BMW Z4

BMW uses a manual gearbox to bring greater driver appeal to its Z4 roadster

It is well known in the industry that car names sound better in Italian. If Maserati's GT saloon had been called 'Four-door', would it have seemed so exotic? If Ferrari's manettino had instead been called the 'little switch', would you have been so keen to twiddle it? And what about the Fiat Type?

Someone at BMW must have thought the same could apply to German, because the subject of this week's road test is the BMW Z4 with Handschalter Pack. Handschalter means manual gearbox (literally 'hand-shifter). And so, six years into the third-generation ZA's life cycle, BMW has given the six-cylinder version of its long-running roadster a six-speed manual transmission for the first time. That makes it one of just three BMWs you can buy so equipped in the UK, alongside the M2 and the 218i Gran Coupé.

Given the plummeting popularity of new cars with a clutch pedal, it's a rather odd decision, and the odd decisions don't stop there. In the UK, the only way to get the manual is to option the Handschalter Pack, which locks you into the spec you see here. You better like Frozen (ie matt) Deep Green with Cognac brown leather interior and gloss black trim, because that's the only spec available for now.

The car industry in 2024 is quite a risk-averse one, so we have to applaud a manufacturer for doing something a bit out there. Then again, that alone doesn't cut it in an Autocar road test. Let's find out if an enthusiast-focused going-over can revitalise this six-year-old model.

DESIGN AND ENGINEERING

The third-generation Z4, codenamed G29, was launched back in 2018 and represented something of a departure-for the model itself, and for BMW. It lost the complicated and heavy metal folding roof and went back to a classic soft top.