Another in a series of my reviews that appeared in the online version of African Americans On Wheels, a now defunct automotive magazine that was included as an insert in the Sunday newspapers of major cities.
Below I mention that the Z3 hailed the return of the “affordable” German sports car. I’m not entirely sure what car I had in mind when I wrote that, but I was probably thinking of the 914, which was priced in the $20k range (in 1999 dollars). If you consider the 1986 924S a sports car, that was priced around $30k in 1999 dollars, equivalent to the base Z3. The Boxster, at around $40k, played in a different realm.
Other than that, I don’t have anything else to add to the review. As cool as the M Coupe is, it didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Besides picking up my wife at National Airport and being thankful we could fit her luggage in the hatch, I have no other memories of my week with it.
The following review was written on January 25, 1999.
Buy this car if (1) you have your own private race track, or (2) you live in Montana with its “safe and reasonable” speed limit. All others will probably be extremely frustrated.
In the tradition of the great European “Gran Turismos” of the past – closed-body versions of a purebred sports car – BMW has grafted a steel roof onto its little Z3 roadster, the car that helped hail the return of the “affordable” German sports car. The roof extends nearly to the rear bumper, with a slightly angled C-Pillar and rear window, resulting in a convenient and sporty hatchback body style. The overall effect is somewhat reminiscent of a Honda Civic, but the long hood, short 50-inch height, and rear fender flares housing nine-inch wide rear tires are unmistakable sports car characteristics. Two less desirable sports car characteristics are the strange contortions to get DOWN into the car, and windows that stick up about an inch when fully retracted.
The premier model is the M Coupe. M, of course, stands for BMW’s Motorsports subsidiary, the party responsible for its astounding M3 and M Roadster siblings. Under the hood is the same 240 horsepower, 3.2 liter inline six, which results in adrenaline-rushing-sub-six-second-zero-to-60 times and a top speed that’s probably much higher than the artificially limited 138 miles per hour set by BMW. A less expensive Z3 Coupe 2.8 with a smaller engine is also available.
But sports cars are more than speed, as similar performance can be found in a Z28 that costs half as much. The M Coupe shines in how well everything works together. Its tiny 159-inch length, slot-car handling, short throw five-speed shifter, seats that feel like they wrap themselves around you, thick three-spoke steering wheel, traction control, and limited slip differential enable the M Coupe to become an extension of its driver, a sensation few cars can duplicate.
This car begs to be driven like a race car. I live in the middle of crowded metro DC. Never before have I been so happy and so sad to return a test car.
For more information contact 1-800-334-4BMW
SPECIFICATIONS
Type: 2-Door GT
Engine: 240-horsepower, 3.2 liter inline 6
Transmission: Five-Speed Manual
EPA Mileage: 19 city/26 highway
Tested Price: $42,670
My initial reaction when this car was launched was “Why?”, but very quickly I came to really like it. And I can’t say the same about the Z3 or even worse, the Z4. I knew one guy who had an MCoupe; his other car was a MkI VW GTI. I think the MCoupe showed a level of creativity and irreverence to conventional fashion that was missing in BMW for decades. Unfortunately the X6 took that to an extreme.
Missing for decades? Are you saying that you missed the BMW that built Iso-licensed refrigerators and Baroque Angels? Fortunately for you, they abandoned those pesky decades where they built rational and attractive cars for people who enjoy driving.
No, I meant the decades between the 501/502, Isetta, and even the 2002 and perhaps 3.0CSL with its big wing, and the intro of the M Coupé. Sure, the BMW’s of the eighties and nineties were good cars (though my 528i experience wasn’t great) but creative and irreverent aren’t adjectives I’d use to describe them.
As per last week’s new BMW review commentary, those were pretty much the only decades that mattered in BMW’s history and those designs should be forever emulated 🙂 While not the biggest fan of the clown shoe aesthetic, I’ll be the first to admit it was different and pushed things a bit creatively. And the performance envelope of this particular one was outstanding if quite raw on the limit due to its rear axle design if I’m remembering correctly.
This was one of the last BMWs I considered buying new, but fortunately I was too tall to fit. I didn’t buy the E46 M3 because I did fit, resulting in me driving one and forming my own opinion of the heft with which it drove.
My son has one. Bought t back in 2011. He fell in love with the “clown shoe” and just had to have one. I drove it once and it’s just like Adam described. Probably one of the last cars to combine old-school and modern aspects in a good way.
Unfortunately it sits in his garage and doesn’t get used.
Just horrible 😭
If “Harold & Maude” had been remade in or around ’99, this should have been Harold Chasen’s car / hearse. All black, of course, and with dummy landau bars on the back.
Am I mistaken, or is it the last regular-production shooting brake ever sold?
I’m in the crowd that laughed but soon liked.
BMWs had become such an uptight purchase (yes, yes, it became a lot worse, I know). They were cars for unsmiling competitive types, types who worked in lucrative but boring jobs, say upmarket city accountants, or those upthrusting, highly-paid, impressively-titled but ill-defined corporate business positions. Being not serious or upmarket or much concerned with image generally, and anyway, BM’s weren’t cars I much thought of.
Then they put an over-dimensional roof on their somewhat ugly coupe, and created a very ugly bulgeback of eccentric oddity. Suddenly, the prim and new-moneyed image fell off, and I couldn’t help but like it.
Properly fast, probably dangerous – that old trailing arm wasn’t designed for 250hp on a shorty-pants wheelbase, surely – and possessed of one of the all-time best ever powerplants, I wanted one.
Naturally, it didn’t sell. BMW buyers were far too serious for this sort of nonsense.
I can’t help but feel I’d like the wealthy nutters who bought one new, and the 2nd hand oddball risk-takers even more.
Sadly, the few that got their steering wheel on the right side and then swam to the island of Oz are still expensive, and largely not for sale anyway.
Wasn’t this a real skunk works job by a bunch of Beemer engineers originally. It’s obviously far too left field to have come out of the corporate boardroom.
I