Remember awhile back we told you about a secret car BMW was planning to unveil at the British Motor Show. The car was a no show in the U.K., but popped up yesterday on Auto Motor und Sport. The website reveals that the car, called the Z29, is an exercise in lightweight vehicle construction, lesson learned from which will later find their way into production BMWs. The Z29's resemblance to the Z4 is unmistakable, but the featherweight coupe employs extensive use of aluminum in its chassis and hardware components and carbon fiber for its body. Superfluous pounds were reportedly removed from all corners of the car. The Z29's lambo-style doors, for instance, are so light that BMW is able to get away with using only one small hinge per door. The net effect of the BMW diet is a total weight of only 2,557 lbs. With an M3's motor mounted between the front wheels, the Z29 can sprint to 62 mph in just 4.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 168 mph.
(More Z29 pics after the jump)
[Source: Auto Motor und Sport]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Summa @ Aug 5th 2006 9:27AM
Two things about this car:
It looks fully feas'ed, with even a small cap in the front bumper, below the right-hand headlamp (above the lower intake), for towing attachment.
It's surprisingly conventional, from a styling standpoint. I would even go so far as to surmise that this is an engineering exercise, not involving styling at all. This might be the reason it's been pulled from auto show duties, in fact.
grant @ Aug 5th 2006 9:31AM
reminds me of the z1.. although I've seen only a handful. headlights above the kidneys, square rear end, high door line.
Automatica @ Aug 5th 2006 9:38AM
Great...a BMW Crossfire SRT...
DJ @ Aug 5th 2006 9:40AM
The angular front and rear ends give a "Ford-like" look, similar to the Fusion/Milan/MKZ offerings.
rem83 @ Aug 5th 2006 9:44AM
2,557? That still seems like a lot, especially for a concept vehicle.
Petey @ Aug 5th 2006 10:41AM
The back reminds me of the last gen Prelude. And the whole angular thing is kinda retro 80's going for it.
bgdc @ Aug 5th 2006 10:49AM
While the doors must go, i'm happy BMW is finally working on the fact their cars are so damn overweight. My 330i e90 is a bloated pig at 3500+ lbs. Losing 600 lbs from the car's base weight (and 10 inches in length) would transform my sedan into something fun, light and enjoyable.
Dan @ Aug 5th 2006 11:02AM
Nice! BMW built some nice looking cars BB (before Bangle) and maybe the good old days are back. Hope this car doesn't have iDrive.
Andrew @ Aug 5th 2006 11:47AM
it looks like its cross-eyed.
Duke Danont @ Aug 5th 2006 11:55AM
The comment above (#3) about the Crossfire SRT is right on!!!
Dannnn @ Aug 5th 2006 12:04PM
Hey... it's a 280Z!
Now if it sold for under $30k it would be a fun toy. I'm guessing $40K +.
Mike O. @ Aug 5th 2006 12:29PM
#5
Keep in mind that the M3's motor is relatively big at 3.2 liters and is also cast iron which while strong, isn't exactly light. So basically, this car is ~100 pounds heavier than a MX-5 but with nearly twice the horsepower (333 to 170) and torque (262 to 140).
ruggels @ Aug 5th 2006 12:54PM
while i am happy to see BMW continue to find ways to use their wonderful straight six, this car, as mentioned, looks like a 1980s concept reject. I'd much rather have the attractive (bangled) Z4m body on the car with weight saving tech then this horrid Prelude (as mentioned) mutant. That said, a real cayman beater from bmw would be nice... if they could only make it painfully attractive like they used to.
Knight @ Aug 5th 2006 12:58PM
A few questions.
1. All that design time and 4.4 seconds to 60 and 168mph is all they can get out of it?
2. Why go through the trouble of creating a from-scratch aluminum chassis and carbon fiber body if you're not going to throw down the gauntlet and do battle with Ferrari and Lamborghini?
3. Where's the mid-engine chassis?
4. Where's the 500something horsepower, V10 power plant?
5. Where's Chris Bangle's pink slip?
I've yet to see a proper sports car from my favortie automobile manufacturer. One would belive that if anyone knew the ingredients to building a home grown, no parts shared, legitimate sports car, BMW did.
Smoove D @ Aug 5th 2006 1:00PM
An excercise in constructing a light weight car and the best they can do is 2,500 pounds? I owned a bone stock RSX Type-S that weighed 2,700 pounds. Is the I-Drive made out of lead or something? Weak sauce.
GoldenEye @ Aug 5th 2006 1:12PM
Another BMW Masterpiece!
dave @ Aug 5th 2006 1:39PM
honey, where's the bucket, i gotta puke.
Steve @ Aug 5th 2006 1:40PM
This seems like a good mesh of old and new BMW design. Perhaps the weight of the car is due to the interior furnishings, but from the looks of the recaros, it's probably not a plush as most BMWs. The drivetrain has gotta be like 600lbs alone.
Pedro S @ Aug 5th 2006 1:45PM
Wow, this BMW has been kicking around for YEARS, I'm glad to finally see it break cover.
You can see a two older shots in this google image search, although the links are long since dead:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&q=bmw+z+prototype&btnG=Search
Those pics are from 2002 or so. I'm thinking that this overall body style was a direction simply never used.
Pedro S @ Aug 5th 2006 1:46PM
Oop, sorry, click on "images" in the google image serarch in the URL I provided above, or go here
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&q=bmw%20z%20prototype&btnG=Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi