BMW 6-Series Convertible
When's it coming and what is it?
March 2004 is set as the UK launch date of BMW's four-seat luxury convertible, a soft-top version of the new 6-Series coupe.
Why should I care?
This is the first-ever soft-top luxury GT from BMW - the long discontinued 8-Series was never built as a convertible. Dramatic Chris Bangle-designed looks are love-it-or-hate-it, although to be fair, the styling isn't as extreme as with the 5-Series saloon. A relaxed driving nature, strong performance and a folding soft-top make it a natural competitor to the Jag XK8. It also packs the same technical gizmos as the 5-series, on which it is based.
What makes it really special?
Refined road manners matched to a 155mph top speed, 0-60mph in 5.6sec and its novel folding roof arrangement. The roof and vertical rear screen are two independent parts, creating an unusual styling feature for the rear roof pillars, called 'flying buttresses'. The rear screen slides into a housing between the rear seat backs and boot, leaving the roof to fold into a very compact stowage bin that takes up just 50 litres of boot space, about a sixth of the volume needed for the more trendy metal hard-tops used by some car-makers. Not only that, but BMW reckons that without the weight of a steel roof up top, the cloth-top 6-Series will handle better. As a neat little design bonus, when the roof is up, the rear screen can be powered down to provide more ventilation.
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