The mid-blue metallic (Maldives Blu, it's called) of our car helps with its looks, although I suspect that 'controversial' will always creep into the conversation when its styling is being discussed. The Z4's mission in life is far easier to comprehend than its lines and 'flame surfacing' (drop BMW a line if you really want to know what that's all about) and is one of the reasons we're so pleased to have the Z4, especially the potent 3-litre, on the Fast Fleet; it's a Porsche Boxster alternative, and whether or not it's any better than one of our favourite sports cars is probably less important than the fact that the BMW is both new and not a Boxster. As it happens, the 3-litre, 231bhp straight-six dishes up deliciously robust performance whether you're looking just to lope along lazily or want to launch an enthusiastic attack on your pet backroad.

Our car wears optional 18in alloys sheathed in 255/35 Bridgestone Potenza RE050As and while they're great for grip and for arch-filling duties, they have a tendency to buck about and tramline on bumpy, high-crowned country roads. And while we're being picky, some extra meat to the steering wouldn't go amiss.

High on the 'loves' list is the cabin. It's big on chic, oozes quality and has a hi-fi you can hear clearly at 100mph with the roof lowered. And rousing applause for that hood, if you please - it lowers automatically in less than ten seconds and goes back up almost as quickly. The Z4's got a good-sized boot, too, if you're one of those who doesn't travel light.

Sad to say that if the Z4 had a copy book, it would now be blotted. The tyre pressure warning light keeps coming on despite the pressures being fine when we check them.
More disturbing is a noise and vibration from the bulkhead in the area where the throttle pedal is attached - it sounds like Rolf Harris's wobble board. We called out a BMW emergency engineer who couldn't source the problem and have since taken the Z4 into Lind of Norwich for another inspection. Lind's technical man is convinced there's nothing to worry about, but he wants the car back for three days for a proper look and has already organised a brand new 5-series loan car for the period; if only some other 'prestige' brands were that efficient.