enough for a medium-to-large sized human… all that stuff. The basic 2.0-litre, which is automatic-only, is smooth, punchy at low revs, and quiet when it needs to be. Of course, for the best, most exciting experience it's the M40i you need. The automatic gearbox makes the car much easier to live with day to day, while leaving you to focus on the feel of the steering and what the tyres are doing on a B-road or whatever. But there is something lovely and old-school about the manual, a dying breed of car combining a big, turbo engine (six cylinders and 340 horsepower) with a clutch pedal and rear wheel drive. The pedal placement makes it awkward in heavy traffic, but it’s a fantastic gearbox – light, smooth, short-throw and perfectly positioned high up in the centre console, close to the steering wheel.
Expert rating: 5/5
