Thursday 18th November 2010

New BMW 6 Series Convertible

Next-gen soft-top will go on sale before the coupe arrives

---

Hard on the heels of the newly-ravishing Concept 6 shown at the Paris motor show, BMW has issued pics of the next-gen 6 Series convertible. The model goes on sale in the UK next spring, six months before the new coupe arrives.

The new convertible arrives with a choice of two turbocharged engines - the 407hp 650i V8 and the 320hp 640i straight six - both with an 8-speed gearbox, and retains the finned/buttressed soft-top.

However the roof been re-styled along with the rest of the car, and opens and closes in 19secs and 24secs respectively. There's a plastic tonneau to tidy things up when the hood is retracted, and the vertical rear window can be lowered independently of the roof.

The overall design is clearly based around that of the aforementioned concept from Paris, and as well as swoopier lines the new cabrio gets improved passenger space with more headroom for all four passengers, and more legroom in the back.

The chassis has been newly developed too, and features a double wishbone front axle and integral rear axle made predominantly from aluminium. Drive Dynamic Control comes as standard, while Adaptive Drive provides active damping and anti-roll as an option. BMW's Active Steering system will also be optionally available.

In the interests of keeping the weight under control, the doors, bonnet and front axle spring mounts are all aluminium, while the front side panels, roof lid and boot are made from fibreglass composite. Torsional rigidity is now around 50 per cent greater than that of its predecessor, says BMW.

At 4,894mm the new model is 74mm longer than its predecessor, while the wheelbase has stretched to 2,855mm. The car has also grown by 39mm in width, and now measures 1,894mm across. Boot space is 300 litres with the roof down. Enough, you'll be thrilled to hear, for two golf bags.

Regular readers will know all about our passion for the current generation 6 Series coupe on the PH fleet. This new version and the coupe concept before it are both making us wonder whether we shouldn't have waited...

[Milks]

erm...

...

is it me or does that look quite... nice?

[007singh]

That thing looks v.sexy. I need one, now!

[R66STU]

Nice !! will be a looker in black.

[Triple7]

Hints of 3 Series throughout. Nice looking, but it's proportions are now on the large size. MB's new E-Class convertible far more modern and sexier IMHO.

[kambites]

Better than the old one, but I still don't like the headlights and the roof looks a bit odd in that rear 3/4 view.

[Mr E]

Looks not horrible.

As an aside, can anyone find an example of a new car being physically smaller than the older model?

[BIST0]

Successful bum tuck.

[y2blade]

I like that

[martman69uk]

No, its not just you, the car looks great. May the "errrr, i much prefer BMWs from the 70's, 80's, 90's" and "Jaguar's/Audi's/Mercs are much better" and all other comments when a new BMW is launched commence!

Rant over. :0)

[kambites]

Mr E said:

As an aside, can anyone find an example of a new car being physically smaller than the older model?

Wasn't the 370Z smaller than the 350?

[andybillo]

A thing of beauty - very sleek!

[Ozzie Osmond]

Milks said:

is it me or does that look quite...

BIG!

[Gizmo!]

Frankly, that's a stunner. I already like the current 6 but that looks like it hides the size much better and the scalloped sides are lovely.

So, this or a DB9 in ten years time...

[E21_Ross]

i actually quite like that though not 100% sure of the rear view. i'm a pretty big fan of the current 6 too. the interior on the new one looks absolutely outstanding too, one of its defining features IMO. it's much more rounded than the current 6.

always get people saying it looks horrible etc. but if it looked different, they'd say it looks bland so they can't win. i'm glad it doesn't look like every other car out there. particularly from the back.

good work.

[Luca Brasi]

Very good looking, a lot better than the current 6 series convertible. Like it very much!

[Mermaid]

Good effort

[farbbm]

I very much like that but then again I like the current version. Strange how the convertible is going on sale 6 month before the coupe. Must be to take advantage of the glorious weather we have in this country!

[Garlick]

In this picture, it looks like it's been in the hands of an LA 'tuner' to me. Almost like it has too much body styling?



On the whole though, it's a good effort.

[E21_Ross]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Milks said:

is it me or does that look quite...

BIG!

just as a 6 series has always been then, and the whole point of the car - a big 2+2 GT car

it's only a tiny bit bigger than a DB9, no-one moans that that's too big.

[soad]

Not bad, not bad at all. I'm (slowly) warming up to it