BMWBLOG Author: Horatiu Boeriu
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – To launch the third-generation 6 Series
Convertible, BMW chose Mexico’s most luxurious and famous resort town:
Cabo San Lucas. Cabo is a city at the southern tip of the Baja
California peninsula, known for the sandy beaches, world-class scuba
diving locations, glamorous life and high-class resorts. In a nutshell,
the kind of habitat where the new BMW 650i Convertible would feel at
home.
But Cabo is simply an oasis of luxury in the middle of a world where
poverty, livestock and unexpected speed bumps contrast heavily with the
luxurious image of the new 6er. Despite all of these apparent
shortcomings, truth is that this area offers a variety of amazing
scenery and twisty roads, combined with plenty of straight lines where
the car can be pushed to its limits. And you can certainly bet on the
fact that we took the new 650i Convertible to its limits.
To explore the newly redesigned, highly appealing and re-engineered
2012 6 Series Convertible, we set upon a 6-hour course that took us from
Cabo to La Paz and back. From the many color choices laid out in front
of our eyes, we picked a beautiful and classy Black Sapphire 650i with
Cinnamon Brown Nappa Leather and optional contrast stitching, and a
black top.
Before we jump into the driving experience, let’s take a step back
and define the demographic for this car, along with the new design
language. Based on BMW’s research, the typical U.S. buyer of a 6 Series
Convertible is in their 50′s, predominately female and living mostly in
sunny and warm states. Furthermore, same market research says this is
their third or fourth car sitting currently in the garage. To cater to
such customers, BMW had to focus first and foremost on style and luxury.
Styled by Nader Faghihzadeh, the 2012 650i Convertible has the allure
of an athlete, combined with svelteness and classic looks. The typical
long sweeping hood and short overhangs are surrounded by a muscular
profile. The same BMW designer says he found inspiration in the movement
of waves as the shark nose pierces the water. The curved surfaces of
the body give the car a sporty allure as well, with character lines
running from the front to the rear-end, harmoniously combining some of
the cues in the new BMW design language. Thankfully, the 6 Series shark
nose is still there and a first for 6 Series are the full LED
headlights. The kidney grilles are lower and wider on the 6er and the
vertical grille slats break backwards two thirds of the way up in the
grille opening.
BMW says the 2012 650i Convertible and Coupe are at core two different
vehicles. Contrary to expectations, BMW did not simply remove the
Coupe’s top and replaced it with a soft retractable top, but rather the
two high-end 6 Series models were engineered separately. The new 650i
Convertible is longer, wider and sits lower than its predecessor, and
continues to feature a soft top. This has allowed for a more optimal
rear seat back angle and sightly more room. In talking to talking to
Adrian van Hooydonk at Detroit Auto Show, he explained that the
customers of the 6 Series have multiple cars, basically one for every
occasion, and the need for a hard roof was not necessary. It opens in 19
seconds and closes in 24 seconds while the vehicle is moving up to 25
mph. The fabric top was made esthetically possible thanks to the ‘ shark
fin’, the buttress supports on either side of the roof, that allowed it
to be a ‘fast’ shape. The soft top then can follow the same shape as
the coupe.
Inside, the new customers will fall in love once again with the new,
refreshed BMW interior design. Compared to the old 6er, the high-end
convertible has a more driver-oriented interior and a comfortable
seating position for the driver and passenger. Even though the 650i was
built as a 4-passenger car, the rear legroom as you would expect is
limited, making it comfortable for a short drive before starting a riot
in the car.
The dashboard was lowered and features for the first time a
freestanding 10.2-inch display. Soft-touch fabrics and high-quality trim
are abound, the famous BMW seats continue to be firm and wrapped around
your body, and then we have the classy stitch-work that says you’re now
in a $100,000 premium vehicle.
Style and luxury? Checked. Appealing design? Checked. But does the
new 2012 BMW 650i Convertible carry on the “Ultimate Driving Machine”
slogan?
Over 500 kilometers of both cruising and aggressive driving, we came to the conclusion that this is the real
Grand Touring BMW to convey two people and their impedimenta quickly
and comfortably over inter-city B roads and Alpine passes. But let’s
start with the beginning and work our way to the conclusion.
