Side view shows a silhouette that keeps the faith with the traditional overall proportions of the 3 Series coupes in its long hood and short deck topped by an expansive greenhouse. Short front and rear overhangs (distance between the tires and the ends of the car's body) bear eyewitness to the car's standard-setting handling. Picking up on the seam between the hood and the front fender, the beltline flows rearward with the slightest suggestion of a wedge. The character line running the length of the car from just aft of the front wheel well to the taillight follows the prevailing BMW styling cue of a crease above compound-curve (as in, part concave and part convex) body panels; it's not the traditional 3 Series' slender groove in convex panels, but the look is close enough.
Drivers who didn't recognize the new convertible in the mirror will have more difficulty as it disappears into the distance after flashing by in a quick overtaking. The once-distinctive rear fascia suffers from the housing demands imposed by the retractable hardtop and associated hardware. The boot, or trunk lid, is lengthened, for instance, and the fenders upper flanks are widened and more vertically aligned with the lower fender panels. The final result mixes both good and not so good. That the back end looks somewhat bland, even generic, to the point some Pacific-rim cars look more like a BMW than this 3 Series, is the not so good. The good, at least to long-time, die-hard BMW fans, is that this saves the convertible from the rounded fenders with proud trunk lid of the current 7 Series and 6 Series and to a lesser extent the 5 Series. Next Page