Depending on one’s view, the disappearance of all things analog from our material culture is either a consequence of the sheer appeal of the innovations that displace them or, for those of a more suspicious bent, the advance of a sinister agenda whereby technocrats will eventually own every last corner and crevice of our lives. A similar duality applies to the question of whether the new technologies are truly superior, and your answer bears at least some relation to your position between the poles of technophilia and technophobia. But as we discovered on a recent outing, one needn’t be a conspiracy theorist or a Luddite to appreciate the 2025 BMW Z4 M40i with the “Handschalter” package.
The German descriptor Handschalter (literally “hand switch” in English) conveys the concept of a manual gearshift. As far as BMW is concerned, it refers specifically to a new options suite which, for the first time, outfits the BMW Z4 M40i roadster with a six-speed manual gearbox, along with a unique assortment of engineering and design elements.
The 2025 BMW Z4 M40i with the “Handschalter” package.
Tom Kirkpatrick, courtesy of BMW
This variant of the model makes a dramatic first impression, particularly dressed in Frozen Deep Green Metallic, a brooding matte hue exclusive to the manual-shift version of the car—a color that calls to mind the depths of a Bavarian forest. With its sweeping hood concealing a 382 hp, 3.0-liter BMW M TwinPower Turbo inline-six engine, and with M light-alloy wheels (19-inch at the front and 20-inch at the back) wrapped in ultra-sticky Michelins, the car is purposeful, athletic, and elegant.
While spacious for two, the cabin feels simultaneously snug, thanks to heated, power M Sport seats with adjustable bolsters that help them fit like tailored suits. Vernasca leather is standard, and available in five shades, including Cognac with black M piping exclusive to the package. And there, in the center of it all, among the switches in the black high-gloss console, sits a leather-wrapped short-throw shifter emblazoned with the letter M.
At the center of the spacious cabin for two sits the leather-wrapped, short-throw manual-shift lever.
Tom Kirkpatrick, courtesy of BMW
Shifting with manual BMWs has always had a wonderful, mechanical feel, and the linkage and bushings unique to the Handschalter package only improve upon that tradition. Even with casual driving around town, the satisfyingly muscular action brings a sense of occasion to every intersection.
On the highway, the specially reinforced cloth top keeps the cabin impressively quiet, especially with the engine barely turning in top gear. A freeway slog, however, is not this manual BMW’s true métier. The convertible roof stows in about 10 seconds, at speeds up to 30 mph, and with nothing between you and the elements, launching the vehicle full-bore from a stop is extremely gratifying. When firing off the line, the twin-turbo mill bellows and the back end skitters as the electronic stability control brokers a truce between 369 ft lbs of torque and the Pilot Super Sport tires.
Vernasca leather is standard for the heated, power M Sport seats with adjustable bolsters.
Tom Kirkpatrick, courtesy of BMW
The tires find their groove quickly and it’s time to pump the clutch and “thunk” the lever into second, then we’re full on the gas, winding the engine from baritone to tenor, then back into the pedals, which we’re playing like an organ whose pipes are howling. Although the engine pulls like a truck in sixth, we stick mostly to the lower reaches for the instantaneous throttle response, and to keep that wild aria going. Incidentally, with the Handschalter package, the car takes 4.2 seconds to get from zero to 60 mph, which is 0.3 seconds more than the automatic, but scads more fun.
In the curves, this Z4 is scalpel-sharp, thanks to the synergy of the staggered-sized wheels, a reinforced anti-roll-bar bracket at the front, different auxiliary springs, and a unique calibration of the adaptive damper and power steering. Yet while the precision in the turns is exceptional, the steering wheel could use a little more weight.
A 382 hp, 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six engine—with 369 ft lbs of torque—allows the car to cover zero to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds.
Tom Kirkpatrick, courtesy of BMW
To be sure, this BMW is brimming with cutting-edge technology—sensors, circuits, and servos monitoring, calculating, and reacting a thousand times per second. And yet, by dint of two almost quaintly antiquated things—a cloth roof and a gearshift—it achieves something that is missing in many of today’s homogenous automobiles.
Deep in the forest, the air whips by cold and fast and smelling of redwoods. A scrub jay shrieks in the shadows. There’s a tight curve ahead, so time to hit the clutch, blip the throttle, and downshift to second. The curve goes straight, it’s back on the gas, and as this manual-shift Z4 leaps forward, a thought occurs. There are any number of cars that can flood us with adrenaline, but not so many that can fill us with joy.
Click here for more photos of the 2025 BMW Z4 M40i “Handschalter.”
Driving the 2025 BMW Z4 M40i “Handschalter.”
Tom Kirkpatrick, courtesy of BMW