The world has witnessed hundreds of automotive greats. The Porsche 911 has been one of the longest-running sports car nameplates in the world, and brands like Ferrari have mostly been the go-to aspirational brand for both car enthusiasts and the Average Joe. This is why brands like these often have merchandise, so they can cash in on their brand's popularity with those who can't afford their cars.
BMW is a premium and iconic brand that is a bit more attainable than the two brands I mentioned. The premium German automaker has made a ton of automotive icons as well, from the M3 lineage to even its humble 3 Series that's been setting the benchmark in the premium compact sports sedan segment.
They've also been involved in other supercar projects, like the McLaren F1, whose V-12 was made by BMW themselves. Of course, who could forget the M1, a wedge-shaped supercar that was supposed to be built together with Lamborghini, but then it was decided that they should make it themselves with the artistry of Giorgetto Giugiaro.
There is one iconic BMW, however, that has probably slipped away from a lot of people's minds already, but it's a model that's arguably one of the Munich-based automaker's best models ever. When it came out, it was even faster than the Ferrari 360 Modena in a straight line, and it had all the right ingredients to be a sales hit. Unfortunately, that wasn't what happened, and it's only now that people are starting to realize the extraordinarily great ingredients that made this BMW sports car actually good in 2024.
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Let's say you're looking into a used luxury car and stumble across the BMW 3 Series. The catch? It's from the mid-2000s. With many drivers not recommending older BMWs, what would you do? Take the risk? Do you find that mid-2000s BMW build quality is better than other periods?
In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from BMW, and other authoritative sources, including Piston Heads.
The BMW Z8 Was A Flop That's Now Valuable Close
The BMW I'm talking about is the Z8, an unintentional Ferrari killer that was released in the 2000s. 5,703 cars were made over the four-year production period from 2000 to 2003, which isn't a lot. For perspective, Ferrari sold 8,800 360 Modenas and 7,565 360 Spiders over the course of that supercar's lifetime, but ironically, while it was a sales flop before, the Z8's appeal has grown in recent years. To understand why circumstances in the 2000s were against the Z8, we have to take a look at what the motivation is behind its development.
Why The Z8 Was Developed
The Z8, which has the E52 development code, was originally intended to be the brand's design showcase merely to celebrate the iconic BMW 507. The BMW 507 was made from 1956 to 1959, and it was likewise a forgotten model from the Bavarian automaker.
The design of the 507 was one of its hallmarks, looking completely different from any BMW being made at the time as it was due to Max Hoffman, an American vehicle importer, why the 507 was created. He convinced the BMW board at the time to produce a roadster that sat between the affordable Triumphs and MGS of the time with the prestige of the more expensive Mercedes-Benz 300SL and its gullwing greatness.
The BMW 507, like the Z8, wasn't particularly a huge seller. In fact, over its four-year lifespan, only 254 units were made, despite numerous influential people like Elvis Presley purchasing one. The failure was associated with the car's high production costs. Somehow, they tried to recuperate the costs by pricing it high, but that only made the 507 less appealing.
Even at its high price tag, BMW wasn't making enough money to recuperate the investment cost, and this led to the company going nearly bankrupt. Despite not selling in huge numbers, the BMW 507 was a design icon, and it's the vehicle that influenced the design of the modern-day Z line of roadsters.
And That's Where The Z8's Challenges Began
Firstly, unlike today, where almost every automaker is seemingly cashing in on the retro craze, models paying homage to older models weren't a thing in the early 2000s. Almost everyone at the time was trying to push the boundaries of design and technology, which is why we had highly advanced BMWs like the E65 7 Series, which pushed the boundaries of what was possible with in-car tech at the time. Modern-day reboots only started to become a thing by the mid-2000s, and that's why the Z8 was sort of ahead of its time.
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One of the most successful modern-day reboots of the 2000s was the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, which was much more expensive and exclusive than the Z8, but it was a supercar that met Mercedes-Benz's sales targets. Even the 2005 Ford GT -- a modern-day reboot of the legendary 24h of Le Man-winning racecar, is highly sought after, even 20 years after going on sale.
