Picking a favourite car from 2024 was no easy task. Not least when several likely contenders had already been nabbed. Choosing something that’s fun, exciting yet a worthy representative of its market is a tricky task as we witness some of our ICE heroes perish and their makers’ confidence waver about what comes next. Perhaps I’m seeking shelter amidst the storm with BMW’s Handschalter Pack Z4 as my nomination.
I promise I’m no Luddite. I’m open to electric, hydrogen or whatever truly comes next. I even like the Jaguar rebrand. But when Nic’s email sent me on a memory-jogging scroll through my camera reel, it was photos of BMW’s blast from the past that warmed my cockles most.
It was a long time coming. Most generations of car survive six to seven years with a mid-life facelift in the middle. The G29 Z4 arrived in 2018 and already has a PH Used Buying Guide while its GR Supra cousin got a stick shift back in 2022. BMW’s hesitation can surely only have centred around a depressing piece of marketing research that said no one would bother buying it.
Thus the 2024 launch of a curiously named special edition with a knob protruding from its tunnel felt like a baffling moment even by current BMW standards. But amongst the oversized grilles and overweight M5s we can surely all get on board with a front-engine, rear-drive, manually shifting roadster. Look, they’ve even #madegreengreatagain to properly tap into the traditionalist crowd…
In truth, the colour scheme is my least favourite bit. The Frozen Deep Green of the M5 CS may look fabulous here, the Cognac leather within even more so, but I fear the Insta-appeasing trim – your only option with three pedals and unavailable on auto Z4s – is in danger of trivialising a car that would feel equally worthy in resale grey ‘n’ black. Beyond a rejigged GR Yaris and a handful of 911s, how many other manual sports cars have launched this year?
I also like this car not because it clings vociferously to the past, but because it’s a minor character in a much bigger story. If BMW only made cars like this, it would appear as cutely anachronistic as the Malvern company it shares its engines with. But crucially the Handschalter represents a small, tasty morsel at the wider Bavarian buffet. With the upcoming electrified Neue Klasse, actual hydrogen production cars and an M3 that’ll apparently offer both ICE and EV, the propellor stands for an energy-impartial brand. Amongst such crystal ball gazing it’s nice to have a car that sticks to the old script, presumably making very little money in the process (hence the sole colour and trim option, one suspects).
Not that it’s cheap. The ever-spinning fruit machine of car prices means a manual Z4 tops sixty grand, Handschalter trim commanding a ten per cent premium over standard. You get a bit more than just an extra pedal for your £5,325, though. There’s fresh chassis and steering tuning, tweaked stability control and M Sport differential settings and a new 19-/20-inch staggered wheel setup, a first outside of M Division and wearing Pilot Super Sports that measure 285-section apiece on the back axle. The 3.0-litre turbo of the regular M40i is untouched, happily making this a manual that handles the whole 340hp and 369lb ft of its automatic alternative. It’s also 15kg lighter, if slower to sixty-two and a mite less efficient.
On-paper stats are clearly not where this car’s appeal lies, however, a point to further galvanise the argument that this is a car to cherish in in 2024. The long, resistant clutch pedal of the Handschalter sits surprisingly close to the centre of the pedal box and immediately sets the stall for a more involved driving experience. The stick in the middle is familiar to anyone who’s piloted a manual BMW in the last 20-odd years and while Munich claims it operates a transmission ‘exclusive’ to the M40i, its ratios exactly match those of the Supra MT. Which is fine by us, to be honest.
“The six-speed remains a BMW modular transmission – and feels it,” said Matt Bird back in the summer, bemoaning its “same notchy, rubbery, slightly indistinct feel.” Interrogate this car hard and he’s no doubt right, but Matt and I wholeheartedly agree that an imperfect manual is better than no manual at all. And it takes very few miles for the muscle memory of your left limbs to awaken and tune into the experience, the miles soon swiftly rolling by as you effortlessly shuffle up and down the ‘box, often for the sheer hell of it.
You’ve multiple drive modes and auto rev-matching that turns easily on or off within Sport Individual. Such is the composure and maturity on display, I think you’ll happily run around in the gnarliest settings on all but the most brittle of roads. Bringing it to the icy, dicy Yorkshire Dales for this end-of-year celebration highlights just how damn good the G29 has been its whole life. A car that’s unfairly lived in its Toyota cousin’s shadow, I reckon.
Roadsters are at their best in conditions like this: a dazzlingly bright but freezing cold day, heated seats and wheel on, air vents cranked right up as the crisp fresh air and copious aromas of the Dales pour in. All with no fear of burning your noggin'. The Z4 provides the perfect open-air theatre for the low-flying training jets that carve through the valley as we drive up and down the brilliant Buttertubs Pass for Oli B’s camera. Almost blissful enough to not worry too much about why those jets are so active…
Mooching has always been a Z4 strong suit and while true autonomy over its transmission reveals new depth to the B58’s delivery and layers to its handling, those tyres take a lot of overwhelming even on crisp days like this. I do wonder if the regular 19s on slimmer Michelins might be a mite more fun. But whether you prefer riding its torque or revving it out, the choice is yours and yours only here.
I ran an M40i Steptronic a few years ago and while its driving experience rarely felt more than a 7/10, I missed it dearly once the transporter rolled up to take it away. In all my years of long-term test cars, it was the one that slipped most easily into everyday life. An enveloping interior with the roof up, straight-six frivolity with it folded and proper mid-30s mpg ensured it was a doddle to live with while muscular and fun on the right road. Especially when inclement weather helped loosen its rear tyres’ grasp of the tarmac to tease some agility out of its 1.6 tonnes.
A manual lifts the fun factor to at least an eight without sacrificing any of the liveability. If anything, the Z4’s advancing years (or the huge tech leaps elsewhere on Planet Car) make it more liveable still, its interior a best-of-all-worlds mix of luxe and pragmatism. Most things operate through a button and its mandatory beeps and bongs are easily extinguished.
I’ll happily concede that declaring a niche spin-off of a car I relished over the summer of 2019 as my favourite of 2024 is far from zeitgeisty. But the Handschalter has made me smile every time I’ve sat in its warming Cognac cocoon. And sometimes things need only be as simple as that.
SPECIFICATION | BMW Z4 M40i HANDSCHALTER
Engine: 2,998cc, straight-six turbo
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 340@5,000-6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 369@1,600-4,500rpm
0-62mph: 4.6sec
Top speed: 155mph (limited)
Weight: 1,625kg
MPG: 32.5
CO2: 197g/km
Price: £64,060
Honourable mention | Dacia Duster
It’s not breaking news that bargain performance cars are dwindling in number and 2024 saw the guillotine fall on yet more hot hatch heroes. But low funds needn’t mean low fun if speed isn’t your utmost priority: the new Mk3 Duster is priced in line with a regular Corsa yet is rich in design charm and engineering nous. Its evident cost-cutting impresses rather than frustrates, proving no barrier to decent refinement. There’s choice, too; a 4x4 manual does gutsy off-roading while the smart FWD hybrid would make a remarkably polished everyday sidekick. The wider Renault group is firing on all cylinders.
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