The BMW M Roadster was designed to be the performance version of the BMW Z3, and there were significant differences between the two variants. The body of the Z3 M Roadster had a few differences compared to the standard Z3 models. These included front and rear bumpers, gills, boot and mirrors.

Under the skin many of the components were beefed up with the rear suspension being derived from the E30 M3 and the front suspension and brake system being taken from the E36 M3 Evo. Based on the E36 platform, the Z3 Roadster was considered the E36/7 platform. The M Roadster could run a wider track under the flared wheel arches as well as wider wheels and tires to try to tame the increased power. Standard tyre sizes for the M Roadster is 225/45r17 at the front and 245/40r17 at the back. The low offset of the rear wheels allows plenty of flexibility to increase the rear tire width. A dual exhaust system fed each set of three cylinders to two dual tailpipes. The Z3 M roadster was the first BMW to feature this quad exhaust design which has since become a BMW M division signature.