Well-Muscled Elegance; BMW's Z8 offers the best of the old and the best of the new.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)

The BMW Z8 is about everything we love about cars. Faster and more nimble than all but a few sports cars made today, it looks as smooth and sensuous as the roadsters of the '60s.

While the design cues are all taken directly from Albrecht Goertz's BMW 507 of 1956 to 1959, the car is also evocative of the Cobras and Corvettes of the mid-'60s. Especially at the drag strip. Watching the Z8 roar away from the starting lights and down through the quarter-mile was like being back at a Southern California drag strip in the era of Big Daddy Roth and the surf guitar. Driving it down the quarter-mile was even better than that, and the Z8 has all the comfort and safety amenities to put it on par with the best modern cars.

Straddling eras is what the Z8 does best. With the top down on a sunny day and plenty of open road ahead, it can make you feel like you're 16 again and just stole the neighbor's 427 S/C. ``Whoooo-whee what a ride,'' wrote one staffer. ``I felt like I needed a cigarette after getting home,'' wrote another. Owners loved it, too. ``Until Porsche figures out how to make a Turbo cabriolet, this is the best auto in the world, much more practical and every bit as exotic as the 360 Spyder,'' said one.

The numbers say the same thing. The only cars we've tested that outran the Z8 at the drag strip were the Porsche Turbo, Corvette Z06 and Lotus Esprit V8 Turbo. With a 0-to-60-mph time of 4.56 seconds and a quarter-mile of 13.02 at 108.5 mph, the Z8 is fast. We didn't find it quite as fast as BMW claims (4.5 seconds), but close enough and still among the best in the world.

The thing we found hardest about getting it down the quarter-mile was managing all 394 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque from the 5.0-liter V8. It feels downright light at launch, despite its 3495 pounds. Given the all-aluminum chassis, body and drivetrain, we would have expected a lighter curb weight than that. It does come in 529 pounds under the M5 sedan, with which it shares much of its underpinnings and drivetrain. Nonetheless, the Z8 spun its rear wheels mightily through first and second gears. We got our best times by engaging the clutch at relatively low engine speeds, ...