I drove a $178,000 BMW M8 Competition convertible to find of the lavish drop-top could combine power and style - here's the verdict
Say hello to the 2020 BMW M8 Competition Convertible! The beastly two-door landed at our New Jersey test center wearing a "Brands Hatch Gray Metallic" paint job — and a little ahead of warmer weather in the Northeast, so top-down motoring conditions weren't ideal.
Honestly, while the M8 looks OK with the top up, with top down, it's better. My tester stickered at $180,245, after a gas-guzzler and destination fee. It also boasted about $23,000 in extras, in all. Base price: $155,500.
This is a handsome set of wheels.
I've always been a fan of two-door bimmers, going back to the E30 of the 1980s.
Now that's more like it! Yes, the M8's rump is a tad hulking, but it's not terribly out-of-proportion with the sleeker front end.
The BMW signature kidney grille was nicely blacked-out on my M8, and very much stretched to fill a lot of the fascia.
BMW's ever-evolving headlight array features handsomely against the gray livery.
The blades of the grille are rimmed in chrome, and the legendary BMW badge occupies its familiar position on the hood.
The back end looks significantly worse with the top up.
Straight on is its best angle.
The soft top retracts in about 20 seconds and stows in a compartment between the rear seats and the trunk.
The entire operation is controlled using a single button on the center console. The M8 lets you know when the top is completely stowed.
Just as BMW does a fine job with headlight design, so it handles tail lights with a deft touch.
The M8 badging means that the 8-Series has been given the full-on M Sport treatment. Additionally, it's an M8 Competition, which takes the performance up another notch.
Some stuff is modest, such as the spoiler lip on the truck lid.
Other stuff is more overt, like the carbon-fiber package that's visible on the side-view mirrors, for example.
The M Sport badge also shows up on this stylish side vent. And yes, there's more carbon fiber.
Those are M carbon-ceramic brakes with gold calipers behind the 20-inch bi-color, multi-spoked wheels.
The rubber on my tester was a set Michelin Pilot Sport run-flats.
While the M8 isn't as impractical as, say, a Porsche 911, the convertible top means that trunk space has to be sacrificed. I did what I could to cram a few days' worth of groceries in there, but ...
... The overflow rode shotgun.
Let's talk drivetrain. The M8 has a potent, up-tuned 617-horsepower, 4.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 engine that's mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, sending the oomph to an all-wheel-drive system. (The V8 makes 600 horsepower before the Competition treatment adds an extra 17.)
My tester didn't come with official fuel-economy documentation, but I calculated less than 20 mpg combined, and the M8 demands premium petrol.
Let's step inside. The M8 I tested had a very dramatic "Sakhir Orange/Black Full Merino Leather" interior.
Quilted steerhide was abundant.
But perhaps the coolest feature was the heated headrests — a good thing for top-down motoring in cooler weather.
The headrest heaters are activated with a pair of buttons on either side of the convertible control.
The M8 is ostensible a 2+2, but with normally-sized adults in the front seats, legroom in the rear rapidly disappears.
An M Sport badge on the center stack tells you how much extra money you spent on your car!
The joystick shifter, like all joystick shifters, is incredibly annoying, although once you get the hang of it, the action is fine.
The start/stop button is suitably bright red, and an array of additional controls activate various drive modes.
Once you strap into the Ultimate Driving Machine's cockpit, you're confronted by a whole lot or German motoring seriousness, from the thick, leather-wrapped steering wheel to the digital instrument cluster.
The M8 Competition has both paddle shifters and a pair of "M" toggles. The latter can be programmed for custom driving modes, so that you never have to take your hands off the wheel and can change modes on the fly.
Otherwise, the steering wheel is a typical multifunction, with the adaptive cruise control controls on the left and media to the right.
When BMW first introduced its infotainment system, it was derided. But over the course of about two decades, it's come a long way. It's still a warren of submenus, but the basics — GPS navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, USB, and media — all work quite well.
The puck-and-buttons interface might not be for everyone in the era of touchscreens-only, but I've developed some muscle memory with bimmers, and at this point can operate the system without taking my eyes off the road.
Wireless charging has become an essential luxury-car feature, and the BMW M8 has it, neatly tucked away into a compartment behind the cupholders.
The Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System is a $3,400 extra, but it offers quite glorious listening, especially for jazz.
So what's the verdict?
The BMW M8 Competition ragtop belongs to a genre of vehicle that I think of as rewards for life lived according to the disciplined application of skill or talent to lucrative purpose. Translation: Nobody needs a 617-horsepower convertible with a orange interior that can do o-60 mph in three seconds, but somebody wants such a machine, and for them the M8 is preferable to a harshly sprung sports car or a high-velocity automotive plaything with no back seat.
A toy for grownups, then.
There's never been an 8-Series M car before, so purchasing one of these is historic, if that matters to you. (The M8 has also replaced the M6 in the BMW lineup, so you currently jump from M2 to M4, then to M5 and M8, if you're working your way up — and at the moment, the M5 is the only sedan.)
The M8 Competition is a genuinely fantastic car, but it is a throwback. It's purpose is to convey an affluent owner, at great speed, from point A to point B, with limited luggage and perhaps one companion along for the scenic, top-down ride. One might term this "stately pleasure."
Of course, with a o-60 mph time of about three seconds and a top speed that tickles 200 mph, not to mention all those M Sport goodies — Comfort, Sport, Sport-Plus, and Track drive modes, plus all the customizable permutations — and a suspension-and-handling demeanor that is indeed race-worthy, the M8 is more than a straight-line, high-velocity cruiser. It's muscle in a smashingly tailored suit.
In other words, a whole lotta car. Maybe too much, to be honest. While the 850i is suave, the M8 is sort of violent. In a good way, but still. The drivetrain's digital brain, in say Sport-Plus mode, wants to put the power to the rear wheels and genuinely burn much rubber. I drove the M8 right before I got into a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, which boasts an uncannily composed all-wheel-drive setup that cannot be flustered by mortals; but the M8 Competition, while not exactly insane, nurtures a spirit of greater threat. It reminded me of a German take on something like a Shelby Mustang GT350.
The segment that the M8 Competition proposed to lord over does appeal to me. I like sport coupes and grand tourers with great big engines up front and cramped seats in the back. The sheer impracticality of these machines suggests a life well lived, culminating in frivolous discernment and a no-apologies attitude.
You have other, more naff ways to spend $180,000. But the M8 lets you maintain your dignity, while still unleashing the demon, when the mood strikes. And the mood strikes often.
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