1995 BMW Z18 Concept - Dual Personality

The 80’s and 90’s were an era of innovation and raw driving thrill for the automotive industry in which it thrived. Outrageous concepts took the stage at many auto shows and become immortalised to this very day, of course some more than others. However, today I present to you CTzens of CarThrottle a concept that confused show goers and interested those who loved the great outdoors

The BMW Z18!

Conception

The Z18 was constructed due to the popularity of open top off-roaders in the USA. This included of course the Jeep Wrangler, the Chevrolet Tracker and the Izuzu Amigo. With this in mind the Technik division at BMW decided to make their take on the concept as versatile as possible, the project would be fun to drive not only on the road, but when you wanted to diverge onto some mud or gravel it would still be fully capable. The Z18 was presented to the public in 1995 to a mixed response.

The final product itself was fitted with the M60B44 V8 from the BMW 40i models at the time and it was tuned to 355hp (260KwH), up from 290hp (216KwH). It had permanent four-wheel drive and could fjord water as tall as the average bloke. Transmission was a 5 Speed Manual. The interior had been engineered by the boffins at the Technik division to take the best aspects of three different configurations: Four seater, two seater and pick-up. And it looked absolutely stunning for what it was meant to be and was essentially a jacked up Z3.

For what was set out before Technik in terms of the idea behind the Z18 I think it turned out pretty well as a first attempt at a very niche market. Could they sell it in the land of today? More than likely I would think as the demand for convertible SUVs are on the rise with the likes of the Range Rover Evoque Cabrio and the dreadful Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. So yes it could very well compete in that kind of market, especially in the USA as it would be far too big for European roads, or at least British roads. It even mangaged to retain that Ultimate driving machine feeling without sacrificing versatility over pure driving thrill and vice-versa.

So to conclude, the Z18 was a wonder to the automotive industry and quite possibly influenced this surge in demand for this type of vehicle and that could be interpreted as a blessing or a curse…

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P.S Thank you very much for reading this very short but sweet post, it’s been a while since i’ve written one but expect more soon :D

-Pokecraft The Car Catcher

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