World Debut Of The BMW Z4, BMW 730d And BMW 740d Diesels At The Paris Motor Show
Published: 13th September 2002
BMW Z4 - The Thoroughbred Roadster For Pure Driving Pleasure
The world debut of the BMW Z4 marks the highlight of BMW's appearance at the Paris Motor Show. This open two-seater designed for dynamic driving pleasure without the slightest compromise offers pure enjoyment on the road. Through its design alone, bearing out and accentuating BMW's new design language, the Z4 is truly outstanding also in its looks.
With the market launch of the BMW Z4 3.0i (170 kW/231 bhp) and the BMW Z4 2.5i (141 kW/192 bhp) commencing in autumn of this year in the USA and in spring 2003 in Europe, this roadster absolutely thrilling in every respect underlines BMW's special competence and position in the sports car segment. And at the same time the Z4 is not only dynamic and sporting, but also comfortable and refined, offering generous space for a roadster to the benefit of both the driver, the passenger and their luggage, an optional fully automatic roof never seen before in this class, top-end HiFi systems developed especially for the Z4, and a navigation system with DVD memory featured for the first time in a BMW. All this makes the Z4 a genuine spearhead in technology.
The BMW 730d And 740d - Setting A New Standard In Diesel Engine Technology
BMW has been the leader in diesel engine technology for almost two decades,
an achievement clearly confirmed by some 1,500,000 units of the 3, 5 and
7 Series BMW diesels sold throughout this period.
In Paris BMW's new six- and 8-cylinder diesel engines in the 730d and
740d are now opening up a new dimension in diesel motoring, offering unprecedented
performance and agility combined with supreme comfort and almost sensational
economy. The latest common rail technology injects fuel with a pressure
now increased to 1600 bar, fuel thus entering the system and being atomised
even faster than before in the interest of extra power and fuel economy.
The six-cylinder power unit in the BMW 730d develops maximum output of
160 kW/218 bhp, with maximum torque of 500 Newton-metres or 369 lb-ft
between 2000 and 2750 rpm. Fuel consumption, in turn, is a mere 8.5 litres
or 33.2 mpg Imp in the EU combined cycle.
The 8-cylinder in the BMW 740d develops maximum output of 190 kW/258 bhp
and maximum torque of 600 Newton-metres or 442 lb-ft between 1900 and
2500 rpm, with average fuel consumption in the EU cycle of 9.7 litres/100
km or 29.1 mpg Imp.
Both engines easily outperform the EU3 emission standard and they are
the first diesel engines in the world to be combined with six-speed automatic
transmission. And it almost goes without saying that the two diesel models
come with all the innovative technologies and features to be admired in
the petrol-engined models of the still young BMW 7 Series, including Dynamic
Drive active suspension, Electronic Damper Control (EDC-C), the ISIS airbag
safety system and the iDrive driver control concept, to mention just the
most outstanding features.
Adaptive Light Control (ALC) - BMW Revolutionises The World Of Light
With BMW's appearance in Paris clearly demonstrating the benchmark in
technology in the world of motoring today, BMW at the same time is presenting
a revolution for the car of tomorrow: Creating intelligent Adaptive Light
Control (ALC), BMW's engineers have succeeded in illuminating the road
ahead for the BMW driver taking a bend and following winding roads. This
BMW innovation about to enter production standard improves the recognition
of objects and obstacles in the dark by up to 34 per cent, thus ensuring
a significant enhancement of traffic safety.
This anticipative illumination of the road ahead is made possible by sensors
recognising changes in the car's direction before they even happen. In
the first phase of development, anticipation of the road ahead is based
on data covering the car's current speed, its steering angle and the yaw
rate. In a further stage of development, additional information such as
the course of the road will be provided through the GPS navigation system.
