BMW 650i Convertible

Convertibles or topless cars are not a very familiar sight for Indian roads; very few car makers have got their convertibles to India, an addition being the BMW 650i. Let’s get a bit on the history of the BMW 6 Series first. The initial BMW 6 Series was launched in the year 1976, based on the E 12 and E 28 5Series of that time. Since then BMW has been producing the 6 Series as a two-door convertible and two-door coupé. We get behind the wheel of the latest BMW in town, the 650i Convertible, and take it through its paces to find out all that’s there in this two-door, four-seater topless car costing more than a crore. Join us as we explore the BMW 650i.

Exterior Design

The BMW 650i Convertible is easily the best-looking topless car from among the ones available in India. The proportions of the body panel are large; it has a long bonnet, something very typical of BMW. The front is taken by the Bi-Xenon headlights that have the BMW Corona rings and also house the LED turn lights in it very neatly. These headlamps are adaptive and also have heated washers on them. The BMW kidney grill on the bonnet has a lot of chrome on it with the slats and the borders all in chrome. The front bumper is slung low and has a strip of chrome running across. Fog lamps are not placed on the bumpers, the reason being the adaptive headlamps that take care of the lights during tricky, foggy, or dull conditions. The bonnet is slightly pouted with soft crease lines on it that mate with the grill down to the front bumper.

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The side profile is best described as low-slung and totally sporty. The side fenders are slim and long with the LED turn lights on them that are also aerodynamically shaped and are in chrome housing.  The BMW 650i Convertible runs on 19-inches super light alloy wheels that have the 5 V-spoke alloy styling that is in carbon grey shade with 245/40 R19 low profile tyres in the front and 275/35 R19 tyre specs at the rear. This mix low-profile tyre specs is purposely implemented to get the best drive and ride ability out of the 650i and keeping the drag percentage to the lowest at high speeds.

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There is a thick bulge on the waistline that runs through till the boot of the 650i and blends in with the tail lamp. Another soft curve runs just below the waist line and one more curved bulge just around the running board. The doors are extra large, it being a two-door vehicle. The doors have a unique soft-close feature as standard that’s also seen in the 7 Series. You just need to gently push the door in and the soft-close mechanism softly closes the door automatically. The door handles have a nice chrome strip on them and also have inbuilt led lights that glow at night when you lock or unlock the 650i. The doors are frameless and there is no pillar on the 650i as the top retracts fully down. The windshield is at a very sharp angle and looks best when the soft top is down. A frameless rear quarter glass is also there, which retracts in when the top is folded.

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The same with the rear windshield, frameless and retracting in.. There is a thick chrome body garnish along the waist that starts from the front windshield and goes all around the windows, running across from the behind of the rear seat. This chrome body garnish grows thicker as it runs behind the rear seat and thinner along the sides and the windshield. The wing mirrors are auto-dimming and auto-fold types. Moving to the rear of the car, you notice that though the boot looks large, the boot lid is very short. The reason behind this is that most of the boot area is taken up by the soft-roof mechanism and the space is used to fold down the roof. The LED tail lamps are aerodynamically shaped and flushed in the body design. The other half of the tail lamp is on the tail lid. A LED strip is on the tail lid that acts as the stop lamp. The tail lid is sleek and short and has a sporty bulge on it that is pushed inside, harmoniously blending with the tail lamps. The BMW monogram neatly sits on the center of the tail lid, which turns and opens up when you engage the reverse gear as it houses the reverse parking camera that’s placed inside the monogram. The BMW 650i has a low-slung rear bumper that has rear stop reflectors placed on it. The rear bumper houses the twin exhaust placed on each side of the bumper. These mufflers have a trapezoid shape to them and are in full chrome.

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The soft top of the BMW 650i is made of a special cloth material and has many layers on it, making it waterproof and helping in sound damping. There are supports for the soft top placed inside the layers that fold with it. It takes 15.08 seconds to fold-up or fold-in the soft top; this can also be done when the car is being driven but only if you are speeding under 40 kmph.

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The BMW 650i Convertible is hell of a looker and an instant head turner when driven with the soft top up, but when driven with the top down this beauty literally makes people shout WOW. We have seen people get their mobile phones out to shoot the 650i! The design element is totally sporty and has a lot of elegance too in its soft lines and stance.

Interiors:  Cabin and Equipment

The BMW 650i, owing to its large proportions, has a huge cabin space that’s mainly driver-oriented. Reddish-brown leather upholstery is given, although you also have an option of choosing between ivory white or an all black shade of leather. Front seats are all electric and have settings for height, reach, tilt lumber, and also a seat extension for under-thigh support that also works electrically.

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The seats have memory settings. The cushioning is perfect and supportive and, due to the XXL size of the seats, feels very comfortable. The front seats have heated and cooled seats that work really well when the roof is down. Front seat belts are mounted on the seats itself as there is no B pillar on this topless car. You have a knob on the rear of the front seat that needs to be pulled to incline at an angle for passengers to get into the rear seat.  

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You also have buttons to electrically move the seats forward or backward mounted on the sides of the seats on the thick aluminum panel. The rear seat is meant only for seating two passengers as it has a fixed center armrest. Rear seats are also bucket-type with strong support all around and perfectly inclined.  The rear seats get a set of head rests that are adjustable for height. Getting into the rear seat is not very difficult as it looks to be. The space on the front seat is more than adequate with loads of room for legs and shoulders; not to forget tons of head room also this being a topless car J. The seats, though XXL sized, hug the passenger and you sink into it.

