Among a handful of debuts at NAIAS BMW also took the wraps off of the refreshed Z4. You can read about our analysis of the car here. But NIAIAS allowed us not just a look at the specs but also some time kicking the tires. Our opinion? The Z4 continues to be one of the most stunning drop-tops available on the market.

The 2013 roadster features subtly refreshed headlights (with LED coronas) and side scuttles. Additionally the Z4 also features some subtle updates on the inside along with a new Hyper Orange design package that takes the previous Citrus Yellow Package to another level.

In person the Valencia Orange (wow that color gets around) Z4 35is example at NAIAS was stunning. The new lights give the car a cleaner look while the side scuttles mirror some of the updates to the BMW design language seen on the 6 Series.

One thing we wanted answers about was the lack of a M Performance Line car considering the 35is model is essentially that. According to BMW representatives it really just bad timing. They didn ‘t want to just turn the is model into a M Performance Line car without some dramatic changes – even if the car is basically just that.

And what about that N54 under the hood? It wasn ‘t said but between the lines you could see that BMW doens ‘t do enough volume to justify the additional costs of transplanting the N55 under the hood to replace the venerable (and still plenty powerful) N54.