2017 Abarth 124 Spider vs 2012 BMW Z4 20i: new vs used

It’s Winter, or the cooler part of forever-summer if you live in the north. And that means convertibles are cheap right now.

If you want to hide one away for the warmer months, now’s a good time to be on the hunt. An MX-5 is the most obvious choice, of course, but a lot of people have MX-5s. What if you don’t want to be like a lot of people? Maybe you’ll want something European.

If you’ve got a hankering to feel the wind in your hair (or to lose a few hats) and $45K to shed, you could purchase a new Abarth 124 Spider. Or, you could hunt around for something with a more luxo badge, but with a few years under its belt, like a BMW Z4 20i.

Both are rear-wheel drive, lightweight, and have turbocharged four-banger hearts. Sure, the Z4 weighs a bit more (1060kg for the 124, versus 1400kg for a manual Z4, or 1420kg for an automatic), but it also makes a little more power and twist. The result is a 0-100km/h time of about seven seconds each (claimed 6.8 for the 124 vs 6.9 for a manual Z4 or auto in 7.2).

Inside, their relatively simple interiors make clear your attention should be on the road in front of you. It’s one advantage of BMW’s aging interior styling. The Abarth, too, has the same simple charm as the car it’s based on, the ND MX-5. A sound choice if neither of these tickle your fancy.

If you’re lucky, you might find a Z4 with the adaptive suspension option ticked. However, on a spirited drive, or on a track day, both cars are going deliver a pure sportscar experience, with the added bonus of having little to shelter you from their delightfully rorty exhaust notes.

You also get the exhilaration of rushing to close the roof when it starts bucketing. Ah, drop-top motoring bliss.

Here's one we found on Trade Unique Cars

2012 BMW Z4 20i - 96,499km, auto, $37,990

Lorbek Luxury Cars, in Melbourne, currently has a clean example of a Z4 20i up for grabs. It’s an early example of the model, with an eight-speed auto, but finding a manual example shouldn’t prove impossible.