BMW Z8 review. Why BMW's modern classic makes more sense today than it did when new.

Well welcome to a new video from Harry's Garage on the car

today

, this is the BMW Z8 which arrived in 2000 and was on sale in 2000 and 2003 so its run was very limited so it now has 20 years, which I find hard to believe, the car came out of nowhere

when

I remember being at evo, this is the problem we drove around the UK, we didn't really understand it just because it reminded me of the bmw 507, they are a very bmw iconic of the Beyond the two-seater convertible that they made, I think, from '57 to '59, a long time ago and they wanted to revitalize that kind of sports car jeans again, I guess, and they threw a lot of technology at it, it had an aluminum body . the m5 v8 engine the 400 horsepower five liter engine, but it was the look that gave us this kind of vertical screen, the z3 had arrived at the same time, it had a kind of z3 feel to it and yes, going back to our article in In 2000 we drove it very briefly in California, but this is our first time in the UK and we gave it three stars in the end because it didn't really do anything particularly well and we were confused by this kind of retro look.

It's true that we hadn't seen cars like the ford gt come out, nor the bmw mini nor the fiat 500 and now I think looking at it from a new perspective, 20 years later, I think it's really coming into its own, so anyway, let's go and Let's take a closer look. Take a look at some of the details on this car. Now, this car was conceived because Chris Bangle was the head of design at BMW and Henrik Fisker did the exterior design and I think it was the front end that the big surprise came because they weren't normal kidneys.

This is very similar to the BMW 507, this separate appearance and then these starlight source spotlights in the chrome finished grille, then you have the covered headlights as well as xenon or aluminum headlights and a kind of curvy bodywork, then this use of excess. use of chrome look at this side gill here and the mirrors all in chrome which is quite an unusual look it was a heart again to 507 18 inch wheels here 40 section aluminum rims very upright display compared to what you expect really and again that was because of the 507, the design of, you know, even the z3 or the z4, it's much

more

dramatic than this quite vertical screen and it gave you a kind of airy space inside.

I think the interior is a spectacular part of this car, but again, we've never done that. I actually saw a colored dash, this flash of body color across the dash and the dials in the right center in the middle of the dash. Left hand drive, spoked wheels only, no buttons or anything on the steering wheel. Once you also have a power soft top on the z8 and a hard top. I lowered the roof to show it because it looks a little strange, I think with the hood upright because it's a very vertical rear window, so I think it shows a lot. better with the hood folded around the rear very well done these neon lights should have mentioned them on the side marker also very stylish this is before the LED lights these are neon lights twin exhausts in the rear everything very clean and open The boots have to do it in the key, a suitable and beautifully carpeted boot.

I'll explain it as a wind deflector, but we'll use that in a moment, but yes, this was a very useful two-seater sports car and it made it even better. having that bmw m5 engine in the front v8 engine, so yes, five liter engine, it is a strange engine, this one sounds very ugly, v8, but for me it is not a proper m engine, and I mean this because although It has individual butterfly valves. etc., it was not as powerful as I expected, so five liters and 100 horsepower per liter is good for a good engine and the e46 m3 of the same era that was on sale had 105 horsepower per liter, this is 78 horsepower per liter.

My Spader engine has 90 horsepower per liter, so it wasn't as tuned as you would expect from a normal M5 engine. It also has cast iron manifolds instead of the tubular manifolds you expect to see on an m engine, but they made do. Put it back in the chassis, it has a 50 50 weight distribution and it's a powerful engine, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't have that high revving character of other engines, but anyway, let's take it outside, take it for a drive as soon as you get in just scream the z8 has this distinctive look this flash of body color across the dash this spoked wheel it's like oh this is a little bit different central uh speedometer and tachometer and stuff and that kind of lack of buttons and this kind of

modern

look, it's very interesting to be in this now compared to

when

it was new because we hadn't seen the new bmw mini and that kind of used body color and used 500 body color, but it was a really striking, always It's a bit plastic, it's not very stylish, this car is very well finished, although all this leather here has the leather top and this car is quite unusual in this blue, so I don't remember the name, it's written under the hood .

I'll show it Until now, because almost all the production was silver, five thousand seven hundred something cars were made and three thousand five hundred of them were titanium silver that was in the Bond movie and then another 1,500 were black, we had a black one in the fitting room. evo and I thought it looked very smart and then there was a mix, there was a red, there was a blue, there was a gray and some custom colors right at the end by bmw 125, we were able to make it individual colors but wow what a statement it is.

