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BMW hasn’t had it too easy from us recently. The Bavarian masters of driving arts once had an easy ticket to a first-place finish in virtually every comparo they entered. But then came iDrive, then active steering, and then everyone’s favorite “whipping tech,” the Sequential Manual Gearbox. You could argue that those technologies, in many cases, created as many problems as they solved, at least from the purist’s point of view.
A brighter spot came in the form of the 2006 BMW M6 coupe, a 6-series coupe made even more salivating by zoomier styling, a sexy carbon-fiber roof, and one of the most delicious motors on God’s green Earth, a race-bred, heart-pounding, high-revving 5.0-liter V-10 producing an incredible 500 horsepower at 7750 rpm and 383 lb-ft of torque at 6100 rpm. So prolific is the engine that not even the entire alphabet’s worth of techno-acronyms could keep the fun away. Then came the new convertible version—whoo-ee! What could be better, right?
Cont....
At a claimed 4400 pounds, the M6 Convertible is an eye-popping 500 pounds heavier than the dimensionally identical, carbon-fiber-topped, 3908-pound M6 coupe. Yep, you read that right: 500 pounds. This could explain why, even with the sequential gearbox on its quickest setting and the “power” button activated (more on that later), it seemed more difficult to get the M6 convertible’s sticky 285mm-wide rear tires to chirp as easily upon takeoff (and even during first-to-second gearchanges) than with the 300-pound-lighter M5 (to say nothing of the featherweight M6), and also may account for an even greater feeling of mass than in either of its plenty hefty 500-hp siblings. BMW says the convertible’s 0-to-60-mph time slips just 0.1 second compared with the M6 coupe, which, based on our testing of the M6 coupe, would put it at 4.2. We didn’t get a chance to test the convertible, but it certainly didn’t feel like the two variants would be so close.
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For all that weight, what seems unchanged from the seat of the pants is steering feel. Turning the wheel is met with scalpel-like precision and perfect weight that increases with speed. Highway stability is as sure-footed as, well, you might expect a 4400-pound BMW to be, and with the adjustable dampers set on comfort, ride quality is almost plush. Set on the sportiest setting, however, the ride becomes brittle, although directional changes are quick and deliberate and body roll is quashed. At that point, you may want to try steering with your right foot as opposed to your hands (providing you’re in the northern part of the rev range).
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Thus, we believe that for some—including many of us at CARandDRIVER.com and, we suspect, many of you—the added glamour of al fresco motoring may not be enough to offset the compromised performance and added cost of the convertible M6 versus the coupe.
Still, we wouldn’t kick it out of bed for eatin’ crackers
First Drive: 2007 BMW M6 Convertible - Previews - Car and Driver May 2007
One of my favorite BMWs for sure.
M
