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

If you need a blisteringly quick convertible which you can drive all by way of the yr, then the 2025 BMW M4 Convertible makes a variety 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 Beautiful New Shade

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 massive normal wheels (19 inches within the entrance and 20 inches within the rear), in the event you put it in Consolation mode, it appears 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 your entire dashboard in cowhide.

It was additionally lacking the neck hotter built-in into the entrance seats under the headrests. This solely prices just a few hundred {dollars}, and it makes top-down winter driving even higher. Nevertheless, whereas I had the automotive, I drove it virtually completely with its high 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 hold 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 continues to be good and thick, nevertheless it appears like you will have a greater grip and extra management of the automotive consequently.

A lot of Digital Modifications

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

Whereas its iDrive 8.5 infotainment system is best than model 8, having to function the display screen for any of the local weather capabilities is a step again. BMW additionally eliminated the bodily button for steering wheel heating, regardless that I seen that there’s nonetheless a bodily button the place the third prong meets the wheel’s rim. It’s undoubtedly a button that clicks and never a bit 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 liked each, it was generally 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 over and over 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 night time and day, and whereas it does add further weight, complexity and price, after attempting it, I wouldn’t purchase a rear-wheel-drive M4.

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

I ought to have recognized, having beforehand pushed G-series M vehicles (the newest being an M2 Competitors), that steering really feel isn’t a powerful level of those vehicles. Nevertheless, I seen 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 further weight. Between the additional chassis strengthening meant to keep up torsional rigidity when taking the roof off and the electrical folding high, 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 reasonably good concept about what it felt like. What shocked 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 implausible by way of the corners.

It didn’t really feel like there was extra inertia pushing you off your required line. It felt virtually an identical to the hardtop, though it didn’t really feel fairly as sharp or stiff. This turned instantly obvious once I drove over some unevenness within the highway, which made your entire 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 seen something of the type in any hardtop M automotive, so I’ll attribute it to the cabrio physique. Nevertheless, 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 is probably not ready for a way a lot faster it feels off the road—I definitely wasn’t. It feels method faster than the claimed 3.7 seconds to 62 mph (100 km/h) would recommend, and it retains pulling exhausting by way of the primary 4 gears.

A Refined Transmission

BMW could have additionally tuned how the eight-speed computerized gearbox feels within the setting with essentially the most brutal shifts. One of the best praise I will pay it’s that it appears 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 vehicles turns into fairly a particular and satisfying expertise, even while 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 implausible given the truth that it additionally had a particulate filter, which is understood to make exhaust sounds much less thrilling.

What I’d have appreciated, 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 vehicles like the brand new AMG GT 63 sound actually thrilling consequently.

Costly, However Value It

Total, I used to be actually impressed by the 2025 M4 Competitors Convertible LCI, which price over €126,000 as examined. It’s costly, positive, and a bit heavy, plus you possibly can actually drive the value up in the event you begin ticking choices containers. Nevertheless, it has bonkers efficiency that’s simply accessible due to xDrive and all of the settings which you can play with, and it may additionally really feel like an opulent and complicated cruiser while you need it to.