It’s Murphy and his Laws I tell you. How else do you explain the outside temperature reading telling me it’s half-a-degree below freezing - and the car on test is Munich’s latest summery convertible, the 640i? I know it’s winter, and I know that SA is the poor cousin on Beemer’s product planning side (with Europe getting priority in terms of a Spring launch), but below-freezing meant sealing not peeling off that thickly-padded roof.
Okay, I did try the Herculean approach once and put the Germans to the 19-second fold-down roof test, but it ended with Jack Frost 1; Hercules 0. In fairness, though, with all the windows up (including a new little window behind the rear seat), seat warmers and heater pumping, steering-wheel heater on, and netted wind-deflector in place I could cruise around in relative warmth - relative being the operative word. A note to BMW: have a closer look at the neck scarf in Merc’s SLK.
With the roof up the new Six is a cosy place to be, too cosy in fact, some may argue. The 6 Series is not a small car by any stretch of the imagination, yet it houses a two-person rear bench with no delusions of adult-accommodating grandeur. Not to mention that the wind deflector covers the rear seat entirely, turning the car into a strictly two-seater affair if you wish to take this gadget along. Or that the boot is more dirty-weekend than school-holiday focussed.
I dig some of the new interior design elements though, with the highlight being that freestanding screen in the centre console, and that bow-like curve across the dash that follows into the doors. According to BMW it’s meant to mimic a boat deck. Very classy. The attention to detail seems better than usual for BMW in this grand cabriolet, with stitching more pronounced, leather feeling just that little plusher, and that compact infolding-lid ashtray somehow more cigar than cigarette friendly.
The Six also has those cool hinges from its bigger brother Seven, which means those long driver and passenger doors stop at any point when opened – avoiding doors banging into walls or cars parked next to you. The soft-close door option is another firm favourite, especially with those heavy doors, as they vacuum seal the door shut as soon as the door clicks onto the locking mechanism.
I wouldn’t call the Six pretty on the outside, with that shark-like profile still a defining feature. The biggest change in the new generation seems to lie at the back, with those streamlined taillights. The front gets the now-familiar BMW family nose with that big, flat kidney grille.
The wind in the 640’s sails is courtesy of Beemer’s tried and tested three-litre single-turbo straight-six, already doing duty in many of the company’s other model ranges. In Six guise this engine makes 235kW and 450Nm, but it also gets a pearler of a ‘box in the eight-cog DCT already seen in other ranges such as the new Five.
The marriage is solid, and a two-ton package makes for an engaging drive, thanks in no small part to the standard Drive Dynamic Control functionality. This software lets you adjust the Six’s temperament all the way from Comfort to Sport+, in other words from Tourer to Predator. Full-on hunting-mode saw a 6.2sec 0-100 time (Munich claims 5.7) come up on our VBox, with the quarter-mile coming up in 14.5sec.
Sport is the healthy medium and gets throttle, suspension and steering settings on the go-faster, minimum adult-supervision page. Even in daily Comfort mode the gearbox is smooth, quick-changing, and intuitive enough to find you that appropriate gear in an instant. The engine is never a tick away from instant boost and surge to those rear wheels either. The paddles on the steering wheel are fun, but the gearbox will still change on the rev-limit for you.
Consumption is a little worrying though, averaging 14.6l/100km (a far cry from the claimed 7.9l/100km) even with various Efficient Dynamics technologies (such as auto stop/start) at play.
The 640i by no means gets the 2011 handling award - that will be contested by the anticipated M6 - but credit where it’s due to the engineers. For a convertible of this magnitude the body felt torsionally rigid with nary a scuttle nor creak. Wind noise is an issue, though. It’s above average, but then again cabrio buyers probably wouldn’t be too bothered by this.
VERDICT
The design of the new 6 Series Convertible will probably still polarise buyers. Though better than before it’s still not sexy enough. At R914 557 the 640i is not exactly cheap either, especially when you consider that Merc’s slightly-underpowered equivalent, the 200kW/365Nm E350 Cabrio, comes in at R800 320.
Or that the E500 Cabrio, pushing 285kW/530Nm almost matches the 640’s price tag at R935 720.