The 2007 BMW Z4 carries a price tag of roughly $50,000. For your money you're going to be driving a light-bodied little beauty producing 330 horsepower (from an inline six) that will leap from zero to sixty in under five seconds. If that doesn't get your blood pumping, what will?

Some reviewers write about the Z4 as if it were the "hail Mary" pass of BMW's stable. Why? Because four years ago the automaker staunchly denied the two-seater coupe (officially the Z4 M Roadster) even existed until strong competition and less than stellar sales forced them to put the Z4 out in the wild where it belongs.

Since that time the Z4, in spite of a design that has been both controversial and radical, has failed to win the kind of adherents enjoyed by its predecessor the Z3. The 2007 model just may change that. This is a more than respectable sports car with a completely reworked manual gearbox (six speeds) and much heftier acceleration. Traction is also greatly improved thanks to a variable locking differential as is handling courtesy of a hydraulic steering system, a conventional re-tooling that actually replaces the previous electrical assist version.

Essentially for the 2007 BMW Z4 BMW has gone back and adopted some more basic engineering to forge an overall solid sports car package. If you dismissed this one in previous model years, go drive the 2007. You may be more than pleasantly surprised.