At launch time this month, the BMW 6 Series Convertible will be offered
with the 650i badge. The 2+2 Grand Tourer is powered by the N62
4.4-liter V8 TwinTurbo engine that produces 400 horsepower and a
whooping 450 pound-feet of torque, enough to take the 4,531 lbs
convertible to 62 mph in only 4.9 seconds. The engine is matted to the
superb 8-speed ZF automatic transmission that offers smooth shifting and
improved fuel consumption. Even though BMW will continue to cater to
enthusiasts with a six-speed manual, we believe the 8-speed gearbox is
well suited for this car.
As we mentioned earlier, the route from Cabo to La Paz offered us both
the opportunity to drive fast in straight lines, but more important, to
test the car’s agility through these curvy roads and extremely sharp
corners. Mexican’s motoring populace was a model of courtesy, with most
drivers indicating when it is safe to pass so we rarely felt trapped
behind slower traffic on single-lane roads. First impression, the power
delivery is linear and almost lag free, as long as you ride in the Sport
and Sport+ modes as part of the Driving Dynamics Control system.
Toggling between the settings alters the throttle map, suspension
firmness, transmission shift schedule and steering effort. We’re
inclined to believe that many customers will opt for the Comfort and
Normal settings that better suit the demographic, but we would love to
be wrong in our assumption since the car can deliver so much more with a
push of a button. The Comfort mode is, in our opinion, too soft, giving
the car a bit of a “float feeling”, but luckily the Normal setting
offers the perfect balance.
Regardless of the DDC mode, the 650i lives up to the expectations,
and easily conquered the challenging Mexican roads. But as the
enthusiast and BMW gearheads, that we are, we spent a large
portion of our driving in manual mode while grabbing the well-placed
pull-pull paddles. Now we’re talking…
This is when the 650i Convertible really won our hearts, even though
we are fully aware not many customers will resume to this type of
driving. Cornering became even more fun, the exhaust note with the top
down was more than we expected, and simply put: rewarding. I and my
driving partner were quite happy to drive behind the other cars in the
caravan while enjoying some pleasant acoustics. In a few straight
lines, we pushed the car to a speed that not many would dare to drive in
the U.S., and the responsiveness of the car along with again the
exhaust note, made for a good shot of adrenaline. The shift paddles and
immediate response from the 8-Speed made us soon forget a manual
transmission is available. But the sporty driving came with a price: a
combined 17 mpg.
Despite its size, the 650i Convertible has minimal body roll and
offers great road grip, inspiring confidence at fast speeds and driving
pleasure when cruising down the rustic Mexican routes. We have spent
equal time with the top down and up, just so we can get a better feel of
the noise ratio. With the top affixed, the multi-layer canvas kept
exterior noise largely at bay. Putting the top down, the noise level was
kept in check by the vertical power heated rear window that allowed us
to maintain a fluent conversation without raising our voices.
With the tricky Mexican speed bumps at large, the braking system was
put to test several times and the lightweight floating-caliper brakes
with vented discs have proven to be efficient and effective. The DSC
(Dynamic Stability Control) system in the 650i Convertible brings
together technology such as the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Dynamic
Traction Control (DTC), Cornering Brake Control (CBC), Dynamic Brake
Control (DBC), the Start-off Assistant, the automatic Brake Drying
function and Brake Fade Compensation. All of these sound impressive as
well as reassuring.
So yes, the lack of steering feedback when the car runs in Comfort
DDC setting will come up in other reviews as well, but overall, with
confidence, we say that the 2012 BMW 650i Convertible has the “Ultimate
Driving Machine” DNA embedded within, at a substantial premium price.
Our advice is this: if you’re a BMW gearhead or simply looking for
driving pleasure, put the top down, select Sport+, even run in manual,
and enjoy the lifestyle you’ve surrounded yourself with. If you fit the
market demographic, then you have nothing to worry about, the 650i
Convertible will deliver on your expectations and the engineers and
designers accounted for all of your needs in the build process.
The 6er Convertible will reach the local dealerships as you read this
review, and the start price is $91,375. The Coupe and xDrive variants
will arrive this fall, previewing the introduction of the new BMW M6 and
6er Gran Coupe in 2012, when the new 6 Series family is united and
extended.
The usual competition comes from Mercedes-Benz SL550, a 2-seater
high-end convertible that appeals to the demographic. The second luxury
convertible comes from Jaguar, the XK, with a naturally aspirated V8
engine that gains more traction in the luxury market. Since we have not
had a chance to drive the two vehicles yet, we will have to refrain from
comparing the driving experience, but stay tuned for a future
comparison review.
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