Stock -vs- Tuned: It's been too long.

ReVoLuT1oN

Awesome! Can't wait. You should really talk to Jordan and try and get this featured somehow on the site/frontpage.

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XEPEGTP

Congrats Mitch! ps. its Gustradamus.

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VspecZR1GT2RS89

I'm waiting....

Joking aside, that's a great move on the Youtube channel and doing video reviews on the cars and challenges. I can't wait for the first virtual car review on video. I'm seeing virtual Top Gear maybe?

By the way, I'm gonna subscribe to you channel when I go on Youtube later.

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XDesperado67

hough so the Copen may just get buried anyways.

As for number of episodes I think there is plenty of mileage left in this yet, just need to look for more offbeat challenges. Also look at comparing some of the more affordable cars VS high end "Supercars" say a late model Lan Evo or Imprezza VS a new GT-R R35. Or how about a Miata VS a Ferrari California.

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MOTORTRENDmitch

Any guesses as to what cars will be in the Fifth Episode?



By the way, I meant to show you this..
Couldn't believe this when I seen it !

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Here it is folks, another episode of Stock -vs- Tuned. We promise that this episode will be the best yet. The car defending itself this week is the Ferrari California. We were oringinally going to pit the Mazda MX-5 against it, but quickly came to realise there was no way it would come close, so we raised the heat a bit. This weeks challenger is the BMW Z4. It's not just any Z4, oh no, rather it has came straight from the M performance house. As always before any testing of any sort begin, we will give a quick overview of the two machines. Lets begin with the Z4 M shall we.

The Z4 used to have a reletively boring 3 liter, 227 horsepower inline 6. It really was all face - no trousers. But don't worry, the boys at M-power like fun cars, so they made some changes. Big changes. They've replaced the old motor with the ledendary 3.2 liter inline-6 found in the BMW M3 E46! It makes 338 horsepower, and 269 ft-lbs of torque. The Z4 M is a little heavier then the original, weighing in at 1500KG. I personally don't know how they could pack that much weight into a car that's shorter then an S2000. Rev limiter sets in at 8500 RPM. The shape of this car is an acquired taste with it's long bonnet, short rear deck, and pretty elegent lines, all coming together nicely in my opinion. Hell, I say if there was a Benz emblem on the front of this car, you could call it a baby SLS. The short wheel base suggests this thing will carve corners with ease, but we'll soon find out. Now on to the Ferrari.

On paper these are two cars that would never be compared. The 4.3 Liter V8 of the California produces North of 470 horsepower, and torches its tires with 460 ft-lbs of torque. It revs to almost nine-thousand! The California was never designed to drive the fastest lap around the Nurburgring, it wasn't even meant to be that much of a fast car. This Ferrari was meant to be a daily driver that can put a big stupid grin on your face every time you turn the key. It was meant to be driven through the italian highways and twisty mountain roads. The California however will have no trouble packing a punch on the Autobahn either. This powerful V8 engine is mated to Ferrari's first ever dual clutch 7 speed gearbox. The Ferrari has to carry a fair bit more weight around though, tipping the scales at 1630KG. This California was built to show the more gentile and graceful side of Ferrari, with its convertable roof, and room for 2 in the back. Does this mean it's lost that spicy italian soul that Ferrari seems to carry into every car they make? Can't wait to see.

We often like to see what the two rides will do in a straight line before we hit the track, so we head to Route X to see just what they are capable of, starting with the California. Right off the bat, you fall in love with the exhaust note, it just screams at you. It's not vulger yet it will gladly make you want to keep your right foot planted. So obviously it can talk the talk, but can it walk the walk? With launch control engaged, we set off, and to answer that question rather simply, yes. This thing moves. 0-60 flashes by in under 4 seconds, (3.95). Reaches 100 just over 9 seconds, and covers the quarter mile in 12.2 seconds. The 1 mile mark is reached in 30.8 seconds. Top Speed of this mountain cruiser is a cool 190MPH. Certainly not a slow car, time for the Z4 M.

First thing we notice when we get there is the difference in exhaust notes. In the low revs it sounds nice and muscley, but above 5k it sounds pretty weak. Comparing the Z4's exhaust note to the Ferrari is like comparing Justin Beiber to The Beatles, both are very popular, but you only want to hear one of them. Lets see what happens when we kick it to the floor. To our suprise, the car will light them up if you're not careful. We line it up again, and this time we mean bussiness. Dumping the clutch at 4-5 thousand RPM and just feeding it as much power as you can and then gunning it beyond that, you will be moving along nicely. 0-60: 4.9 0-100: 11.7 1/4 mile: 13.6 1Mile: 33.324 Top Speed: 174 MPH. Sweet. Now it's track time.

