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      06-13-2019, 12:20 AM   #6
The HACK
Midlife Crises Racing Silent but Deadly Class
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Drives: 2006 MZ4C, 2021 Tesla Model 3
Join Date: Oct 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JM98 View Post
Love the realistic take on anything being remotely exciting. Maybe i'm jaded from riding sportbikes for 10+ years, but I understand what you mean that any sport car is just not that fun off the track. I guess maybe I'm looking for something with more pedigree, great sound, and fun on twisty roads. How do you like the Z4?
Not many new cars gives you that “fun” feeling because they’re just so much more capable now than cars were 10+ years ago. I miss cars that’s engaging, fun, communicative, and most of all, you can wring the crap out of it and won’t get put in jail. Sure, they’re capable of land in jail speeds, but you’d have to WORK to land in jail.

The other day a buddy and I were coming home from burgers and Q’s, when I decided to tip in the throttle a little more aggressively than usual to pass a left lane hogging Prius in the Corvette. I think I was maybe into the last 1/3rd of pedal travel in 4th gear for what seemed like half a second when my buddy looked over and said “dude you’d better chill. We’re in triple digit territory.” Sure enough, the HUD indicated 125. I had no idea, because at 125 the car felt like 75. In the MZ4 Coupe? You’d know it’s 125. It may just take a little longer to get there, but every hair on the back of your arm is telling you you’re on radar hit from spending the night in jail.

The modern car has such high limits and high amount of insulation you feel virtually nothing as you approach speed and G forces that are next level compared to cars made up to the mid 2000s. I had an E30 318is, and while it makes about 130hp on a good day, it was an incredibly fun daily as I wind out the motor and toss it around each and every corner like you and the car are one. The MZ4 Coupe is like that, but dialed up to 3,000. It’s more power, more grip, but also more visual, auditory, and tactile feedback everywhere. And since you practically sit on top of the rear axle, you feel every little wiggle of the back end, and since it’s got one of the last great Servotronic hydraulic assisted steering on an insanely short steering ratio, you feel every pebble of DUST on the road. I kid you not.

In the last 30 years since I’ve owned my first car, I’ve never owned ANY car past 5 years. The longest tenured were Munich E46 323Ci, my E30 318is, and my MZ4 coming up on 13 years now. When I bought the Corvette, the Missus asked what am I going to do with the MZ4 Coupe, since they’re both impractical 2 seat sports cars. I gave her a confused, crosses eye look and explained that they’re nothing alike, and they can pry the keys to the MZ4 Coupe out of my cold dead hands.

IF you’ve never driven an MZ4 Coupe, go find one and drive it. They don’t make them like this anymore, and in fact the only other BMW offering even remotely similar to the MZ4 Coupe was the MZ3 Coupe. Stiff chassis, short wheel base, power enough to get in trouble, but not enough to get in TROUBLE. Both chassis were true gems and testament to what engineers would build if no f**ks were given to management and bean counters. They are the last of the Driver’s car BMW built, with a capital “D”.

I can count on 2 hands cars that deserve to be called “Drivers” that’s made after the turn of the millennia. It’s almost like someone flipped a switch in around 2007-8 timeframe and said, no we’re not going to make cars that Drives. Market research has shown that people are sheeps and as long as it looks great on paper they’ll keep lapping it up.

Now, I’m not here to say that you CAN’T possibly have fun with a Cayman S or a Corvette. Far from it. I once drove a newer Cayman S with PDK at Laguna Seca, and it’s not often I get cargasms, but I had one then. The Cayman S absolutely SHINES at the track, and all the praises heaped upon it are fully deserved. But on that same day, I hop back in my MZ4 Coupe, and sure, it’s probably not as fast around Laguna Seca as that new Cayman S, but if you were to ask me if I’d consider a straight up trade? I’d tell you you’re out of your mind.
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