The Z3 at 30: The Roadster BMW Needed

When you hear those famous three letters, BMW, what do you think of first? Fast sedans and coupes likely, or maybe luxury chariots for captains of industry. Either way, your first thought probably won’t be the Munich firm’s fine selection of roadsters and sports cars. Throughout its history, however, Bayerische Motoren Werke has made plenty of standout and sexy two-seaters. Open-topped sports cars in particular have been there almost from the start, with the 3/20, and famous 328 of the 1930s, through to the legendary 507 of the 1950s. By the late 1980s, however, BMW hadn’t made a mass-produced open-topped two-seater for 30 years. 

Marking its maker’s triumphant roadster return was the remarkably innovative Z1 of 1989. Not only did this sporting BMW see its firm plough a long fallow furrow, but it also kicked-off the Z lineup as we know it. 

The Z1 was a bold machine, both in terms of its styling—the work of Harm Lagaay—and its engineering, having leapt from the clever minds of workers at BMW’s Technik GmbH division. Established in 1985, just a few years prior to the Z1’s launch, BMW Technik’s role was mainly focused on R&D and technical innovation. The division came up with the Z1 as a concept to showcase its innovative new construction techniques; series production was never on the to-do list. That goes some way to explaining why the Z1’s doors disappear into its sills, it has easily replaceable plastic bodywork, and an all-new Z-axle independent rear suspension. We don’t envy the poor production engineers tasked with figuring all that out for production, but they managed it, admirably. 

“Clever” and “innovative” are often bywords for “expensive,” however, and the 8000 Z1s sold through the end of production in 1991, at an MSRP close to $45,000, somewhat proved that point. This hand-built roadster’s numbers really only represent a drop in the motoring ocean, but it showed there was still an appreciative audience eagerly awaiting more BMW roadsters. 

Fast forward to September 1995, and the world was introduced to the far more conventionally engineered, yet equally striking, Z3. Sharing much of its platform with the three-door BMW 3 Series Compact, the Z3 was a lot easier than the Z1 to mass produce, but in a bold move, that responsibility wouldn’t fall upon German workers. Instead, the Z3 was assembled at BMW’s Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, making it the first model in the firm’s history to be entirely produced outside of Germany. 

Initially only available with an underwhelming, if revvy, 140-hp 1.9-liter four-cylinder, the Z3 lacked the ultimate pace and agility to really shine. Parts sharing with the 3 Series came back to bite drivers who really liked to press on, as the Z3 was devoid of its predecessor’s clever rear Z-axle. It instead relied on the older semi-trailing arm arrangement. These early criticisms might have been overlooked a generation earlier, but with mid-1990s competition including the Mazda Miata, Mercedes-Benz SLK, and Porsche Boxster, there was nowhere for a sub-par Z3 to hide. 

BMW, to its credit, heard its critics and responded at the end of 1996 by slotting its fabulous 2.8-liter M52B28 inline-six engine under the Z3’s long hood. This gave it a much more favorable 190 horses, which rivaled or exceeded those aforementioned contemporaries. In fact, the power hike from that six elevated Z3s above the majority of the resurgence roadster roster of the second half of the 1990s. 

For 1999, the four-cylinder was replaced by a more sprightly 170-hp 2.3-liter six, and BMW introduced a hatchback to the mix as well, affectionately dubbed “the clownshoe” for its proportions in profile. By 2001, the 2.3 gave way to a 2.5, while the top motor in the Z3 lineup was a 3.0-liter making 225 horsepower.

But what is a BMW performance car without an M variant? The company’s motorsport and tuning wing at Garching had been keen to get its mitts on the Z3 as soon as the model was discussed. Slotting the motor from the contemporary E36 M3 into the little Roadster and the Coupe soon after was a no-brainer, but there was a little more to it than that. To handle the extra grunt from the M3’s S50B32 3.2-liter mill (later upgraded to the E46 M3’s S54) M gave the car a firmer, lowered, and reinforced suspension. A wider track front and rear was paired with wider rubber to help avoid this ultimate Z3 pointing perpendicular to the tarmac. 

Easier said than done with such a short wheelbase and 240 hp (and later 315 hp) sent to the back wheels; the eventual introduction of traction control helped matters, however. The rabid Z3 could get to 60 mph in just over five seconds in either configuration. 

Throughout production, there were a few styling revisions to the Z3 that either further enhanced the original work of Joji Nagashima or detracted from it, depending upon your preference. Original four-cylinder cars have a “narrow” body, most noticeable from a direct rear view, while six-cylinder and M versions got stouter “hips.” The whole range was facelifted in 1999, when the Coupe body was also added to the range, adding chrome-ringed headlights and L-shaped tail lights; along with a host of other minor interior and exterior updates. 

You probably don’t need us to tell you that the Z3 sold a whole lot better than the more bespoke Z1; BMW managed to shift more than 297,000 by the end of Z3 production in 2002. There was a time when they were seen on every main street, though today sightings are certainly a rarer occurrence. Indeed, its controversial replacement, the Z4, has enjoyed a far longer production spell.

Most Z3s—aside from those with very low miles or the M models—are still cheap, considering the style and performance on offer, which makes the Z3 an entertaining and affordable way into modern classic motoring. That’s a win-win in our book.