If anything, the interior is even more retro than the outside. It features two large leather seats, with twin tapered rollbars also covered in leather.  Bright aluminum is everywhere-on the handbrake handle, aircon vents and controls, surrounding switches.  The steering wheel is very strange, with four separate metal rods to make up each of the three spokes of the wheel.  Again, it's inspired by the 507.  The instruments are located in the center, supposedly to improve one's view of the road.  This seems questionable, as practically all modern instrument binnacles stay out of the driver's line of sight to the road.  Most of the switches are unlabeled. This was also done in the spirit of the '50s, when cars were meant to be very personal and took some getting used to.

Though the car may look to be a remnant of the past, underneath all that is a state of the art aluminum spaceframe chassis.  At least it doesn't fall short of the F360 in this respect.  This results in a highly rigid and stable frame that hopefully will translate to superb handling despite the absence of a roof structure.  Brakes are massive discs, and the wheels are 18-inchers.  245/45 front and 275/40 rear tires ensure that launch, cornering and stopping grip can keep up with the rest of the car.  Just to make sure, there's also Dynamic Stability Control, which selectively brakes a wheel to keep the car on course.

So how does this combination of high technology and retro styling perform?  It can hold its own with some of the world's quickest cars.   It can do 0-100 km/h in 4.7 seconds, compared to the F360's 4.5.  This performance is probably due to the Z8's peak torque of 500 Nm occurring at a low 3800 rpm, compared to the F360's 380 Nm at 4750 rpm.   Top speed is electronically limited to only 250 km/h, but the true top speed is probably close to the Ferrari's 295 km/h limit.

All this performance of course does not come cheaply, and the Z8 goes for a staggering $120,000.  There are many who would plop down that amount for a car, but given the other choices in that price range, the Z8 is in very competitive company.  $120,000 would buy the new Porsche 911 Turbo when it comes out late 2000.  Or a Honda NSX and S2000, with change.

Is this the newest and most proper gran tourismo out there? Maybe...only time will tell if the Z8 can match the touring capabilities of such proven cars as the Porsche 911 Cabrio, Aston Martin DB7 Vantage and the like.
Comparison beckons the 507 and the Z8. And yes, the Z8 really shows that it carries the 507 heritage with it, but at the same time showing a truly futuristic shape.
People got a sneak peek of the production Z8 at the Frankfurt Motorshow. The first reaction was that of awe and wonder. However, when BMW released info about a $120K price tag, people started saying: buy a Porsche instead.
Truly futuristic, truly one of a kind...wait a minute, aren't those the same tail pipes from the Honda S2000?!