A Z4 covertable is way more muscular looking than a Miata, not even close. My wifes car looks just like mav's car without a top. Heck back in the 60's a car wouldn't have been considered a sports car if it had a top.

 

If "punching it on the freeway" is your criteria, then why are we talking about either car when the Mustang GT is available for $25K?

Sorry, I just don't see how anybody can call a Z4 is a girly car when it will it solidly out-performs an MCS, stock-for-stock.

 

Are you saying they make the 135i in a convertable?

 

Because we are not talking about Mustangs, we were talking about Minis and Z4's. Heck buy a GTO for 28k. and blow them all off. And i'm not the one saying it is a girly car.

 

They will, yes.

 

Woo .

 

Pssst, they discontinued the GTO over a year ago...

 

The Z4 Roadster is also a very competent car and will run circles around a MCS. The M Roadster is a monster. The Miata is anything but a girl car. It reinvented the roadster segment when it was introduced in 1989. The new ones are fun to drive and pratically own the auto-x circuit. Sounds like you just dislike convertibles. I hate to ask but I wonder what you think of the S2000 and Boxster S?

 

I'm definitely interested in the 135i. I kind of dig the styling on the coupe, and it should be one hell of a performer. I like the interior & exterior styling of the MINI more, and the MINI offers great real world performance, but I really want to step up to a nice, small rwd car. My plan is to have both, the MINI for fun on the weekends, and the BMW as a daily driver and for longer trips.

 

I'm still kinda just kidding around...I happen to have a mini cooper.

What I'm saying about the 335i is that you can get one for 40K that is 300hp but if you pay another 1K (41K total) you can chip it to 500hp.

 

Yeah, but speaking as someone who has a 335, a chip should NOT be your first mod. What you need is a limited slip differential. Without it, the 335 has two potential driving modes: a) DSC/DTC chops all power when you get aggressive, or b) with DSC/DTC off, one wheel goes up in smoke and the car can't put down any power.

Autocrossing the 335, even with R comp rubber, is thus an exercise in frustration, though once you get the thing pointed reasonably straight its faster than a bat out of hell. At highway speeds, where traction is not a problem, it also rocks and rolls. But spending 1K on a chip without addressing the low-speed traction issues is just silly, IMHO.

 

Latest news on the 1 Series from Autoweek.

128 - under 30k
135 - mid 30s

 

[quote=inomis;1759241]Latest news on the 1 Series from Autoweek.

128 - under 30k
135 - mid 30s[/quote]Sweet . In that link, side view pic. looks pretty aggressive styling .

 

Dang can I get one of those chips for my Mini .

 

I'm almost tempted until I remember my adventures in the snow last year where the side of the highway looked like a used German car parking lot. I'm actually almost looking forward to getting into a FWD car once I get my Mini.

Plus I'm still not sold on the design of any of the current BMWs. The 1s aren't bad, but they're not awesome either. And what's with the wrinkles on the sides?

 

Not much snow here, but understand where you are from. The deep wrinkles are kind of what the Z4's have.

 

335i overheats on track. 500hp mod will only make it overheat faster. Z4 is a heavy car. MCS get better slalom speed than Z4 or Porsche 911 Turbo.