Re: The Prosthetic Sports Car (archive)

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"There is no traction control, no ABS, no safety nets. The brakes are marginal, the suspension downright frightening, and the engine voracious enough to introduce you to God at every apex. The 914-6 is powerful, unrefined and excessively demanding at speed. It posesses what the Boxster S has yet to claim, the essence of being a true enthusiast's sports car."

You probably have the issue of european car where Mitchell Sam Rossi writes this. It may be close to the top of the pile as there is a brignt yellow Hamann modified e46 on the cover.

What does an article written about two Porsches have to do with the Z3? I believe it explains a lot about the philosophy behind the Z3 and its perceived flaws on the part of some road testers. A wooden box, some strings and a stick with horsehair on it leaves plenty of room for error, but in the right hands, a violin makes beautiful music. It became obvious to me last week at the Performance Center during Homecoming that the same can be said for the Z3. tromping on the gas, stabbing the brakes, and sawing the wheel back and forth, I could get my Z3 to demonstrate all the nasty handling characteristics that had ben attributed of late to the Z3. On the OBC, the best average speed I could muster was around 25 mph. Once I decided that this sort of brutality was doing neither me not the car any good, I backed down and enjoyed the drive, and was rewarded with constant 35 mph averages.

There is a belief today that the purpose of a car is to make its driver look good. This has given rise to ABS, DSC and a host of TLA's all designed to save the driver from his/her own stupidity. All well and good if you are buying a sedan that to provide you an all-weather capability to get from a necessary point "A" to a necessary point "B". Give me all of those (plus all wheel drive) to help me on the trips that must be made.

This is not the reason for the exsistence of sports cars. They are for trips you want to make rather than have to make. I had an Alfa. These cars were reknown for weak second gear synchros. A crisp first to second upshift (or even better - third to second downshift) was beautiful music, made sweeter by the knowledge that you had achieved mastery over the vehicle. The Z3 is like this. It will not make the ham-fisted (or ham-footed) driver look like anything but a fool. Go into a corner too fast or hit the gas too soon on exiting, and it may make you wish you had opted of the tan upholstery. However, drive it properly and it will reward you with a dialog between the car and driver that few vehicles come close to equalling. The rear end will rotate around to set you up for the next corner and the pumps and gears of the steering will melt away until it feels like you are holding the tie rods in your hands.

I would like to think that BMW provided the Z3 with an "edge" so that the skilled driver can appreciate learning how to "play" it. If the Z3 is redesigned, I hope this trait is retained rather than pandering to those who feel that a car must make up for the skills they are lacking. No posthetic sports cars, Please!

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