They've got it really well disguised, with extra padding down virtually every inch of the flanks hiding what lies underneath, but there's a new crop of spy shots of the 2009 BMW Z4 from Swedish website Sportbilen. The Svensk site for sports car enthusiasts jumped on three shots from Tommy Kristiansen of a passel of Bimmers in Goth costumes at a fuel stop. Not much is discernible, other than the fact that the long hood/short deck profile remains, and the on-again, off-again cloth top seems to have been replaced by a hard top. Perhaps someone who understands Swedish could shed some light about what the page actually says, too. The resolution of the shots isn't good enough to really make out whether it's a removeable hardtop or a folding unit, and whatever flame surfacing might run down the sides of this car have been hidden under totally faux quarter panels front and rear, and a door with a intentionally confusing bowl in the middle. So – you can make out the general lines, which stay pretty true to the BMW two-seater convention, but we're still waiting on more details. [Source: Sportbilen.se]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Noe @ Feb 9th 2008 11:19AM
why would the 3 series be taped, maybe the new M3 wagon, anyone???
swe @ Feb 9th 2008 11:29AM
the swedish page doesn't really say much. just that tommy kristiansen took the photos and that we should see the car on the roads by next year, maybe even as early as this fall.
Dausman @ Feb 9th 2008 12:25PM
Will this be built in Germany or Spartanburg SC ??
Nicolas @ Feb 9th 2008 12:29PM
The 3 Series has an updated grill more in line with the 5 Series and the 3 Series coupe. Must be the upcoming "mid-life refresh"
geo.stewart @ Feb 9th 2008 1:07PM
1) this is for the Z4, so nothing on the 3 series
2) basically, they got nuthin. they took some pix, wanted to share, but cant tell anything. yada yada yada
Eric Biran @ Feb 9th 2008 2:40PM
That's definitely a hardtop on the Z4, not fabric. If you look at the last of the three images you can see longitudinal strakes across the roof, crisp metal edge around the large glass rear window, and blacked out trim around the side glass--none of which fabric tops have.
BMW's have some of the trickiest false body camo, so it is possible that this is some kind of false roof over a genuine soft top, but I really doubt that due to the production look of the roof.
This may be more of a Cayman fighter than a Boxter one though. The large, sloped rear glass is not as steep as the current Z4 coupe, but it's so much steeper than the current 'vert that it now requires rear quarter windows, which the Z4 doesn't even have now:
http://hoj.hustej.net/cen2_soubory/image002.jpg
Since the only seam I can see is the one at the windshield header, this could be a fixed roof as I said, or if the seam is merely obscured by the angle, then it is probably a hard top convertible, which seems most likely.
MachinaDC5 @ Feb 9th 2008 2:44PM
Is there any chance the rear suspension will actually be something to be proud of this time around?
MikeW @ Feb 11th 2008 5:01PM
What?
The Z3 had the semi-trailing arms.
The Z4 has the E46 'z axle' [3 link]
Hopefully now it will get the 5 link that the 1 & 3 series has.
GhostDoggy @ Feb 9th 2008 9:32PM
I was under the impression that the Z4 production in SC was stopping to allow for production of another vehicle.
Gungosa @ Feb 9th 2008 11:17PM
anyone else picking up on the "surface flame" impression on the door? i think that's a joke from bangle... it's obviously a huge stylized flame on it's side. i thought "woah, surface flame to the max!" then i read about the padding covering most of the car and put 2 and 2 together.
Fooman @ Feb 10th 2008 6:16PM
like the new rear fender bulge...
Rumor is the z4 coupe is no longer coming to the US due to a whopping 300 units sold last year.
big L @ Feb 10th 2008 11:53PM
just what BEmVay needs is another(!)
$50K vehicle.