Now and I think it's aging very well, so I think it's worth mentioning as well. It's the Peak key. I mentioned it in the CSL, didn't I, but to me this is the little Peak BMW key and you lock it in the middle and do the starting. in it and other things, it's just a lovely thing, you go in there and to start it, turn the key, you get a button there, we start it manually, of course, in this car you had to go to Alpena, they made an automatic version, but they threw the m5 engine. and in its place I put a normal 4.8 liter BMW V8 unit.

Strange things too like with the windows, where are the windows, how do you roll down the windows? Well, there's a button on the door here and I can set it to work either on the left or just put it on. the middle and

makes

both windows together very smart, it is also the button that decides whether the electric mirrors are also adjusted next to it, so everything is done with a single button, well, I haven't even bothered to put in a radio, if they have it. that's under a cover here and that exposes this, you know, this first attempt, kind of a navigation phone and that kind of thing, uh there and the dsc off, you want to turn off the traction control, the ventilation here, all the click buttons without automatic settings, you decide how hot or cold, you want it in this direction, fan speed and if you want air conditioning, electric wheel that goes in and out, the dashboard does not adjust, it does not go up or down, you have cruise control on the windshield wipers. things usage indicators and full of beautifully closed little cubbies in the door, uh, little ones, here are locking pads behind the seats.

I can see there are little places where you can store things, I think so, the glove box has a key. Well, since it's an open car most of the time, I obviously have it roof down. I also put the hair net on the back because I find that this car needs a minimum of wall look on the inside which is reminiscent now of the mini similar button type um we haven't seen bmw mini anyway let's move on go ahead oh you've got all the toys too you've got power seats here part of me thinks I want to be lower in the car but ok ok heated seats and manual handbrake obviously gearbox manual and the way we go and that five liter V8 is a very good way to fool, you think it was a lot of torque, short shifts, etc., so far, so good, it's nice to be in so what I'm going to do now It will disappear and you will join me on some better paths in a moment.

The first thing you'll notice when you drive this for a while is the waffle v8, it's very, it's not overbearing, it's not loud, but the engine is definitely V8 and you can hear it, but in a subtle way, which is nice. The rest is easy, easy, manual, the lighter clutch, really, and just, yeah, it's a good way to follow the path, your initial impressions. This is a very easy car to drive, it doesn't throw a fit over anything, it really has

more

muscle on the bottom than you'd expect, the good thing in life is wanting to energize things a little, you can press sport and it just accelerates the throttle response, that's it, but yeah, initial impressions are actually very nice, very polished and this car really doesn't feel like it's 20 years old at all, um, but it's only had 19,000 miles on it, so that's it. probably helps too.

It's a fun car, the reaction you get. It's when you know how to drive and start because people don't see it as a BMW. It's just this

classic

car but it's not a

classic

car. It's a

modern

car. What is it? And because you have to think how many people really know. what a 1957 to 59 bmw 507 looks like is a handful of people so they just don't see the bmw unless they are bond fans and know it from the movie. I quite like that, it's an individual car there. there is no other z8 there is a model one engine a few colors that's all and it's kind of easy it's not aggressive it's not covered in spoilers or anything and it's one of those cars that people aren't really sure what it is if they don't know what it is.

They are completely nerds like you and me, it is a very quiet car, do you think it doesn't feel like an m5 convertible or that's why it doesn't have the volume, it weighs 1560 kilos, I think this The car that everyone is complaining about was not very light in the past, but actually not bad for a v8 coupe of this kind of size with all the toys, power roof and everything else, also for rivals at the time. there was nothing like this, you know, ferrari 360 convertible aston db7, i guess it was the closest thing to this anyway.

I'm getting close to my little jet coming off the limit sign d, so I'm going to shift into third. I think it's 2000 rpm doing 30. Here we go, yes, that initial boost, that torque, you feel like it doesn't get crisp or anything, that soft bar of the v8 continues until just above the legal limits, but in a way it doesn't. you use the ribs of this car if you've been driving it for a few days and you rarely go over 5000 rpm, that's the strange thing about this engine, it doesn't have the typical m characteristics like we expect Well, I guess

today

we have the turbocharged car, like this that it all feels like the turbo you're tapping into for torque rather than those top-end horsepower, but we can't hear it, but it's an easy car to cure. and towing with a lot of bumps, yes, there is no adjustment in the shock absorbers of this car, I feel like yes, the lack of rigidity because without that hard top or without a complete structure, being a convertible it moves down here quite well, The steering is quite inert, although I'm not.

