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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Launch is later this year.
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01-21-2018, 09:49 PM | #841 |
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Well, since we're 22 days into the year can you be any more specific? E.g., which season?
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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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01-23-2018, 01:53 PM | #846 | |
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From Close: BMW Z4 And 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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01-24-2018, 01:28 PM | #848 | |
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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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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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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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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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01-26-2018, 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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