2009 BMW M3 Convertible

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Is it real? Yes. As in previous M3 introductions, the hardtop version came first, the convertible followed a respectful distance behind. So it is with the latest M3.

What they said: “And even though the M3 is inspired by the best race cars, what is really significant about it is the balance it achieves between really sporty racecar performance on the one hand and something you can use to take your kids to school on the other.”

What they didn’t say: Based on the existing 3 Series convertible, the M3 unfortunately gets that car’s convertible hardtop. Although having a steel roof over your head instead of a ragtop sounds like an upgrade, it isn’t if you actually plan on using the trunk with the top down. Good luck getting the kids’ soccer equipment in there. To make up for the top eating up the trunk space, the back seat folds down for more storage. There’s even hooks to hang plastic grocery bags — yes, in an M3.

What makes it tick? A 414-horsepower V-8 with 295 pound-feet of torque replaces the in-line 6 of the E46, the last M3. And like the E46, the convertible weighs a few hundred pounds more than the hardtop version, making its 0-60 time convertible almost a half-second slower. The car comes with a 6-speed manual transmission, but is also being offered with a new 7-speed double-clutch transmission, which BMW says provides more continuous power than the SMG transmission that was offered in the E46.

How much, how soon? It’s available May 1 for $65,725.

Tradition and innovation: the fourth BMW M3 Convertible the first model with a retractable hardtop.

BMW M GmbH has a long tradition in combining the thrill of a high-performance sports car with the unique pleasure of motoring in the open air, after the first BMW M3 Convertible was presented no less than 20 years ago. And since the two following generations of the BMW M3 Coupé were also joined by a BMW M3 Convertible, this concept has a long and consistent story to look back on, although the fourth edition differs from its predecessors on one essential point: For the first time a retractable hardtop protects the driver and passengers in the BMW M3 Convertible from wind and weather.

Within the passenger compartment the three-piece roof ensures unrestricted all-year driving pleasure and excellent noise control. It offers truly impressive robustness and sturdiness in design and construction, highlights the sheer value of the car and, through the large windows, ensures optimum all-round visibility featuring a genuine coupé ambience within the interior.

As soon as the weather is right for motoring with the roof down, the three elements forming the hardtop move up electrohydraulically and fully automatically in a smooth and flowing process, swivelling to the rear and coming to a rest in a compact stack above one another in the rear roof compartment.

This extremely compact and space-saving accommodation of the roof elements enhances both the looks of the open-air BMW M3 and the driving experience so thrilling to the driver and passengers. The low-slung, elegantly stretched silhouette reflects the character typical of a BMW M3 Convertible not only in its looks, since the low waistline also ensures a unique and particularly intense experience of the sun shining down and the wind rushing by.

Also featured on the M3 Convertible: know-how from motorsport as the foundation, unique design as the principle.

Within the wide range of models from BMW M GmbH, the BMW M3 has always been the strongest and most powerful reflection of motorsport. Indeed, this already applied to the first edition of the BMW M3 launched in 1986 and joined two years later by the first BMW M3 Convertible. The same philosophy then continued with the two subsequent model generations and is now also expressed clearly on the new BMW M3. A direct comparison with the most thoroughbred sports cars in the classic sense of the word also places the BMW M3 firmly in pole position.

Compared with its predecessor, the new BMW M3 Convertible offers significant progress in terms of driving dynamics, which can indeed be clearly measured through the car’s performance on the road. Convincing proof of this superiority is the power-to-weight ratio optimised once again over the previous model to just 4.3 kg per horsepower, an exceptionally good figure even for a high-performance convertible of this calibre.

This all-round optimisation of the car comes out clearly also in the driving experience, with the new V8 power unit offering its significantly greater muscle, thrust, torque, fast-revving driving qualities and spontaneity also on the new BMW M3 Convertible: The new BMW M3 Convertible not only accelerates a lot faster than its predecessor, but also leaves the handful of similarly powerful open-air models in its segment far behind on the road through its outstanding agility in quick changes of direction, in tight bends or on handling tracks making particular demands of the car. Indeed, it is precisely these handling qualities that reflect the exceptional harmony of the concept so typical of every BMW M Car and also to be enjoyed on the new BMW M3 Convertible.

While the open-air BMW M3 is naturally based on the latest, fourth generation of the “regular“ BMW 3 Series Convertible, the new model differs from the standard version fundamentally in terms of both looks and technical features. To begin with, the technical foundation for the new BMW M3 Convertible is provided by the BMW M3 Coupé, unique design as well as drivetrain and suspension technology created for supreme performance coming right at the top in the brief given to the engineers at BMW M.

Apart from the load-bearing body structure, only the doors, the retractable hardtop, the luggage compartment lid, the windows and the rear lights come from the “standard” open-air version of the BMW 3 Series. The range of brand-new body components, therefore, is virtually the same as in the BMW M3 Coupé.