SPF 40i

TESTED BMW’s 2020 Z4 M40i is basically a Toyota Supra for sun worshipers.

- Mike Sutton

It’s for the best that the 2020 BMW Z4 convertible, particularly in six-cylinder M40i guise, is essentially a decapitated 2020 Toyota Supra, a car that was co-developed with the BMW and shares virtually all of its mechanical identity. The latest Supra might not be enough of a Toyota for loyalists, but it is no slouch [see “Deep Roots, Long Shadows,” page 20]. There’s a lot of performance baked into the new platform to bolster the Z4’s sports-car credentials. We’d be cool with BMW making the Z4 drive even more like the Supra.

From our prior experience with the entry-level Z4 sDrive30i, when it lost to the Porsche 718 Boxster in a comparison test, we know that the BMW is a highly athletic and agile roadster in need of better steering and either more power or less mass. Stepping up to the M40i handily fixes the latter issue, replacing the standard 255-hp turbo four-banger with a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six good for 382 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque.