BMW Z8
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The BMW Z8 was a roadster
Roadster
A roadster is a two-seat open car with emphasis on sporty handling and without a fixed roof or side weather protection. Strictly speaking a roadster with wind-up windows is a convertible but as true roadsters are no longer made the distinction is now irrelevant...
car produced by German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
automaker
Automaker
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....
BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
from 1999-2003. It was given the E52 BMW model code.
The Z8 was the production variant of the 1997 Z07 concept car
Concept car
A concept vehicle or show vehicle is a car made to showcase new styling and or new technology. They are often shown at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not have a chance of being produced....
, which was designed by Henrik Fisker
Henrik Fisker
Henrik Fisker is a leading automobile designer and CEO of Fisker Coachbuild. He has lived and worked in Germany, London, and in Southern California. Henrik Fisker graduated from the short-lived Swiss campus of California's Art Center College of Design in 1989...
at BMW's DesignworksUSA
DesignworksUSA
DesignworksUSA is a global design consultancy based in Newbury Park, California, United States, with design studios in Munich, Germany and Singapore. Established independently in 1972 by Charles Pelly, it was acquired by BMW in 1995 and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW Group...
in Southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The Z07 originally was designed as a styling exercise intended to evoke and celebrate the 1956-'59 BMW 507
BMW 507
The BMW 507 is a roadster produced by BMW from 1956 to 1959. Initially intended to be exported to the United States at a rate of thousands per year, it ended up being too expensive, resulting in a total production figure of 252 cars and heavy losses for BMW....
. The Z07 caused a sensation at the '97 Tokyo Auto Show. The overwhelming popularity of the concept spurred BMW's decision to produce a limited production model called the Z8. There were 5,703 Z8s built, approximately half of which were exported to the U.S.
From concept to production
The original Z07 had been designed with production in mind. As a result, practical and regulatory considerations necessitated very few changes for the production model. Nevertheless, the windshield of the Z8 was extended upward, and a larger front airdam was fitted. Both changes were implemented to provide aerodynamic stability and a reasonably placid cockpit environment. The four-spoke steering wheel of the concept car was replaced by a three spoke design. The hardtop was changed from a double-bubble form with a tapering faring to a single dome with a truncated convex backside. The concept's exotic driver's side helmet fairing was eliminated to allow easy operation of the power soft top.Despite these changes, the Z8 remained extremely faithful to the concept car. The side-mounted turn indicators were integrated into the side vents in a fashion that rendered them invisible until activated. The vintage simplicity of the interior was preserved by hiding the modern equipment under retracting panels. Complex compound curves were preserved through the use of an expensive MIG-welded aluminum space frame. The Z8 even retained the concept's five-spoke wheel design, albeit without the race-style center lug nut.
Features
The $128,000 car had an all aluminum chassis and body and used a 4.9 L (4941 cc) 32-valve V8, that developed 400 hp and 500 N·m (368.8 ft·lbf) torque. This engine, known internally as the S62, was built by the BMW MotorsportBMW Motorsport
BMW Motorsport is the division of BMW responsible for motorsport-related activities, including works-run competition programmes in touring car racing, sportscar racing and Formula One.-See also:* BMW M* BMW in motorsport* BMW Sauber* Schnitzer Motorsport...
subsidiary and was shared with the E39 M5
BMW M5
The first BMW M5, based on the E28 5 Series, made its debut at Amsterdam Motor Show in February 1984. It was the product of demand for an automobile with the carrying capacity of a saloon , but the overall performance of a sports car. It utilized the 535i chassis and an evolution of the engine from...
. The engine was located behind the front axle in order to provide the car with 50/50 weight distribution. The factory claimed a 0–100 km/h (0–62.1 mph) time of 4.7 seconds; Motor Trend
Motor Trend
Motor Trend is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, issued by Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, and bearing the tag line "The Magazine for a Motoring World". Petersen Publishing was sold to British publisher EMAP in 1998, who sold the former Petersen...
magazine achieved 0–96 km/h (0–59.7 mph) in 4.2 seconds. Road and Track measured the car's lateral grip at .92. Car and Driver
Car and Driver
Car and Driver is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. Its total circulation is 1.31 million. It is owned by Hearst Magazines, who purchased prior owner Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in 2011...
magazine also tested the car and found that it outperformed the contemporary benchmark Ferrari 360 Modena in three important performance categories: acceleration, handling
Car handling
Automobile handling and vehicle handling are descriptions of the way wheeled vehicles perform transverse to their direction of motion, particularly during cornering and swerving. It also includes their stability when moving at rest. Handling and braking are the major components of a vehicle's...
, and braking. As with most BMW products, its top speed was electronically limited to 155.4 mph (250 km/h); the car's maximum top speed with an unlocked chip was 186 mph (299.3 km/h).
The Z8 included an innovative use of neon exterior lighting. The tail lights and turn indicators are powered by neon tubes that offer quicker activation than standard lightbulbs and are expected to last for the life of the vehicle.
