Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – BMW introduced the new-generation 6 Series convertible in a place they were fairly sure the sun would be shining— Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
As bad as the weather’s been this year in much of the U.S., no one minded travelling to the end of the Baha Peninsula to drive the car. And since we didn’t have to drive the car all the way down the coast, we could concentrate on the interesting and varied roads they chose for the drive: we headed through mountains with great sweeping bends, as well as some nice twisty bits. It was a good test for this cruiser.
And the 2012 BMW 650i convertible is a cruiser.
With 400 hp. and 450 lbs-ft of torque coming out of its 4.4-liter, twin turbo V8 engine, and plenty of electronic assists that allow you to choose the car’s driving characteristics, it eats up the road and the hours most capably.
The car comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, available only in North America. BMW’s new eight-speed automatic transmission is a no-cost option. We drove the automatic, and the ability to adjust the performance characteristics through the Driving Dynamics Control was a distinct advantage.
There are settings for Comfort, Normal, Sport and Sport+ and the system changes the throttle response, power steering assistance, shock absorbers, roll stabilization (if equipped), Integral Active Steering (if equipped), and automatic transmission shift characteristics.
In Sport+ mode, the settings are changed to the most aggressive, allowing the driver to “hang” the rear end out ten degrees for faster cornering. It was hard to switch out of this mode, but I did test all of them. Sport is just slightly less aggressive, and the Normal and Comfort settings do calm everything down. That doesn’t limit the capability, it merely smoothes everything out.
Should you need to tell folks this car’s efficiency, let them know the EPA rates the BMW 650i at 15 mpg in city driving and 22 mg on the highway for the manual transmission and 16 mpg city and 24 mpg highway with the automatic.
While it’s doing all the hard work, inside, you’re cossetted in comfort and luxury. Our tester cost $106,000, so you’d expect everything to be quite nice, and it was. The 20-seat adjustments of these Nappa-leather covered seats let you find just the spot. Even with the top down at highway speeds, you can carry on a comfortable conversation or enjoy the very competent sound system.
The standard audio system comes with a hi-definition radio, MP3-compatible CD drive, Aux-In connection and nine speakers. The optional Premium Sound Package adds SiriusXM satellite radio, iPod and USB adapter, and the 12 loudspeakers powered by a digital amplifier. Most buyers will opt for this, and should.
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