This week’s AFTER/DRIVE topic started with us wondering what 10-year-old sports car we would buy. That timeframe, we think, represents a sweet spot. By then, the complex dance of computers, sensors and actuators had become quick enough for driving-dynamics technologies to start getting interesting, tire technology had progressed to enable performance envelopes we’d have considered outer-worldly just a few years before, but cars were still “analog” enough to still feel somewhat like cars, not big, black-and-white space planes piloted by people named Young and Crippen.

We started talking about the BMW Z3 M Coupe, the “clown shoe,” and moved on to its successor, the Z4 M Coupe. That, we figured, was a good place to start. It was niche enough to have been forgotten, or at least overlooked in a 2017 context, but good enough to be considered a modern-classic sports car.

Turns out, Classic Car Club Manhattan had recently procured a Z4M the previous owner had tuned tastefully, and so we took it home for a night, and then built an AFTER/DRIVE episode around it. When the weather gets better, we’ll get it out on the road for a proper video review. For now, it's the perfect discussion topic to get three guys who often sit around gabbing about cars to gab some more.

Here’s the spec list for the tune:

Engine:

No internal engine modifications

Castrol TWS 10W60 oil

RPI intake scoops

Euro S54 headers

Supersprint X-pipe, connecting pipe and mufflers

ESS Software Flash

Vorshlag poly engine mounts swapped back to stock

Transmission & Drivetrain:

No internal transmission modifications

Redline MTL transmission fluid

Redline 75W90 differential gear oil

UUC clutch kit w/lightweight flywheel

Vorshlag transmission mounts swapped back to stock

UUC short shifter

UUC DSSR

Clutch delay valve delete

Suspension and Chassis:

KW Clubsport coilovers w/camber plates

TC Kline rear trailing arm bushings

TC Kline adjustable rear lower control arms

TC Kline rear shock mounts

Strong Strut front upper strut tower brace

Powerflex front control arm bushings

BBS RGR 18x8.5 and 18X10 wheels (Track) Running 18’s on the street

BBS RGR 19X8.5 and 19X10 wheels (Street) Brakes

OEM rotors

Motul RBF 600 Brake Fluid

Stoptech braided brake lines

Performance Friction PFC01 brake pads

Body and Interior: