2025 BMW M4 Competitors Convertible: Brutally Quick Winter-Beating Drop-High

If you would like a blisteringly quick convertible that you may drive all by way of the 12 months, then the 2025 BMW M4 Convertible makes loads of sense. It’s surprisingly heat, snug and cossetting if you wish to go for a top-down cruise in winter, however put the highest up and dial every thing as much as Sport+, and it transforms into a real M automotive.

A Gorgeous New Coloration

As I used to be driving away from the BMW Romania headquarters, the place I picked up my G83 BMW M4 Convertible completed in beautiful Velvet Orchid II, the very first thing that struck me was simply how snug it’s. Even with the big customary wheels (19 inches within the entrance and 20 inches within the rear), for those who put it in Consolation mode, it looks like a correct cruiser with loads of give in its suspension.

This sudden cozy edge pairs very properly with the S58 engine’s ample low-end torque and the nice deep exhaust thrum, creating a really luxurious expertise. My tester had the usual seats, however the two-tone (black and lightweight Silverstone gray) Merino leather-based helped the inside really feel very plush, even when the automotive was missing the prolonged leather-based pack that covers the complete dashboard in cowhide.

It was additionally lacking the neck hotter built-in into the entrance seats beneath the headrests. This solely prices a number of hundred {dollars}, and it makes top-down winter driving even higher. Nonetheless, whereas I had the automotive, I drove it virtually completely with its prime down in temperatures hovering just some levels above freezing, and I even drove it on the freeway in these circumstances, and it was surprisingly good.

Between the heated seats, heated steering wheel and highly effective local weather system, the automotive can simply maintain you good and toasty inside so long as outdoors temperatures don’t go extraordinarily low.

New Steering Wheel

BMW made enhancements to the steering wheel within the 2025 M4 facelift, leading to a greater, extra snug grip in comparison with the pre-LCI mannequin, regardless of its comparable look. I’m not speaking in regards to the flat backside, however the rim itself, which remains to be good and thick, nevertheless it looks like you’ve got a greater grip and extra management of the automotive consequently.

Numerous Digital Adjustments

Though the M4 didn’t launch with the curved display array comprised of a 12.3-inch show in entrance of the driving force and a 14.9-inch central display, this acquired added within the pre-facelift mannequin’s second 12 months of manufacturing. What BMW did with the LCI mannequin was to take away just about all buttons on the middle console, forcing you to do extra issues by way of the display.

Whereas its iDrive 8.5 infotainment system is healthier than model 8, having to function the display for any of the local weather capabilities is a step again. BMW additionally eliminated the bodily button for steering wheel heating, regardless that I observed that there’s nonetheless a bodily button the place the third prong meets the wheel’s rim. It’s positively a button that clicks and never a chunk of unfastened trim, nevertheless it doesn’t appear to do something.

My First Rodeo with an xDrive M3/M4

This was my first time driving a G-series M3 or M4 with all-wheel drive. I had solely skilled the M3 Competitors and M4 Competitors with out xDrive, and whereas I completely cherished each, it was typically irritating that they couldn’t put their energy down in decrease grip circumstances.

My xDrive-equipped tester had no downside giving every thing it had time and again even when the tarmac I used to be launching it on was a bit damp and greasy. The distinction xDrive makes right here is frankly evening and day, and whereas it does add additional weight, complexity and value, after making an attempt it, I wouldn’t purchase a rear-wheel-drive M4.

Sending energy to the entrance wheels may corrupt a number of the suggestions that the driving force feels by way of the steering wheel. Nonetheless, the steering in new BMWs (M automobiles included) feels so indifferent that there doesn’t appear to be a distinction between automobiles with and with out xDrive. Steering really feel might be the one space the place this M4 convertible tester didn’t dwell as much as my expectations.

I ought to have recognized, having beforehand pushed G-series M automobiles (the most recent being an M2 Competitors), that steering really feel isn’t a robust level of those automobiles. Nonetheless, I observed that it didn’t actually have an effect on my confidence to push the automotive into corners because it made up for the shortage of really feel by way of its precision and the well-judged variable ratio.

Weight Doesn’t Matter. A lot

One other factor that didn’t appear to have an effect on the automotive a lot by way of the corners was the convertible mannequin’s additional weight. Between the additional chassis strengthening meant to keep up torsional rigidity when taking the roof off and the electrical folding prime, the convertible weighs about 330 kilos (150 kilograms) greater than the coupe.

I attempt to take most particular BMWs to drive them on my favourite twisty mountain highway, and the 2025 BMW M4 convertible was no exception. I additionally drove the M4 coupe on the identical highway, so I had a fairly good concept about what it felt like. What stunned me within the drop-top was that even with the additional weight (which pushed the automotive over 2 tons with a driver on board), it felt incredible by way of the corners.

It didn’t really feel like there was extra inertia pushing you off your required line. It felt virtually equivalent to the hardtop, though it didn’t really feel fairly as sharp or stiff. This turned instantly obvious after I drove over some unevenness within the highway, which made the complete steering column really feel prefer it moved backward and forward.

The convertible’s decrease stiffness turned apparent when the dashboard creaked and appeared to maneuver when going over potholes or sharper bumps. I by no means observed something of the sort in any hardtop M automotive, so I’ll attribute it to the cabrio physique. Nonetheless, neither of those was an actual downside, and over most sorts of highway imperfections, you don’t discover it.

A Marvelous and Highly effective Engine

With 523 horsepower (530 PS) and 497 pound-feet (650 Nm) of torque underneath your proper foot, accelerating in a 2025 BMW M4 convertible is actually breathtaking. That is the case in any BMW with the S58, however you actually really feel all of the efficiency in an xDrive-equipped mannequin, particularly launching from a standstill.

With solely 20 horsepower greater than non-xDrive fashions and the identical torque, you will not be ready for the way a lot faster it feels off the road—I definitely wasn’t. It feels means faster than the claimed 3.7 seconds to 62 mph (100 km/h) would counsel, and it retains pulling laborious by way of the primary 4 gears.

A Refined Transmission

BMW might have additionally tuned how the eight-speed automated gearbox feels within the setting with essentially the most brutal shifts. The perfect praise I will pay it’s that it looks like a really, quick single-clutch, SMG-type transmission that offers you a kick within the again with each shift. Couple this with the game exhaust that appears to trigger explosions behind you and going by way of the gears in one in every of these automobiles turns into fairly a particular and satisfying expertise, even whenever you don’t rev near the crimson line.

Pops and Bangs

The exhaust was one other spotlight of this automotive, made even higher by the truth that it was a convertible. I’m positive some sound is pumped in by way of the audio system, however the engine with its intoxicating straight-six sound and the characterful cacophony popping out of the again. It sounded incredible given the truth that it additionally had a particulate filter, which is understood to make exhaust sounds much less thrilling.

What I’d have favored, although, is for the pops, bangs and crackle produced by the exhaust to be a bit much less even and predictable. After spending a while with the automotive, you begin to anticipate when it’s going to make which of these sorts of noises, and it begins to really feel a bit synthetic. Mercedes-AMG does this higher than BMW, and automobiles like the brand new AMG GT 63 sound actually thrilling consequently.

Costly, However Price It

Total, I used to be actually impressed by the 2025 M4 Competitors Convertible LCI, which value over €126,000 as examined. It’s costly, positive, and a bit heavy, plus you’ll be able to actually drive the value up for those who begin ticking choices packing containers. Nonetheless, it has bonkers efficiency that’s simply accessible because of xDrive and all of the settings that you may play with, and it will possibly additionally really feel like an opulent and complicated cruiser whenever you need it to.