As for the Convertible, you lose the rear center seat to provide room for the top when it's dropped, but it's not much of a loss because that center seat is of little use anyhow. If you're willing to pay eight grand for sun in your face and wind in your hair ($6900 if you don't count the leather that comes with it), you'll be very happy with the top. It goes up and down with one button, no latches. It's concealed under a hard boot that looks like a soft tonneau cover. It has a thick lining for winter comfort. The glass rear window contains a defroster. Rollover protection bars behind the rear seats are automatically deployed if the car starts to tip. Can't ask for more than all that.
The wheels are distinctive, although this particular style-call it ten-spoke, call it twin-spoke, call it twenty-spoke-sure looks dark in satin chrome, as well as busy.
We're not sure if the wheels look confused or just strong, but we are sure the engine looks like it means business. Under the lightweight aluminum hood, the new S54 3.2-liter, double-overhead cam, inline-6 M powerplant is canted a few degrees toward the passenger side in order to fit under the hood. There's a big intake plenum, riding over six aluminum fuel injector butterfly bodies that look like sidedraft carburetors on an old racing engine. The big matt black valve cover bears its M Power badge on top, and the muscular radiator fan squeezed behind the twin-kidney grille adds to the look of racecar plumbing.
After we were done admiring the engine, we were very impressed (though not really surprised) by the feel of the fingertip slamming of the aluminum hood. How can something that light make such a solid sound when it thunks down? How? BMW quality fit. Next Page