preview

A Report On Bmw Z8

Better Essays

To the casual observer, the BMW Z8 looks like a 1960s roadster, its swoopy retro-esque lines belying the fact that it first saw light of day in 1999. BMW wanted to create a car to celebrate the turn of the millennium, bringing together its past and future in one design. Therefore the aluminium bodied Z8 draws heavily from Z07 concept car seen only a few years earlier at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show, which in turn pays homage to the original BMW 507 from the 1950s. The car was met with great excitement by both the motoring press and customers alike, an appearance in the James Bond movie, The World is Not Enough cemented its place as a desirable exotic.

Rivals in this retro-modern category were thin on the ground,and there were precious few cars to which the Z8 could be compared, especially when looking at its traditional German counterparts. BMW itself had a model range comprising only of the 3, 5 and 7 series with the recently introduced X5 having just dipped an adventurous toe into untapped segments. The 8 series was in its last year and rivals had a similarly modest set of offerings to choose from. You had to move to look at niche manufacturers and up your budget considerably to find any meaningful challengers, the Ferrari 360 and Aston Martin DB7 come to mind and while both have their merits, it is the Z8 that is now worth considerably more than either of those cars in today’s market.

Sharing the 400hp powertrain of the E39 M5 and with 200kg less weight to propel, the

Get Access