It doesn't move it doesn't follow the cameras I'm not really getting exactly what the front tires are doing but it crushes the bumps it has a reasonable amount of suspension travel but it's only initial it's a little firmer than I expected down here but No it's not uncomfortable in no way, okay let's try it with compression, yeah one of those. Well actually I think it has a little bit of suspension travel which really helps on a road like this. It's so strange that five thousand feels like enough in this. however, it comes in at almost seven, well it's probably time to summarize this and what you like and don't like, starting with what you don't like, I guess the surprise when you look at all the ingredients is its aluminum construction , this five-point link in the rear, all these kilos. the fact that it was a halo model, it doesn't quite drive with the kind of zionism you'd expect from a definitive BMW, it's quiet in nature, which in some ways I consider a negative just because it's not what you expect when you see all the ingredients that have gone into this car, it's a little distant, the steering doesn't encourage you to keep going, but the brakes are fine, everything is fine, but it doesn't have that last dynamite polish that it once made you feel. the limits of the car, it's just not like that, it's a seven tenths car, it's not a criticism, well I have to mention the left hand drive, just you know it's good to have the right hand drive because it's a very usable, which is why only 70 cars were made. officially arrived in the UK, there are probably more here now with the 5700 cars produced, but then I have to mention the price well, when I was looking at this, I looked at them when I had the marquetta, I decided between the 550 marketers of one. of these, this was 50,000, the 550 marketer at that time was 80.

There are only 470 of those, but 5,700 of these, but now the value of these, well, this is fork sale, it's about to go on sale, I think it's knocking on the door. the door weighs 290 something thousand pounds because it is one owner yours 19,000 miles it has everything that came with it when it was new let's test it here too it hasa good sound energy when you turn it, yes, yes, it really is a lovely car, huh? you just don't feel like pushing it like that which is absolutely fine take me to santa pay or something fantastic all the way to the lochs story all the way to scotland absolutely fine cruise control with v8 was enjoyed and everyone has that kind of differentiation anyway I'm rambling moving on to the lights like I was doing so by accident I mean the main light I think it's just a beginning it's coming into its own it doesn't have a date you can't tell how old it is it's like a modern classic It's already 20 years old so it's kind of classic, I love how the interior doesn't have a screen up to date or anything like that, it's just a beautifully styled car, I don't mind the chrome trinkets on the outside, that It's its style, that's what the z8 is and I like the way it's unique.

Knox hasn't been copied, has it? You know, it came out with za evo, so it's not as fast as you expected. We've tested it on evo, it's 11.7 seconds to 100, but it's actually fast enough to impress people who have done it. I haven't been in a car like this, it doesn't have the performance that seems to be the norm nowadays, but it is a very bearable performance at 150 miles off the top. I can promise you that you feel extremely fast. Another like I guess is just pure. depth of quality it was a beautifully put together car I love how you get everything, the hardtop, the whole lathe cover and you put it here in this time it's a book that comes with it during its build the quality, the switches, the air quality conditioning, it just drips With quality, no half measures, BMW wanted this car to be right and 20 years later, it really shows, so yeah, conclusion.

I just think I can understand why they have it more expensive. Doesn't appeal to the track day junkie. everything, but there was a much larger audience that just wanted a kind of classic car, but a modern classic car model, that's what we're doing now with our classic car, well, this is one of those that the car itself it reminds me is the mercedes um pagoda that was bought early in sl but it was updated and you know people who don't want a classic car and have all the delicate problems of a classic car through z8 it just works with a key and you can Take it for repair in any BMW workshop in the country that is attractive and that is why the price has increased.

It is a kind of unrepeatable car. It is not something they can do today and now its time has come. We did not understand it in 2000. 2001 seemed confusing. The car Now, 20 years later, it feels like a very sensible car because I want to enjoy that BMW Roadster v8 manual, but I want it to just run and have air conditioning and stuff and have 11 seconds to 100 miles per hour and I want it to look special like if it wasn't another bmw that's what the z8 is so there you go i hope you enjoyed this video if you did keep watching and subscribe more videos coming soon.