All this talk ON handling is (as Brian says) subjective, you may like the handling of one car and able to transfer that onto the road, but I on the other hand may not cos it doesn't suit my style of driving, you buy your mode after test drive and hopefully it suits you or you know how to change it to suit, really doesn't matter how good the car is if the Input from the driver is wrong. Yes you may be able to convince the general public that some features are what they need but experience tells us it's subjective. BMW test drivers no doubt will get the best out of the models they have the input for, but unless you can drive just like them then there's gonna have to be some compromise, that compromise I'm afraid is you and I, so just because the feature is there doesn't mean it's best for All of us.
The Z3 chassis was probably built around the 4pot engine so it's my view that they should have uprated the 4pot engine. With upgraded suspension and brakes plus a turbo / blower a 1.9/2.0 could have easily matched the 6pots for power if they'd gone down that route, and what ever happened to the E30M3 engine, why not use it for an upgrade at the time, instead of the M50/2, could it be that they wanted to push there new baby 6pot onto the public.? BMW in hindsight have done themselves no favours. Having said that I loved my first drive of the Z3 2.8, even with its shortcomings in handling, but that's all about to change, I'm going to try and make my Z handle the way I like it, so any shortcomings after that will no doubt be down to me. Z3 4pot verses 6pot handling ?? Who Cares!!!!!!!!!. Surely it's subject to who's in the driving seat that really counts. They're all great little cars even with their shortcomings.