When the sun is shining and the
weather is sweet, would Sir have the BMW Z4 or the Porsche Boxster S?
Never have we cared so much about the
weather as we did when planning this shoot. Short of breaking into a tribal
dance to please the weather gods, we did just about everything to ensure we had
timed it right. Convertibles need clear, blue skies to be in their element, and
so the conditions had to be perfect. Call it luck, good timing or just good old
patience, we were granted our window of opportunity at the tail end of spring.
On to the cars, then. You’ve seen them before, so I’ll keep the introductions short.
The blue roadster, as is glaringly obvious, is the BMW Z4. What isn’t as
obvious is that this is the ‘refreshed’ car. What differentiates it from the
original from 2009? Very little, actually. You’ll need to be quite observant to
notice the altered front bumper and the minutely different headlights. But
still, what a looker.
The
Z4's perceived quality is beyond criticism
Giving the Z4 company today is the Porsche
Boxster S. It’s more powerful than the standard Boxster, and with 315bhp, it
closely matches the Z4’s 302bhp of power. That it looks like a baby Porsche 918
also helps it keep its own against the classic long-bonnet, stubby-boot
roadster silhouette of the Z4. So, with two smoking-hot cars from the business
of open-top motoring and some of the year’s finest weather, there’s no point
merely staring at the cars. Time to drive.
The plan is to make an early morning
getaway from Mumbai and drive to the ghats of Lonavala, and at the crack of
dawn, we set out. There’s a nice breeze in the air, so we don’t waste much time
in lowering the roofs. For the statistically inclined, the Boxster will shed
its canvas top in a quick nine seconds. The Z4 takes a few seconds longer to
get its folding hard top into the boot, but the exercise is worth it because it’s
with the roof down that the Z4 looks its smashing best.
Even
in the most treacherous of circumstances, the Boxster has an utterly
trustworthy and safe handling character
Getting out of the city is not that easy.
Mumbai’s potholed roads can put SUVs to the test and here we are in a pair of
stiffly sprung sportscars. We have to be extra cautious over speed-breakers
(neither car scraped its undersides) and comically slow on other stretches of
‘tarmac’. But it’s in this imperfect environment that the differences between
the two start to emerge. The Z4’s ride is a tad too stiff and the low-profile
tyres can’t really shield you from the happenings below. The Boxster S is a lot
more cosseting in that sense, at least on the softest of its suspension
settings. At swifter speeds too, you can tell the Boxster is the more rigid of
the two cars. That scuttle shake, a consequence of the absence of a fixed roof,
is far less noticeable in the Porsche, particularly on rumblers.
Z4
cabin has more flair, is better equipped too
Thankfully, the road smoothens as we start
the Mumbai-Pune expressway and the real fun begins. Speeds are up and so is the
sun. There’s surprisingly little traffic too. Talk of having it good. Both cars
cruise the length of the expressway comfortably (the Z4’s front tends to
occasionally skip over expansion joints though) and we’re at the Lonavala exit
soon enough. Things get better still as the climb to Aamby Valley starts.
Boxster
cabin means business; highly customisable
For those of you not familiar with the
road, it’s a beautiful mix of twists, hairpins and sweeping turns – almost
tailor-made for the dynamically gifted Boxster. Out here, the Z4 is the
underdog. Or that’s what I think. However, a few corners into the climb later,
I realise I’m very, very wrong. It’s a far closer contest than I thought it to
be. The Z4 feels remarkably alive, like every car worthy of that propeller
badge should. There’s instantaneous access to serious power and directional
changes are quick too. It moves about like a shark on the prowl. It’s all down
to the ingredients, really. You can’t go too wrong with a 3.0-litre, twin-turbo
straight-six up front, a lightning-quick seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and
50/50 weight distribution. Sure, the steering could do with more feel, but it’s
still very direct and, with the electronic nannies switched off, let’s me play
around with the car on the corners. Thereafter, the strong mid-range punch
takes over to make the straights seem far shorter than they appear at first.
That the bass-heavy exhaust blips on occasion only wins the Z4 more points. On
these roads, the Bimmer has set the bar high.
