First the name is too long.

Second the 204bhp engine, whilst it sounds nice, lacks punch, it needs to be revved very hard to go anywhere. The exhaust was louder than I expected with the roof down, which is good. Very civilised with the roof up. The rear 3/4 vision was very good roof up or down.

The roof is pretty good, although you can't get anything in the boot larger than a slice of bread with the roof down. It's not the capacity that's the issue, it's the access "slot". The boot was pretty big with the roof up.

The Highline edition adds 19" wheels amongst other things and I feared the ride would be awful. But was actually no worse than my 120d with 17" wheels on run flats.

Gearshift not too bad, the electronic handbrake annoying, but the hillstart assist totally makes up for that.

Steering was good, no middle dead spot, nice feedback. Not lotus or porsche levels, but more than adequate.

Handling was usual BMW fare, not quite M car levels, but pretty good.

Still, it seemed to be missing something. Probably the 3.0 engine, which is the one I was actually interested in.

 

I'm surprised you even entertained a car with a small output

Electronic brake? Oh God please no!
Had one on the VW pissthat and it was dire, the noise was embarrasing and it often didn't do what you expected.
And you cannot handbrake turn with it either, it knows you are in motion and 'bongs' at you without locking the wheels

My old 2006 six-pot has hill assist, in fact all the silver grille BMWs used to have it and it's a usefull accessory.
This one employs the footbrake though, it holds a rollback for two seconds after footbrake release but still allows forward motion right away.

 

I only test drove 23 because that was the only demo car available. It was the 30 I was interested in.

 

M Sport with 19" wheels & 204 BHP weighing what - 1,600? That's gotta be the saddest car in the world!

Der neue Goggomobil T250 GT-STRS ZZ3 Clubsport KKW Armageddon Achting Baby! Mit 19PS...

 

It's just under 1500kg but your point stands.

Makes me fear the 254hp 3l engine would still feel gutless.

 

i thought the old z4m felt gutless.

 

2.0L was never really going to be anything other than gutless.

Isn't there a bigger engined version that's actually quicker on acceleration than the old Z4M?

 

What, with ALL that toot on it too? That's not too bad for such a huge great barge of a roadster.

I think, like Diesels, it's all about torques these days, so it won't feel gutless as such; merely unexciting.