On the track the Ferrari California is beautifully balanced, very fast, and loads of fun. The High revving V8 provides the power you need and the audio you want. The chassis gave me the most fun stock car I've driven in ages, and the looks to match it. Entering a turn you can sense that understeer is willing to occur, yet rarely ever does. Mid corner you have more grip then you could ever need. Now it's coming out of the turn that the car lets you decide what will happen. You can go about exiting a turn two ways in the California, the fast way, or the fun way. The fast way is just as the name suggests, feathering the throttle out to give you the most speed possible. Or you can choose my favourite way, the fun way - sideways. Putting this car through its paces in such a way makes you feel like the Drift King, it just stays sideways until you pull out of it. Such a blast bombing around Top Gear Test Track with this machine, most of the time we would have enough smoke to strike jealousy into most forest fires. It was time to see how fast it would go 'round. This car is by no means hard to drive at the limits. The fastest lap time: 1:17.557. The average of our first 5 laps was only 1.8 seconds longer. Its that easy to go fast in. Going into this test I didn't mind the Cali, but now I absolutely love it.

With the Z4 M out of the garage and us in the drivers seat, it was time for us to see what the bimmer was capable of when you show it some turns. Right off the bat you can feel the 130 hp disadvantage this car bears, and you are left wanting more down the straights. You really can't help but feel disappointed at the straight line speed, considering you shovel out 70,000cr for it. We suspected that the 1500KG curb weight was the key antagonist to this automobile.Through the turns it sends mixed messages, depending on how fast the turn is. Understeer is a major factor for every turn that doesn't require low speed, beyond that you have massive grip. Mid-turn the car isn't going anywhere, but the transition from mid to exit can sometimes prove skill is required to drive this car fast. It rotates quickly if you're not careful. Pretty fun to drive this car no question the straight line performance being my biggest complaint. Oddly enough, the car also had a fair amount of body roll, which was what a lot of the talk between the testers consisted of. How could there be so much body roll in a car this low let alone, this small.

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As always we took these two cars to the Nurburgring, handed them to mike_gt3, and let him do his magic, and his magic was exactly what insued. The California was able to run a 7:22.600 lap, which if you ask me is blistering. His comments on the Ferrari were simply, "What a car." He was just as pleased with the balance and grip as I was. Ready to see how much slower the BMW would be, he set off.

He was able to run a 7:42.208 in the Z4, which is nothing to laugh at either, losing most of it's time down the straights and into turns. It was now that time again, where we take the underdog to the tuning shop to squeeze some more out of it. We had a 166,550cr Budget to work with... meaning we could fully tune this car. Adding every performance part availible, reducing weight as much as possible, and giving fully tuneable suspension and tranny. The product? Something you can no longer call lazy.

The "Sharp yet Lazy Bimmer" was now a "Corner Killing Rocket". Our new Z4 was pumping out 426 Ponies. Weighed only 1240 kilograms, and bounced off of a 9200 RPM Rev Limiter! Exhaust note was no longer boring, idol sounds amazing, a low rumble. Step on it however and it doesn't sound that great. Kinda' reminds me of a hive of bees... in a blender. With the addition of the big spoiler at the back and a painted carbon fiber hood, it looked much more track focused. The lowered suspension gave it a much more dangerous look, shark-like almost. With all the upgrades added to this car, we needed to do more speed tests.

"Hard to launch cleanly" doesn't begin to describe how much this car wanted to burn the tires off. Launching at about 3,000 RPM and really being conservative on throttle can achieve a 3.9 second 0-60 time. It will get you to 100 in 8.3 seconds and through the quarter mile in 12.164 seconds. The 1 Mile mark is reached in about 28.8 seconds and you go on to reach a top speed of 196 MPH. Those are some supercar numbers right there.. Now it's track time, yet again.

With some quick suspension tuning completed we put the car through it's paces, and were astonished at the performance. Everything the stock Z4 did was just magnified, and I mean everything. Understeer became unavoidable, along with oversteer. Oversteer was fun, mostly because this car was now so light, you could whip it around like nothing. If you had patience, this car was a bullet, if not, it was a lawn mower.

