IN the past, BMW's two-seater in the guise of the Z3 quite often, like one or two other two-seater sports car, attracted the jibe ‘hairdresser's car.'

It's successor the superb Z4 has put that image firmly to bed. This is a beefed-up, muscular big brother with bags of street cred and styling that still appeal to male buyers while not being so testosterone-laden as to turn off female buyers.

Like most BMWs, it is far from cheap and add on some of the gizmos and gadgets that you would thought would be standard on a car costing £40,000 and the final price can rocket.

But it is still a fantastic looking roadster with an easy-to-use two-piece steel roof that folds away in just 20 seconds.

And once folded away you would barely notice you were in a convertible.

It still features the long, long bonnet that houses the powerful six cylinder engines and the seats pushed well back towards the rear axle. You do feel at times like you are sitting on rear wheels.

The  engines that give the car a range from quick to extremely quick. Allied to this is the super sharp handling experience thanks to the adaptive M-Sport suspension and rear-wheel drive and you have a superlative drive.

The sport suspension features a ride height 10mm lower than the standard with  electronically controlled dampers that offer three different configurations from Normal to Sport+ so a driver can fine tune the car's set-up.

The low slung body gives the car an almost menacing look and invariably attracted admirers wherever it was parked.

The interior is a typical BMW masterclass of hi-tech instrumenation, from the i-drive brain of the car that has sat nav to the high-end fixtures and fittings.

These are faultless with everything fitting into place like a jigsaw puzzle.

Both both driver and passenger can enjoy the ride in sculpted, comfortable, electrically adjustable seats, which are also heated for when the roof is down on cooler weather.

But the e must be the two-piece retractable hard top. Electrically-folding roofs have improved enormously over the years and the Z4 is no exception and can be raised or lowered in around 20 seconds.

With the roof down the driving experience is enhanced as there is little wind intrusion thanks to the inbuilt diffuser, while the powerful heater and heated seats means the cold is easily kept at bay.

Obviously not the most practical of car, it still offers decent boot space with the roof up, 310 litres, and even when folded away at 180 litres, there is enough space for a coupe of holdalls.

The roof down is the best time to enjoy the throaty roar of the 258bhp V6. Floor the accelerator and the car catapults away, completing the 0-60mph sprint in just six seconds and on to a limited top speed of 155mph.

Accleleartion is effortless and the gearrchanges barely perceptible from the six-speed automatic gearbox, which also has the option of switching to manual with the steering wheels paddles.

Major functions are controlled via the i-Drive while the dashboard and controls are top notch. It is difficult to fault the car other than to say it is not cheap to buy, the test model comes in at a shade under £40,000 and is expensive to run.

But it now features EfficientDynamics, BMW's technologies designed to reduce CO2 emissions and improve fuel economy, without compromising on performance or driving dynamics. These technologies are standard on every new BMW.

Despite this, fuel economy is nothing write home about, 34mpg is claimed but I suspect it was less than that and emissions are still highish at 195g/km, but if you can afford this, then fuel economy is probably not high on the list anyway.

It is a great drive and a proper head-turner.