BMW Z4

If cars are truly in the blood, it's not just the pricey exotica you waste countless hours dreaming about and looking up on Google. There's an even sadder sub-culture of fantasy, which revolves around cars you might, one day, realistically be able to afford.

This, for me, doesn't extend to a BMW Z4 M Coupe, but does just about reach, on the grounds that I catch my boss in a compromising position in time for my next pay review, to the entry-level 3.0si.

Why anyone baulks at the lesser-spotted varieties of desirable sports cars is beyond me. Ninety-nine per cent of the time there's more than enough poke - in this instance 0.7 seconds less to 100km/h and the same limited top speed - and you don't look like the over-achieving tosser who's just forked out an extra $25,000 for a badge on the boot and extra performance that comes with a prison-stretch guarantee.

The Z4 3.0si SE Coupe, to curse it with the absurdity of its full moniker, is one of those cars that we just shouldn't rightly be able to own. It's too distinctive, too quick, too useable, to be this attainable.

Where the M version is costly enough to make you think very hard about digging a little deeper for Porsche's more accomplished Cayman S, the standard 3.0 is cheap enough to make you forgive all its foibles.

And there are a few. The ride is very stiff. That's typical Z4 for you. Disconnected steering is also a current BMW feature and it lets down an otherwise superb control package. It's sharp enough, but there's a vital lack of feel and feedback - something you get in spades from a Cayman.

The overall product is a total triumph, though. Trust us that it looks fabulous in the metal. It's also compact, comfortable and eminently practical in this rarefied sector. Hit the Sport button and it goes and sounds like it's prolapsing a small warhead. What more does anyone need from four wheels?

This is easily as significant a car as the M Coupe. Bring price into the equation and arguably it's more so. Not the precision tool the more-expensive standard Cayman will be, nor the balls-out brute that is the M.

But, in a nutshell, this is exactly the sort of car that young, coke-fuelled brokers are not going to rush out and splash their bonuses on. Which is exactly why I love it.

Matt Master