The BMW M240i convertible is a great luxury drop-top for less the $60,000
So what's the verdict?
Quick aside: The best days for driving convertibles are cloudy days. It's no fun to have the harsh summer sun beating down on you.
Let's disable the annoying — though gas-saving and environmentally conscious — auto-restart feature and fire this little sucker up!
... and the infotainment screen allows you to configure the drive settings to your taste.
The center cluster tells you what's going on with driving modes ...
Unlike the full-on M-Sport cars, the M240i's driving modes offer a little less variation. But you have Eco Pro (for fuel economy), Comfort (for everyday driving), Sport (you know what) and Sport Plus (for, I don't know, drag racing without traction control, I guess). I used Sport the most.
By the way, the MPGs are a decent 19 city/29 highway/23 combined, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Some reviewers have complained that the brakes are wimpy. I didn't think so, but I wasn't on a racetrack with the car either.
The power is managed with this exquisite six-speed manual. The shifting is crisp, positive, and satisfying. The car does endlessly nag you to upshift, but you're the boss, so you can hang out in the sweet spot of third, fourth, and fifth gear all you want and enjoy torque heaven.
It's a great motor, making exactly as much power as most driving-loving humans could reasonably need. I felt like I was getting into all of it, which is not something I've been able to say of the more beastly vehicles we've tested.
... a big ol' hunk of plastic covering the 335-horsepower inline six-cylinder twin-scroll turbocharged motor. The power bump is about 15 horsepower over the M235i's engine, but this is a new powerplant for BMW.
Time to pop Mr. M240i's hood and have a look at ...
YES! A mechanical parking brake! Jerk it up, and you're parked! I can't stand electronic parking brakes, so I'm delighted every time I get one of these babies.
It could definitely light something.
And what's this? A working cigarette lighter (er, charging port)?
It's all part of BMW's iDrive system, once derided but is now pretty serviceable. It's operated using this hockey-puck controller and the buttons. Note the cool silvery carbon-fiber detail, by the way.
And a fine back-up camera.
Plus navigation, which is quite good.
Just beneath are climate controls and some old-fangled audio things, and even a CD player! The Harman Kardon premium system is an extra $875 and totally worth it. You also have satellite radio and the usual Bluetooth connectivity with USB/AUX ports.
Not a big fan of the 6.5-inch infotainment screen that juts from the dash, but it functions reliably.
And trunk space is, well, not generous. The folding top takes up a lot of space when stowed. But you could still get a couple of fashionable duffels in there for a long weekend road trip.
The rear seats are not capacious, and there's space for only two. Even my second-grader found it a tad cozy.
Some nicely shaped and sculpted leather there, folks.
Like I said, PHAT! Also, check out those old-school gauges. Analog all the way!
The driver's seat is where the action happens, but the passenger seat is also comfy and supportive. You get a nice, fat, leather-wrapped steering wheel, too.
And as long as we're down there, yes, this car has three pedals — the outstanding clutch is conjoined with a six-speed manual transmission.
Inside, there's more M-Sport badging — and in some odd places, such as on the left-foot dead pedal.
The lines of the car make it ever so slightly wedge-shaped, with character lines connecting the front headlights and fenders to the rear.
Yep, it's an M-car ... sort of.
The distinctive M240i badging.
From the rear with the top down, the M240i could fool you into thinking it's a roadster — just the rear headrests are a giveaway that it isn't.
By contrast, the BMW M3 is more aggressive.
As current bimmers go, the 2-Series' proportions are just right — not too big and bold, not too demure. Of course, the BMW badge is right up front, above the signature double-kidney grille. Headlights are modern-day swept-back and narrow.
With the top down and in a "Melbourne Red Metallic" paint job and with an "Oyster Dakota" leather interior (about $1,200 extra for both), our 2+2 two-door looked pretty spry, like a roadster that has been working out. Our tester's sticker was $58,370, and it was nicely optioned.
Here it is with the offbeat, gray denim-y top up. The lid stows in under 30 seconds, using an automatic system operated by a switch on the center console. Already, we can't fairly compare the M240i with the M2, because hardtops always perform better than ragtops.
Taking the top off the car reduces its overall rigidity and makes it less tight in the corners. That said, you really won't notice it much unless you're pushing the car very hard. My colleague Ben Zhang felt that the top stowed kind of slowly, but it didn't bug me that much.
The new M240i occupies a rung below the M2. It's what you might call near-high-performance, versus the M2's full-on performance orientation. Out test car was the convertible version.
The engines aren't hugely different. The M2 and M24oi are running turbocharged inline six-cylinder units of 3.0 liters each, but the M2 cranks out more horsepower. Beyond that, the M2 has a limited-slip differential, which makes for more sure-footed handling at speed and has a stouter suspension.
Bottom line: The M2 is something of a track weapon, while the M240i likes winding country roads.
But BMW has also rolled out the spectacular M2 — the 2-Series given the high-performance M-Sport treatment. It's insanely good.
The M240i replaces the M235i in BMW's lineup. I richly enjoyed the hardtop a few years ago. It was serious fun.
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