Following the lead of its collaboration partner Toyoto Supra, the BMW Z5 has been spied testing at the famous Nurburgring tracks this weekend. Unlike the Supra, the Z5's sounds awesome and moves fast. However, it's interior looks cramped and fails to impress.
Alliance with Toyota
A novelty of the BMW Z5 is the first model that the German brand developed with Toyota, under a collaboration agreement to limit costs by segment. According to information from the Italian Portal, Toyota adopted the BMW engine but made their own design for the brother of the Z5, the spiritual successor to the Toyota Supra. This is why we cant help but compare the two when we saw it in the tracks.
Awesome Performance
In the video, one can see the BMW Z5 testing at the Nurburgring tracks. It is exceptionally slow at first and around the famous carousel part of the track, which is a standard procedure at the beginning of testing. After that, the way it rotates and the way it moves look awesome. It also sounds a lot better than the Supra prototype.
This great performance is rumored to be because of the same 340 hp engine as in the BMW M240i, there will also be a 2.0-liter version of the Z5, packing upwards of 250 hp. It will have a four and six cylinder turbocharged variants with rear or optional all-wheel drive.
Checkout the Z5's performance below.
Changes From Z4
The spy video also confirmed that one of the major change of the BMW Z5 to the former and now defunct Z4 will be the roof. It will now be a fabric roof and not a hard retractable one. We can also clearly see the different front and the elongated headlights to increase the sense of sportsmanship and the size of the Z5 will be bigger than the Z4.
These photos also show us the interior for the first time. Disappointingly, the interior looks pretty much identical to that of the Supra, but just a little cramped. Everything from the dashboard design itself, to the BMW parts bin items like the steering wheel, semi-virtual instrument display and even the climate control switchgear are the same ones seen in the Toyota. We hope the final version will be better than this.
More Information
If the deadlines are met, the future BMW Z5 could be presented in the second half of 2017. It is expected that the 2018 BMW Z5 will have a roadster version and a coupe. There could also be a hybrid that would be positioned as the most powerful of the range.
According to the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, production of the new Z5 and the future Toyota Supra will be at the Magna Steyr Factory in Graz, Austria, where many interesting cars are also manufactured such as the Aston Martin Rapide or the Mercedes Class G. The initial plan for the production of these highly anticipated sports will be on 2018 and a total of 60,000 copies will be produced each year.
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