BARGAIN BEAUTIES

2002 BMW Z4 ROADSTER

“From the Chris Bangle era of ‘flame surfacing’, this isn’t a beautiful design but a funky design. It represented a pretty major shift. A lot of it isn’t traditional to how car designers work: we don’t like the middle of the car to sag or hard edges running into soft edges, but you get all that here. You could say the design is a little over the top, because it doesn’t need all the curves it has, but that’s what makes it interesting.

“For simple proportions, this car is really good. It’s very cab-rearward: you felt important with that really long bonnet, and the rear is sort of like a Marcos. They pushed the hips out; it sits well on its wheels. It’s a tough little guy: more toned up, without the excess flab the Z3 had.” One we found 2004 Z4 3.0i, 68k miles, £6750