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WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA – Traffic permitting, the sensible route from Pismo Beach, CA, to Los Angeles is a straight shot down Interstate 101 to historic Highway 1, which shadows the coast through Santa Barbara and other quaint seaside communities.

However, those who love to drive know a better way: Exit the freeway north of Santa Maria onto Route 166, the Cuyama Highway, and head east on a relatively deserted flat 2-lane road that connects with Route 33.

Also known as the Maricopa Highway, this delightfully slithering passage bends and pitches its way south through the Los Padres National Forest before exhaling into Ojai.

There’s no better place to experience BMW’s first 4-cyl. offering in the U.S. since 1999, when the gasoline 318ti left the market.

This all-new 2.0L DOHC direct-injection gasoline I-4 (internal code N20) first appears in the ’12 Z4 sDrive28i and enables the low-slung roadster to devour a steady diet of switchbacks in a fashion befitting the Ultimate Driving Machine brand character.

U.S. product planners surely lost sleep wondering if luxury roadster buyers would balk at a 4-cyl. engine. They can rest easy now because the Z4 is a better car with the N20.

Built in Munich, the I-4 is the most important offering on this mid-cycle enhancement of the Z4.

Rated at 240 hp and 258 lb.-ft. (350 Nm) of torque, the turbocharged TwinPower is an ideal match for the 3,263-lb. (1,480-kg) Z4, easily pushing it to the limits of adhesion and yielding little to the highly regarded naturally aspirated N52 inline-6 it replaces in the Z4.