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"  The previous version of the BMW Z4 roadster was a crime scene, a reasonably entertaining and nicely knitted sports car that had been cruelly vandalized by its own maker, former BMW designer Chris Bangle. The fuselage sported crazed backslashes ahead of the doors, crude smiles cut into the sides like a character in a Victor Hugo novel, and an amputated tail so visually unbalanced, the car seemed to threaten to fall off its own wheels. The company&amp;#039;s preferred shorthand for this was that the styling was &amp;quot;polarizing.&amp;quot;  All that&amp;#039;s been fixed in the redesigned 2009 Z4 thanks to BMW&amp;#039;s new design chief, Adrian van Hooydonk, a Dutchman though for this kind of healing you usually need a tall Nazarene. The new Z4 is an utterly different presence. It&amp;#039;s six inches longer than the previous car, all of it in front and rear overhang, which gives the sheet metal more room to stretch out elegantly as well as helping accommodate the car&amp;#039;s signature feature, a retractable aluminum hardtop. With the noble rictus borrowed from the new 7-Series and the impeccable tailoring of the late Z8, the Z4 is now as harmonious as the previous model was dissonant, as cool and classy as the previous one was a sweet hot mess.  Tweed-cap-wearing aficionados of roadsters might look askance at the Z4&amp;#039;s retractable hardtop harrumph! Canvas, me lad, only canvas! Let them. The top is terrific, a compact and efficient bit of servomechanics that dramatically increases the Z4&amp;#039;s glass area, outward visibility, and general livability as compared with the ragtop. Also, it takes only 20 seconds for the top to do its duck-and-cover routine quick enough to execute the move at your average stoplight.  There are a zillion data points to pass on the choice of two 3.0-liter inline-six engines, one good for 255 hp (base price: $45,750), the other a twin-turbo, 300 hp wonder mill ($51,650), available dual-clutch gearbox, sports suspension, new iDrive, and a mountain of electronics but what&amp;#039;s important is the Zen moment of wheeling the Z4 down a mountain road. BMW designers were keen to preserve the classic roadster feel, which is to say, a long proud hood and a low seat position well back in the chassis, with your butt nearly over the rear axle. This is the posture of great roadsters like prewar Alfa Romeos and Jags. The Z4 feels similarly masculine and, well, priapic, with this great rogering prominence swinging out ahead of you as you unwind the wheel and lay on the coal. You don&amp;#039;t need to be a strict Freudian to understand the appeal of this sensation; you need only be familiar with the word codpiece. It&amp;#039;s pretty clear, looking at the Z4 and BMW&amp;#039;s new product line, that the company is edging away from the edge. The designs are becoming more formal and classical Aristotelian if you like, conventional if you don&amp;#039;t. Bangle&amp;#039;s art-school indulgences are being quietly erased from Munich&amp;#039;s collective memory in a way that suggests old Kremlin bosses getting cropped out of official photographs. Bangle made the board look a fool with his flimflam about avant-garde design and how, with persistence, you can educate the public to adore a singular style the ultimate arrogance of any auteur. I think dubious BMW execs told themselves that with the passage of time the Bangle idiom would grow on them. What they forgot is that people don&amp;#039;t want to have to learn to love the car they drive. They want beauty love at first sight and rev. They want the new Z4. BMW Roadsters That Matter  THE 507 (1956): With its exotically long, low hood, front wheels pushed right to the bumper, and sinuous fender lines, the 507 set the roadster mold. THE Z8 (2000): Designed by Henrik Fisker, the aluminum-framed Z8 was on par with the most exotic sports cars of the time. It remains one of the most beautiful and expressive BMWs ever. RELATED LINKS:  EARLIER: Why the BMW Z4 Is the Angelina Jolie of the Car Industry  A Brief Guide to BMW Car Designer Chris Bangle&amp;#039;s Signature Touches The BMW 335d: A Fuel-Efficient Car for People Who Love Driving  PLUS: Esquire&amp;#039;s Guide to 2009&amp;#039;s Greatest, Fastest, Most Exhilarating Cars   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/cars/a6120/2009-bmw-z4-test-drive-0909/>