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The driving position is low as it’s meant to be in a sports car and the visibility is good. The typical BMW large steering wheel is electrically adjustable for height and reach, giving it a chunky feel to grip. The steering comes with paddle shifters as standard fitment and the steering also has the multifunction controls for sound, phone, etc. mounted. The instrumentation is typical BMW and is very readable in all light conditions, even with the top down.

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You have an aluminum lining around the round dials that increase the sporty appeal. The dash has a nice thick coat of black leather with a red stitch lining on it. The center dash has the typical BMW-styled AC vents, music system, and a two-zone climate control. You also have the 7-inch LCD that displays the vital parameters of the i-Drive at all the times. You have fine wood inserts on the dash and all around the door panels and also a strip of aluminum that runs across the dash and door panels. The center armrest console has the typical BMW i-Drive system and the i-Drive gear shifter in black as compared to silver in other BMWs. You also have the electronic hand brake as well as an auto-hold hand brake and a button to choose between Normal and Sport and Sport+ drive preset configuration. The button that folds and unfolds the soft top electrically is also placed on the driver’s side on the center armrest console.

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A few can holders and cubby holes as small storage are included on the center armrest along with the twin opening center armrest itself. The glove box also houses a six changer DVD player. The BMW 650i has a cabin that looks super sporty in a combination of reddish brown and black. The fittings, switches, and knobs all ooze best of the quality and feel as they are made to last lifelong. You also get a BMW Professional Hi-Fi system that has 12 speakers all mounted in the doors and panels; these 12 speakers are powered by a 500 W amplifier. Sound generated from the system is of high quality and the music is also heard well with the roof down. You get keyless entry and exit, push button start as standard fitment on the BMW 650i.

Engine: Suspension and Drive

The BMW 650i Convertible being sold in India is powered by a mean and monstrous 4.4 liter eight-cylinder twin turbo petrol engine mated to an eight-speed sports step-tronic auto-gearbox. Now this sure is a huge engine in capacity generating 407 hp between 5500 and 6400 rpm. This huge engine belts out a mean 600 Nm of raw torque between 1750 and 4500 rpm. You start the engine by pressing the engine start button when the transmission is in the P (parking) mode. The eight cylinders in the twin turbo engine come to life with a nice smooth roar heard from the twin exhausts.

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At idle, the 650i is super refined, rev-up the engine in parking mode and you instantly come to the reality of this eight-cylinder twin turbo. Shift to D (drive) mode and the convertible surges ahead in elegant fashion. You can drive it as you want to, in slow city traffic just go easy on the pedal and the vehicle will chug all day in a sedate fashion. We drove the machine on the busiest roads of the city and it was a total show stopper. And then it happened, we reached the highway to explore the full capabilities of the 650i. And man! it impressed us to the core, the 4.4-liter motor can go as long as you want it to.

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We touched whooping 100-kmph mark in a mere 5.3 seconds, which is real quick and that too for a car this huge. We zoomed for a long time touching 190 kmph at times and the engine was every obedient and quick during overtakes. Floor the pedal and your head hits the headrest and in a wink when you are doing 100 kmph plus speeds. Near instant pickup is what is experienced in this speed beauty and the pleasure is unmatched when you drive with the soft top folded down. The wind noise is cut out smartly by some efficient aerodynamic design engineering. The 650i has a nice and stable handling as with all BMW cars, the steering is perfect to what you desire and keeps the driver in command at all speeds.

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The car corners superbly as any other BMW. The driving dynamics are unmatched and driving a topless car (open roof) gives a pleasure that cannot be put into words easily, it’s something that brings a wide grin on your face automatically and the grin is there till the drive ends. You can toggle between the drive modes, that is, Normal, Sport, and Sport+ where the gear ratios and the chassis, suspension, and steering feedback are altered according to the mode you choose.

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If this is not enough, just shift using the paddle shifter and the wide grin will turn into a wide smile! The BMW 650i in this mode turns into a maniac vehicle. We give statutory warningJ in this mode. The fun and pleasure driving in paddle shifter on the BMW 650i is like attaining nirvana.

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You have the typical BMW suspension that is on the stiffer side but suits this convertible perfectly. You get all aluminum brake calipers on the ventilated disc brakes that have an auto-drying function as a standard, combined with the standard ABS and EBD. The double wishbone suspension system is tailor-made for this model and impressed us a lot. The car comes with six airbags as a standard. You get automatic stability control (ASC), cornering brake control (CBC), dynamic traction control (DTC), and dynamic brake control (DBC) along with a never-ending safety feature list in the 650i. If you find these features are not enough, you can choose from a long list of optional feature packages offered on demand.

Verdict

The BMW 650i Convertible has all the glitz and glamour in it. It has an extremely powerful eight-cylinder twin turbo petrol engine that is fun to drive to the highest level. The BMW 650i is a vehicle that combines sportiness and elegance and a practical sports car that you can drive long distances. It is a car that makes a lot of style statement and at the same time is immensely fun to drive especially with the soft top folded in. The equipment and safety levels are at their heights in the BMW 650i.

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With a perfect blend of style, elegance, and sportiness, the BMW 650i is the pinnacle of style and elegance that makes it the perfect choice for someone looking out for a two-door sports convertible.

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The BMW 650i Convertible is priced at Rs. 95 lakh (ex-showroom).