By John Simister
Specifications
Model:
BMW 335i SE convertible.
Price:
£37 930 (about R540 000).
SA price R577 000.
Engine:
2979cc, six cylinders, 24 valves, twin-turbo, 225kW at 5800rpm, 400Nm from 1300-5000rpm.
Transmission:
Six-speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive.
Performance:
250km/h (limited), 0-100km/h in 5.8sec, 9.9 litres/100km official average.
BMW's current 3 Series coupé arrived last year to great acclaim, especially for the three-litre, twin-turbo, "335i"-badged engine which made its début in the coupé body.
We knew a convertible would not be far behind. And now, here it is.
The result isn't quite as predictable as it sounds. Previous open-top 3 Series - four generations if you include the Baur-built cabriolet version of the first 3 Series - have had fabric roofs.
This time the open Three has gone the metal-roof coupé-cabriolet route, which makes it the first such car to share a model range with a fixed-roof coupé. So BMW now has two 3 Series coupes.
Why has BMW done this? Because the coupé-cabriolet (CC) is increasingly fashionable, it's more vandal-proof and the roof is more durable. It also makes for an airier car with the roof closed because it can have bigger windows.
Fine. That sorts out the CC vs soft-top debate. But two coupés? Those with no great desire for open-air motoring won't want the weight penalty and reduced rear-seat space that goes with the CC idea, and might also favour the increased structural stiffness, and consequent sharper driving responses, that go with an integral roof.
And there's also the matter of the forthcoming M3, a V8-engined power machine whose hardcore enthusiast owners would most likely want only the purist coupé body.
To make an M3 available only as a CC would be unthinkable. Indeed, we have yet to learn if there will be an open version of the M3 at all.
Roof up, the new 3 Series convertible is probably the most convincingly coupé-like of all the CCs, even though all the panels aft of the windscreen are different from those of the real 3 Series coupé.
The rear side windows are virtually as big as that car's and have the same chopped-off rear corners. And, crucially, the tail is both short and low, with none of the big-bottomed look that ruins many a CC's lines.
Inevitably, this results in a small boot when the roof sections have finished their disappearing act to leave a smooth, flush rear deck, and extracting luggage trapped beneath the roof sections is not achieved in seconds.
Arrest it halfway
This is a perennial CC problem, solved neatly in the Volvo C70 and Opel Astra CC by the ability to raise bodily the whole roof stack by pressing a button, thus creating luggage access.
On the Peugeot 207 CC you have to raise the whole roof, but the BMW has a compromise - the unfolding is designed so that you can arrest it halfway and still have enough space to extract baggage.
With the roof closed, the new car's boot is 50 litres bigger than the previous one's, but with the roof open there's 50 litres less space, even if you could get to it.
You can open the roof from outside by holding down "unlock" on the ignition key, or close it by doing the same with the "lock" button. The transformation takes 22 seconds.
In closed form the convertible is 20mm lower than the fixed-roof coupé, and its rear seat is wider than the previous convertible's, if still narrower and more upright than the coupé's.
120kg more than the coupé
And as for weight, the new open Three has gained 55kg over the old one, even though the roof and its mechanism weighs 70kg more - which makes the rest of the car 15kg lighter. The range-topping 335i's overall weight of 1735kg is still pretty portly, though - and 120kg more than the coupé.
It shows when you drive the new convertible, too. Not so much in the 335i, which has the power (225kW) and the pulling ability (400Nm, available from 1300rpm) to shrug off the mass, but it's very obvious in the other version available at launch, the 325i.
It, too, has a three-litre engine, but it's a different unit even beyond the lack of turbochargers and produces 162kW. That ought to be plenty - a mid-1980s 535i sedan had the same power and went like the wind - but cars are much denser nowadays.
A more powerful version of that engine will power one of the next models, the 330i. There will also be a 330d diesel and an entry-level 320i, the only one not to have that now rare engine layout, an inline six (it has an inline four).
Pay the premium
The 335i costs £37 930 (about R540 000) against the 325i's £33 065 (R472 000), but if you're rich enough to spend that sort of money it's well worth paying the 335i premium.
This top model has one of the world's great engines, combining a diesel engine's ability to pull effortlessly from low speeds, with the usual six-cylinder BMW petrol engine's smoothness and high-revs energy.
This engine has it all, except that, unlike the 325i, it falls into the so-called gas-guzzler tax bracket, despite using less than 10 litres/100km.
Despite the weight it must haul, the 335i can reach 100km/h in 5.8sec. The same manoeuvre takes 7.6sec in the 325i, but that tells only a small part of the story.
The 325i replaces the deep, sonorous, crisp-edged blare of the 335i with a quieter, higher-pitched hum, but you'll be working the engine a lot harder to keep up a brisk pace.
Popular option
Each has a smooth six-speed transmissions, with six-speed autos likely to prove a popular option, judging by sales of the previous car.
Two key points in a convertible are how all-of-a-piece it feels over bumps and how noisy it is at speed with the roof up. The BMW scores well on both counts.
There's a softening of steering responses relative to the coupé but there's hardly any shuddering, no rattles or squeaks and the usual fluid, driver-pleasing, rear-wheel-drive BMW balance is intact.
The roof seals well, too; it's much like being in a proper coupé apart from the joins in the headlining.
And apart from life in the rear seat; BMW claims this is a proper four-seater, but the rear seats are very hard and the backrest uncomfortably upright. Yet this is an excellent convertible (or, indeed, CC) and just what a certain part of the car market wants.
The way it looks will assure its success as much as how it feels to drive, which is rather better than the opposition. Recommended. - The Independent, London
The rivals
Audi A4 Cabriolet 3.2 S-line:
£34 925 (R498 000)
Getting dated but still svelte, the soft-top A4 is heavy. However, this 188kW engine and quattro four-wheel drive liven it up. Beautifully built and still popular.
Mercedes-Benz CLK 350 Cabriolet Avantgarde:
£41 170 (R587 500)
Not the dearest CLK 350, but still very expensive. It has a soft top and a 203kW, 3.5-litre engine matched to a seven-speed automatic transmission.
Volvo C70 T5 SE Lux:
£33 250 (R475 000)
A coupé-cabrio and turbocharged like the BMW, the C70 has a 2.5-litre engine with 162kW and a melodious five-cylinder sound. Good to drive, good value in this company.