After three years of joyful top-down driving, I not too long ago stated goodbye to my 2023 BMW M440i xDrive Convertible. Right here’s why this underrated drop-top may be considered one of BMW’s fashionable greats.
I’m in hassle with my spouse. With good issues and typically even unhealthy, it’s laborious to say goodbye. Such is the case of an excellent factor I not too long ago despatched off to a brand new house: My 2023 BMW M440i xDrive Convertible, a mouthful of a reputation for a very great automotive.
Why I Selected the M440i Over the M4
Again in 2023, I reviewed the automotive and was so impressed that I added it to my storage. Initially, like many efficiency junkies, I questioned if I’d really feel I had settled, for whereas the M440i was clearly a robust performer, it was additionally not a full-blown M-car. For the primary yr of possession or so, I periodically discovered my gaze wandering to the M4 Competitors Convertible and even got here shut to creating that transfer on a couple of event. However after a bit, that hot-bloodedness cooled down and life with the M440i settled into familiarity and luxury.
I’ll spare an exhaustive recap of the automotive’s particulars. However in brief, it’s powered by BMW’s ubiquitous B58 3.0L inline-6 cylinder “M TwinPower Turbo” engine that makes 382 hp @ 5,800 RPM and 369 lb-ft @ 1,800 RPM. It scoots to 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, sending energy to the xDrive all-wheel drive system via the always-impressive ZF 8-speed Steptronic Sport transmission. It’s a strong engine and drivetrain package deal that’s laborious to fault, which is probably going why it’s percolated via a lot of the BMW line-up through the years.
My spouse particularly got here to like the automotive. It’s design and appears, particularly its vibrant Tanzanite Blue II Metallic coloration and Tacora Pink Vernasca leather-based inside, garnered nothing however optimistic feedback from onlookers, opposite to the commentariat who couldn’t cease criticizing the G20-series automotive’s massive kidney grill. And its basic efficiency was easy round city and on spirited nation drives. My spouse would put the highest down at very risk, with the home windows up and the “neck scarf” blowing on excessive, drizzle or snowflakes arching over the windshield header throughout damp days. As she stated on a couple of event, “For those who go a minimum of 45 miles an hour, you received’t get moist.”
However when the chance arose for me to amass an allotted sportscar from a special German producer, the conclusion that our storage solely had a lot storage considerably tempered my regular new-car pleasure with the marital dread of disappointing my partner by promoting “her automotive.” Which I in the end did. As a result of I’m dumb.
The Case for BMW’s M Efficiency Vehicles
Whereas the M-Sport vary of BMWs nonetheless causes heartburn within the on-line fanboys, within the precise driving world they’ve been nothing however successful. As automobiles from the Motorsports division have gotten to the purpose the place their practical limits are nicely past the realm of street driving, to not point out their ever-increasing worth tags, the M-Sport spec brings lots of the distinctive components of the M-range with extra usable efficiency and distinctive persona. And with the homogenization of BMW’s engine and transmission vary, what actually is the kernel of differentiation anyway?
I’d argue that the apex of recent BMW M was the E92 M3, with its distinctive (and one-off) sonorous and high-revving V8 engine and twin-clutch transmission, vital components that might solely be had on that automotive alone. Software program and tuning alone didn’t differentiate it from its fellows within the lineup. It’s one of many few vehicles I really remorse not proudly owning, and a clear, low-miles model is one for which I’m continuously looking out. Would BMW green-light that automotive at the moment? Uncertain, as platform sharing and tweaking appears to rule the roost.
That’s to not say I’m proof against the wonderful extra of an X5 M or the steroidal bulldog charms of the present G87 M2 CS, however actually, these are banzai variations of extra pedestrian vehicles, which fan their extreme plumage as a shout to be taken severely within the pecking order moderately than in service of straightforward driving enjoyment. (And I’ll keep away from any point out of the XM right here, as a result of I’ve not too long ago eaten.) However as a spirited day by day driver, these vehicles can are typically overkill.
Actual-World Possession: Driving, Consolation, and Tech
Which brings me again round to the BMW M440i xDrive Convertible. Its efficiency was sterling, it’s dealing with exact and balanced, its suspension tuning by no means jarring, it’s exhaust sound throaty however not obnoxious. And any serene drive might be enlivened to extra-legal ranges with a shift to Sport mode and a pull on the paddle shifters. It was a Golden Retriever with a penchant for letting it lose on the canine park, and by no means something however partaking enjoyable.
Know-how, Consolation, and the iDrive 8 Debate
A powerful factor for me was the automotive’s iDrive 8.0, the final model of the system previous to BMW’s transfer to their 8.5 all-screen interface. Briefly, 8.0 was the ultimate model with a smattering of buttons and a “human-sized” central display screen. I’ll spare a rant on the “screenification” of BMWs and fashionable cars usually, however suffice it to say I’m not a fan, and I view a few of the design push-back from all-glass infotainment techniques by sure producers as an actual optimistic. However alas, BMW has gone all-in, and my latest acquisition of an iX exhibits I’ll get on board when the interface and total package deal is nicely achieved, which BMW’s actually is. (In equity, the iX’s system is well-resolved and responsive, if maybe a tad awkward.) However iDrive 8.0’s mixture of buttons and brilliant display screen interface struck me as excellent, and I’ll lament the lack of the extra tactile interface as this automotive leaves us.
Over three+ years of possession, the automotive supplied nothing remotely like a problem. Apart from common service, the one tiny nit was a noticeable knocking thump the highest developed when being raised, a single staccato “clunk” on one facet of the mechanism as the highest handed via the apex of unfurling. My native BMW heart checked it out, agreed that the noise had developed since new, however that it was nonetheless inside spec, and urged I preserve an in depth eye (ear?) on it in case it acquired worse. Which it by no means did. Plus, the folding wind deflector is, frankly, a little bit of a PITA to put in and in addition stow, however that’s endemic of all wind deflectors on 2+2 convertibles. For the reason that solely common customers of the again seat was our canine and baggage of groceries, I simply left the deflector put in more often than not. Apart from these minor points, the automotive was flawless.
The overall demise of convertibles, each in market uptake and mannequin availability usually, is a supply of disappointment, as I’ve lengthy believed a day driving with the highest down is a minimum of equal to per week of driving with the highest up. However I perceive mine isn’t a view shared by all, to which BMW’s gross sales numbers would attest. The paradoxical platform homogenization but flexibility supplied by the brand new EV platforms, although, appears to beg simply this kind of differentiation; why not a soft-top Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse iteration, or perhaps a whimsical convertible SUV type, to spherical out the mannequin line-up?
Impractical? Possibly. However any much less impractical than an X6 M? No. Right here’s hoping.
My M440i actually match the invoice for a helpful all-arounder, and our lady Doberman, Stella, cherished perching within the again seat with the highest down, smelling all of the smells and taking on the earth round her (although not a lot with the highest up). The automotive had shocking cargo room, although the laborious plastic cubby that protected the highest mechanism when the highest was retracted ate considerably into obtainable space for storing. However hey, with the highest down, the rear seat was totally accessible from above, so no worries.
The Finish of an Period — And What Comes Subsequent
Our BMW M440i xDrive Convertible will most actually be fondly remembered, and the very fact there are two of those G20 4 Collection vehicles in our condominium parking storage retains that feeling recent (and offers my spouse persistent alternative to remind me of the identical). It’s an ideal automotive and one which will probably be missed from BMW’s portfolio if a worthwhile successor doesn’t make the line-up. Choosing up a low-miles model of considered one of these shouldn’t be a foul choice.
