Just an observation but interested in comments between front engined vs mid or rear engined sports cars.

We happened to get a Z3 as a loaner car for a day the other day. When the Z3 came out it was high on my wife's list of being desirable. It was reasonably priced, small, cute (her criteria), etc.

So we are driving home on the highway and I find myself having to downshift to maybe 3rd gear to get the car moving (It's not a Z4M so HP difference is probably noticeable). My wife quickly notes that ... Whoa! the car is snapping her head back and she can feel the kick, the car had real "pick up". Huh? What is going on here?

I quickly realized what it was. That "long" front hood with the engine would lift, as front engined cars will do, and the suspension load however it loads, giving a totally different sensation that a mid or rear engined car. Now coming from driving five mid-engined or rear engined sports cars, she had never really experienced that kick.

We then took the SUV out and I showed her I could do the same thing but you don't normally drive a heavy SUV the same way as a sports car. Then we got the Cayman back, took the highway way, did the same thing and the car quickly accelerated - no neck snapping kick, no front end lifting, instead it just sat squat.

I guess the lesson learned here is that if your used to mid- or rear-engine sports cars, you just expect all sports cars to "feel" the same way. Driving a front engined sports car was actually ... unsettling. Not only was the front end lifting under acceleration annoying, but I easily felt the rear end twitchy.

Lesson learned. As we drove home, no drama, no unsettling "feel", I think she appreciated much more what the difference mid-engined makes.

Top Gear did a comparison between the Z4M roadster and the Boxster. It's on youtube somewhere. Near the end of the video the commentator is trying to make his point. He points to some gourmet food and says something like the Porsche is like fine gourmet food made by Gorden Ramsey. Then he opened up some raw steak and said the BMW was like this raw steak ... Now I understand what he meant.

It was a hot chili pepper, not raw steak. And the Top Gear comparison was with an '06 Boxster S (smaller engine). The only reason I know this is because the BBC recently re-aired it.

The commentator actually said he'd pick the Z4M because it was more fun to go sideways through the test track; where the Prosche was the epitome of balance and refinement, the Z4M was all power and no manners.

"Porsche"..you knew I meant that, right? LOL

chili pepper/raw steak. Old mind drifts around

Nice writeup. Just like to clarify something. The heavy engine in front and the long hood would conspire to make it more difficult for the front of a FR car to lift, not easier. No? As more weight resides nearer the front, it creates more lift resistance.

I think No. Look at a drag car, the front end always lifts off the ground. Watch Pinks sometime on Speed Channel. The front of the car literally moved upward. I could replicate easily on my SUV. Cannot on the Cayman.

LOL, you don't think the power, traction of gummy drag slicks, and suspension optimized to hook up have anything to do w/ that, do you?

Let's assume a GT2 and Z06 make the same power and weigh the same. Mod them both until they make enough HP to do a wheelie. My money is on the GT2 to do it w/ less HP/TQ.

A long hood does accentuate the perception of weight shift, though, and I agree that the CS does a great job of controlling it under both acceleration and braking.

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'07 Guards Red Cayman S
'08 Honda Ridgeline RTL
'99 Miata 10th Anniversary Edition
'07 KTM Super Duke 990
'07 KTM 300 XC-W / '06 KTM 450 XC

I assume that you mean lift just a bit and not lift off the ground. I can assure you that the BMW was nowhere near lifting the front off the ground.

You have to remember that the suspension on a front engine car is optimized for the weight of the engine. Therefore, if you provide enough lift to compensate for the weight of the motor, the front will free the suspension a bit. When you contrast the freeing of the front suspension with the back weighting down, there is more of a shift. While you could experience some of it in a Cayman, you would notice it less because the suspension compensates evenly for the engine weight. It all goes back to the demonstration of the half filled water bottle at the track. It helps to visibly see where the weight is going. This shift is more noticeable on a front engine car because you only need to compensate for the engine to make a difference. That shift can be exacerbated by torque.

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"The Cayman doesn't need any more toys." -- My wife

Exactly, that's it.

Saw the same show and it was definitely peppers.

So, maybe the UK is different, but here in America, if the Police saw you going fast around a corner in a drama-free balanced fashion as Top Gear explained for the Porsche or sideways in the preferred Z4M (by the commentator) car, who do you think would get pulled over and sited for probably at least "Careless Driving"?

I admit, it's lots of fun to go sideways, but I'm not going to take that risk here in the states unless I know 100% for sure it is safe and there are no Police about.

Even if I was tracking the car, I would not want to be going sideways all the time because it would probably destroy tires at an alarming rate.

Enjoy!

Some people like Top Gear. They seem to think drifting is the current thing "to do". Whatever. To each their own. Besides Clarkson hates p-cars anyway.