With a steady foot, and precise steering inputs, we were finally able to get this car to do as we asked. Small mistakes were costly, but well crafted cornering was greatly rewarded. When you get out of a turn cleanly, the car just launches you out of a cannon! Racing this car against the California was like cat and mouse, the Ferrari would gain upon entering, and the Z4 would just run away out of the turn. Our best lap time: 1.16.887, about 6 tenths faster then the Maranello Monster. Not a huge difference in lap time there, now lets see if the Ferrari could hold its own on a track that demands confident driving.

mike_gt3 would once again be the poor soul that would have to tame this animal through the 13 mile "Green Hell". It would be no easy task but as always he is up for a challenge. Right away he mentioned how unstable the car was while entering a turn, he said it wanted to understeer and oversteer within split seconds of each other. In spite of the forces against him, he ran a 7:19.979... 2.6 seconds faster then the Ferrari California. A valiant effort by the Italian to defend its name against the little German. But in the end, the Z4 M rules.

So there you have it, in a battle between high end and entry level GT cars, the cheaper, tuned car wins. But before I leave you with that, I would like to mention this. The Z4 M was in absolute track ready form and was no longer what I would call a "cruiser". The Ferrari was still its fun, drifting self. The BMW was no longer that fun, cruising the Eiger Nordwand in it was actually a chore rather then a blast. It's that, that really decided this match-up. What do I suggest to you? The Ferrari, it's just such a joy to pilot.

Another episode of Stock -vs- Tuned comes to a conclusion, and sincerely I hope you enjoyed it. This was by far the most fun and enjoyable episode to produce to date. Both cars being great, and being so close in the end. I'd like to thank XDesperado67 for ultimately bringing this match-up to mind. Please leave a comment, and let us know what you thought of this episode. Until next time, good bye and happy motorin'!

S-v-T Team
MOTORTRENDmitch - writer, test driver
Mac K - Test Driver, Photographer
TurboLefty78 - Editor in Chief
Mike_GT3 - Fastest Ring Driver in the world.
SebaEspinosa93 - Test Driver
jdmking13 - Test Driver
TheGustradamus - Test Driver
and the Many SvT readers who joined our Public Test Lobby, it was a blast!
May I also add, that today is my One Year Aniversary of GTPlanet ​

Heres the BMW Z4M stock run 7:42.208



Ferrari California 7:22.600

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Mac K

Nice writeup Mitch! Glad I could help out by putting my lead feet to good use, oh and my shutter bug disease I fell in love with the Cali now thanks to this, looking forward to next week already. Oh and great job once again Mike, you really have to tell me everything you know I mean I know the Ring like the back of my hand, but you know it inside out and backwards as well.

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XDesperado67

Great stuff guys.:tup:tup:

To bad the Miata was so overmatched...maybe you should give an S2000 the works and see how it fairs against these two.

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Mac K

Nice writeup Mitch! Glad I could help out by putting my lead feet to good use, oh and my shutter bug disease I fell in love with the Cali now thanks to this, looking forward to next week already. Oh and great job once again Mike, you really have to tell me everything you know I mean I know the Ring like the back of my hand, but you know it inside out and backwards as well.

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Mac K

Yes, just letting everyone know how much effort all of us on the SvT team put in, it takes much more work than one would think

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JDMKING13

Yea as I read it again and again it was a well prepared event and article . I love the picture also with all the cars dude. I am trying to form a team myself for my project, you guys are good. 👍

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Mac K

A smell a merger Just read the full article Mitch, who ran the 1:17 on Top Gear? It was very well put together and flowed great. I agree, I like the Ferrari a whole lot more than the BMW. Oh and who else thinks S-v-T would look good on GT Planet's front news page?

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VspecZR1GT2RS89

That review was excellent, just the way SvT does it all the time.

So it seems that Bravaria dominated Marenello in a attempt to prove it's the utlimate racing machine. Two great cursing cars put to the test, I was rooting for the BMW though.

Great job guys. 👍

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MOTORTRENDmitch

I managed it in the Cali





Thanks man, my goal was to make the the best one yet.. I think we succeeded.

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MOTORTRENDmitch

I managed it in the Cali





Thanks man, my goal was to make the the best one yet.. I think we succeeded.

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turbolefty78

I think so too.
This right here is truely what teamwork is all about. We of the SvT team came together as a unit and produced something we can all be proud of.
Great work Team SvT!

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JDMKING13

Mitch was blazing on the TGTT.

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turbolefty78

I think so too.
This right here is truely what teamwork is all about. We of the SvT team came together as a unit and produced something we can all be proud of.
Great work Team SvT!

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mike_gt3

Heres the BMW Z4M stock run 7:42.208



Ferrari California 7:22.600

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