PanterroR
Lap Time Luminary
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The world’s best (actual) four-place convertible.
The truth is that the convertible you see here isn’t much of an M3 beyond powerplant and badging. “Whaddya mean,” you wail. “It goes from 0 to 60 mph in under five seconds! It’s got 0.92 g of lateral grip! Plus the steering wheel’s all fat and full of colory stitching! Sounds like an M3 to me.”
You may have a point, but historically, the M3 is a model that makes no compromises. It’s a performance-tuned ballistic missile designed to obliterate expectations and competitors alike, a machine so perfectly in harmony with enthusiasts’ wants and desires that they wake up in the middle of the night mumbling its name under their breath, palms clammy with cold sweat.
But that all changes once you chop off the roof.
Gone is the I-beam structural rigidity. Added are several hundred speed-sapping pounds of electric-top wizardry. Introduced are very un-M-like quivers and jitters. In our minds, the M3 badge stands for dynamic purity, and the (relatively) flexy chassis and porky curb weight of the convertible result in a dilution of that ideal.
So the M3 convertible isn’t an M3 in the truest sense. What is it, then? Certainly nothing bad. In fact, it is the closest thing to a sports car that seats four real humans and has a roof that goes down. There are a few more visceral droptops out there, some of which claim to hold four people—the Porsche 911 Turbo cabriolet and its laughable rear seats, for example—but none offers such an intoxicating combination of practicality, speed, prestige, and modern technology as found in this car.
Fully Story:
2008 BMW M3 Convertible - Short Take Road Test/BMW Performance/M Power/High Performance/Hot Lists/Reviews/Car and Driver - Car And Driver
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