Undoubtedly the most prominent landmark in Cape Town is Table Mountain. It is visible from almost anywhere in the city and is, as its name suggests, characterised by a plateau as flat as a tabletop.
BMW chose Cape Town to debut the new 6 Series Convertible. The weather, one would imagine, was also designed by the project team – 55 per cent humidity, a comfortable temperature of 22 deg C, blue skies and bright sunshine. Perfect for driving the 650i with its roof down. Surely, the picturesque seaside roads and twisty mountain tarmac around the southern Cape area of South Africa were the other reasons.
There is something else that offers a design link between the 650i and Cape Town: If you trace the outline of Table Mountain and superimpose it onto a torque versus rpm graph, you get a figure that bears an uncanny resemblance to the 650i’s engine output curve.
The twin-turbo V8’s torque peaks at 1750rpm, and then plateaus till 4500rpm, rather like how Table Mountain peaks at 1,086m and stays flat for three kilometres before tailing off. The sheer breadth of its torque is what makes the new turbocharged 650i such an effortless performer, but more on that later.
This second-generation 6 soft-top is styled by a young and talented BMW designer, who is also responsible for the steel-top to follow soon and the all-new Grand Coupe, a four-door sports tourer like the Aston Martin Rapide, to launch in 2012.
Nader Faghihzadeh’s design for the new 6 is sleek, sporty and looks lighter, yet more athletic than the previous model. Oddly, the new car is actually bigger and heavier. But styling cues like a sharper nose, a tapering profile, a long sloping bonnet, muscular sculpting on the sides and beautifully shaped tail-lights all add up to one of the prettiest convertibles on the road today.
The BMW 650i Convertible debuts the latest iDrive system, which now features a redesigned display that looks like a flatscreen TV.
Faghihzadeh, who is a big fan of the gorgeous BMW CS coupes of the early ’70s, promises that the coupe version of this latest 6 Series will be a hard act to follow. We tend to believe him.
The folding roof is still made of cloth instead of a heavier and bulkier folding hard-top. Not only does it occupy less space in the boot when folded away, the different-coloured roof also makes the car immediately recognisable as a cabriolet. Like its predecessor, the trailing edge of the roof is a buttress on either side with a vertical sliding glass window in between
Working relationship between turbo BMW V8 and ZF 8-speed automatic and ZF 8-speed automatic is excellence.
Since it’s built around a shortened version of the 5/7 Series chassis, it comes with all of the saloons’ multi-link suspension hardware, which consists of many cast aluminium alloy components. Bodywork is largely steel, but the bonnet and doors are aluminium, the front fenders are deformable plastic and the boot lid is a composite moulding.
These lightweight parts help keep the overall weight down, of course, but much of the kilos saved has been offset by greater overall dimensions, additional standard equipment, and structural enhancements for compliance with the latest safety standards. As a result, the new 650i is around 70kg heavier than the model it replaces.
It is also stiffer in torsion than the old car by a claimed 50 per cent, which should mean improved refinement and sharper dynamic responses. And yes, the 650i is markedly superior on both counts. It takes the standards of “chopped” BMWs one significant notch up with its high level of ride comfort; suppression of noise, vibration and harshness; and general road behaviour. The 6 is so nimble on the curvy mountain roads around Cape Town, it was hard to believe it had actually grown in size and mass.
The steering is assisted by an electric motor instead of a hydraulic servo system, but there is no resultant loss in sensitivity or precision. Up to 2.5 degrees of computer-controlled rear steer further enhance the car’s agility.
The seats are now a little more comfortable, but boot capacity remains unchanged
The EPS (Electric Power Steering) has indeed come a long way, as has BMW’s Active Steering system, which is loathed by many for its apparent sudden switch in gearing during low-speed manoeuvres. The progression between “locks” is now more linear, and steering sensitivity feels constant at all speeds.
While it really is a luxury grand tourer, the 650i makes a great case for itself as a sporty convertible, too. Dynamic Drive Control allows four suspension settings (Normal, Comfort, Sport and Sport+) that let the driver fine-tune road performance to suit the terrain and the occasion.
In Sport+, Dynamic Traction Control plays a less active role, allowing some degree of power oversteer while maintaining sufficient levels of traction to prevent a spin. The throttle also takes on a more aggressive character, as does the transmission.
With 600Nm of torque, developed across a broad rev range
ZF’s 8-speed automatic is a smooth shifter perfectly matched to the powerhouse under the bonnet, which is the 4.4-litre, twin-turbo V8 with the “tabletop” torque curve we mentioned earlier. There is no sign of any turbo lag, and with 600Nm of torque across the “plateau”, every instance of acceleration is a charge to the next road condition requiring braking or deceleration.
BMW claims the 650i will do the century sprint in 5 seconds flat. Heavy as the car may be (1940kg unladen), the V8’s twin turbochargers enable it to go “lightly” by pumping out 407bhp between 5500 and 6400rpm.
For many who will own the 650i, these figures are just the icing on the cake. Their first experience with the car, and the one that counts the most, would be the quality and equipment it has to offer. The interior is exceptionally well fitted and now features slightly more space, especially for the rear seat passengers. The cabin stays a 2+2, but even adults will find adequate room.
Standard fittings include the newest variation of BMW’s iDrive, a full-colour head-up display that also projects navigational information and lane departure warning, and power operation of almost every convenience feature.
The roof is an electro-hydraulic affair that takes 19 seconds to drop, and 25 seconds to raise. Either operation can be performed on the move at speeds up to 40km/h.
The general style and layout of the cockpit is unmistakably BMW, as is the excellent quality of the leather covering the seats and door pads. As usual, there is a huge range of interior and exterior colour combinations, plus the option of softer, richer Nappa leather instead of the standard Dakota hide.
Designed by a young man and obviously targeted at a more youthful crowd than its relatively bulbous predecessor, this windswept newcomer ticks all the right boxes. And in flagship 650i guise, it has a true jewel of an engine.
There is a 6-cylinder variant, also turbocharged and claimed to be just 0.7 second slower to 100km/h, and it comes with a fuel-saving Stop-Start function. Either way, the new 6 Series Convertible is, for the moment at least, the best-looking cabrio in its class.
BMW 650i Convertible 4.4 (A)
ENGINE 4395cc, 32-valves, V8, turbocharged
MAX POWER 407bhp at 5500-6400rpm
MAX TORQUE 600Nm at 1750-4500rpm
GEARBOX 8-speed automatic with manual select
0-100KM/H 5 seconds
TOP SPEED 250km/h (governed)
CONSUMPTION 9.3km/L (combined)
PRICE INCL. COE To be advised (as of March 2011)
Check out the latest BMW 6 Series Convertible
BMW 6 Series and 6 Series Gran Coupe deliver a coupe de grace
BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo is the practical hatchback variant of the 5 Series