Every Z8 was shipped with a color-matching metal hardtop with rear defroster. Unlike many accessory hardtops, which are provided for practical rather than stylistic considerations, the Z8 hardtop was designed from the outset to complement the lines of the roadster.
In order to promote the Z8 to collectors and reinforce media speculation about the Z8's "instant classic" potential, BMW promised that a 50-year stockpile of spare parts would be maintained in order to support the Z8 fleet. Due to the limited volume of Z8 production, all elements of the car were constructed or finished by hand, thereby compounding the importance of ongoing manufacturer support for the type. The price point and production process allowed BMW to offer custom options to interested buyers. A significant number of Z8s with nonstandard paint and interior treatments were produced over the course of the four-year production run by BMW Individual, a division of BMW AG.
2003 model year changes - Alpina Z8
For 2003, the final model year, the Z8 model was augmented by the AlpinaAlpina
Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH is an automobile manufacturing company based in Buchloe, in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, Germany selling their own cars, based on BMW cars....
V8 Roadster. The Alpina was a departure from the hard-edged sporting focus of the original car, and elements of the new grand touring intent were evident throughout this final edition. Instead of the original six-speed manual and 4.9 L (S62) engine featured in earlier Z8's, the Alpina came only as an automatic, using a five-speed BMW Steptronic transmission allied to a downgraded 4.8 L Alpina-tuned V8 motor from the Alpina E39 B10 V8 S. In order to complete the car's transition from sportscar to boulevardier, relaxed suspension tuning was used. The standard Z8's run-flat tires and 18 in (45.7 cm) wheels were discarded in favor of conventional tires with softer sidewalls, and 20 in (50.8 cm) wheels. A new, softer grade of Nappa leather replaced the Z8's less supple specification, and special Alpina gauges were featured on the dash cluster. An Alpina steering wheel with three solid spokes replaced the original, which could not be retrofitted with shift paddles for the automatic. Gear selection was displayed in an Alpina-specific display mounted in front of the wheel.
Performance of the Alpina Z8 differed from that of the standard car in that peak power was reduced to 375 hp while peak torque was raised to 383 lbft; this torque was available at significantly lower rpm than the original in order to enable more relaxed cruising. Curiously, the electronically limited top speed was officially raised to 161 mph (259.1 km/h). Only 555 of these Alpinas were built, most of which were exported to the U.S. market. In the United States, this special edition of the Z8 was sold directly through BMW dealerships, marking a first for Alpina, whose cars had never been sold through retail channels in the U.S.
Criticism
The Z8 held BMW production car performance records for several years, and many journalists praised the car. But some in the UK motoring press described the standard Z8 as having terrible handling, most notably Jeremy ClarksonJeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
, who while reviewing the Alpina edition on Top Gear
Top Gear (current format)
Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...
(Series 2 Episode 3) described it as a car that didn't know whether it was a supercar or a roadster.
In popular culture
The car was featured in the 1999 James BondJames Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It...
and in the games James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire
James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire
007: Agent Under Fire is a first-person shooter video game based on the James Bond franchise. Developed and published by Electronic Arts, it was released for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox game consoles....
and 007 Racing
007 Racing
007 Racing is a racing game based on the James Bond license. It was developed by Eutechnyx, published by Electronic Arts, and released in 2000 exclusively for the PlayStation console system...
. In the film, it was driven by Bond (Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
) until being sliced in half by a helicopter equipped with tree-cutting saws in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. The car was also featuring in the music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for the theme song
The World is Not Enough (song)
"The World Is Not Enough" is a 1999 orchestral rock song performed by alternative rock group Garbage, and was the theme single of the James Bond film of the same name. The song and accompanying soundtrack were released internationally by Radioactive Records as the feature film premiered in theaters...
, driven by Garbage
Garbage (band)
Garbage are an alternative rock band formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1994. The group consists of Scottish singer Shirley Manson and American musicians Duke Erikson , Steve Marker and Butch Vig . All four members are involved in songwriting and production...
lead singer Shirley Manson
Shirley Manson
Shirley Anne Manson is a Scottish recording artist and actress, best known internationally as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Garbage. For much of her international career Manson commuted between her home city of Edinburgh to the United States to record with Garbage but now lives and...
(who could not drive in real life at the time). The Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
video game Forza Motorsport 4
Forza Motorsport 4
Forza Motorsport 4 is a racing video game released by Turn 10 Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the fourth installment in the Forza Motorsport series, and was released in North America on October 11, 2011 and in Europe on October 14, 2011...
features the BMW Z8 as a drivable vehicle.
US sales
| Calendar year | U.S sales |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 317 |
| 2001 | 970 |
| 2002 | 524 |
| 2003 | 439 |
| 2004 | 110 |
| 2005 | 17 |
| 2006 | 5 |
External links
- Frame Damage The BusinessWeek article about frame deformation