These models were successful because they paid homage to well-known vehicles, and that's where the Z8's second underlying problem comes in. The Z8's heritage was misunderstood because barely anyone remembers the 507. As mentioned, only 254 units were sold throughout its four-year run, so barely anyone alive at the time probably ever saw the vehicle at all.
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1 Great Car At The Wrong Time
Clearly, one of its challenges was that modern reboots at the time still weren't a thing, and that paying homage to a car barely anyone knows didn't help. Take things into isolation, though, and the BMW Z8 is actually a brilliant car. It just so happens to come out at the wrong time, and now, prices are creeping up as they've realized this model's excellence.
Retro Looks That Oozes Beauty 20 Years Later
The BMW Z8 was designed by Henrik Fisker. Yes, that dude who founded Fisker and, well, we know what happened to that automotive brand. This was at a time when BMW's styling chief was Chris Bangle, whose designs at the time were controversial, but is now considered mostly to be ahead of its time.
Anyway, it didn't matter that the Z8 paid homage to a car no one knew about. The resulting work by Fisker just looked so good, with its long hood, the horizontal kidney grilles, the upswept headlights, and the truncated, minimalist rear end. The vertical windshield was also a homage to the 507, and it seems that every single design aspect has been taken into consideration to create a visually stunning roadster.
An Interior With A Ton Of Class
If you thought the exterior was nice, wait till you see the interior. Like its exterior design, the interior isn't shared with any existing BMW. Scott Lempert styled the interior, which inherited very minimal parts from existing production BMWs. What you got was a unique steering with retro wire spokes, while the dashboard panels were matched to the car's body color. It also got centrally mounted gauges, while the CD player came from other BMWs--the only part that wasn't bespoke to the Z8.
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We can argue about this all day, but in the end, there is only one correct answer.
1 The Z8's Misunderstood Drive
Unlike the BMW 507, the Z8 sold in much better numbers--5,703 units to be exact, though, in right-hand-drive markets like the UK, barely 150 units were sold. That's because, at the time, the British journalists didn't see the point of the Z8, only for this roadster to be highly valuable years later and highly sought after by enthusiasts.
The Z8 Is Very Mindful, Very Demure
Of those 5,703 units sold worldwide, almost half of those ended up in the United States. The appeal of the Z8 resonated well with the American demographic, but to the British media, it was deemed to be too soft and not as sharp to drive as a proper M car.
The expectation of being an M car comes from the part that it gets the M5's S62 4.9-liter naturally-aspirated V-8 that produces 395 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, but it got the brakes of the BMW 750i and suspension tuning that's more on the balanced side of things, which was in tune with the car's intended purpose.
The BMW Z8, along with its rear-wheel drive (RWD) layout, the six-speed manual, and the open differential as opposed to a limited-slip differential (LSD), was in line with its grand tourer role in BMW's lineup. It's a car you cruise rather than race in. It's a car to be enjoyed at 80 percent of its limits rather than wringing the heck out of it. That's exactly why James Bond chose the Z8 over an Aston Martin in the movie The World Is Not Enough. It was elegant and filled with poise. It was very mindful, very demure.
2000 BMW Z8
Engine
4.9-liter V-8
Layout
Front engine, rear-wheel drive
Horsepower
395 hp
Torque
269 lb-ft
Transmission
6-speed M/T
0-62 mph (100 km/h)
4.7 seconds
Top speed
155 mph
Base MSRP (2000)
$128,000
And It Indeed Became A Collectors' Car In 2024
As it turns out, BMW intended this car to be a collectors' item, promising a stockpile of parts for 50 years since its production. While it wasn't a complete flop in the 2000s, it wasn't sold in high enough numbers for it to be remembered by a lot of people. For those who remember the Z8, though, and for those who realize how amazing it was, this two-seater roadster is shaping up to be an automotive icon.
If all you want is a moving work of art, both from a design and engineering perspective, the BMW Z8 ticks all the right emotional boxes to make it a timeless collector's item.