BMW 3 Series Convertible Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: BMW 3 Series Convertible range
Prices: £31,255-£54,855 - on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 16-20
Emissions: 157-309g/km
Performance: [335i] Max Speed 155mph / 0-60mph 5.8s
Fuel Consumption: [335i] (urban) 20.8mpg / (extra urban) 39.8mpg/ (combined) 29.7mpg
Safety: Twin front airbags, twin front side airbags, ABS /DSC / brakeforce display
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height 4580/1985/1395 mm

Balance is Not Always the Key

Our Rating: No Rating Available

They say everything should be balanced, should have an equal-right and wrong, day and night, matter and antimatter, heaven and hell. But with cars, that is not always the case. Sometimes things need to be unbalanced for it to be perfect. BMW's 3 Series Convertible proves this.

If the roof of your car is hard top, meaning it is made of metal and other materials, and then it would be difficult to make the car balanced. There would be a lot of revisions and costly improvements like relocating the fuel tank. Or to make things much easier manufacturers can take the cheaper route and just put a bag of cement in the passenger's footwell. Downright inelegant and impossible.

For years, manufacturers have been developing the drop-top but now there is a greater demand for the hard top roofs. The earlier versions of the hard top is the two-fold, BMW opted to have the newer or more modern three-piece system so there is no need for a distended bottom to accommodate the larger sections of the two-piece. But the problem with this is that the luggage space would then be lessened. You get a 350-liter available luggage space if the roof is in place but if you fold it, there would only be a remaining 210-liter luggage space. That is a lot less than all the other car's rivals namely the Mercedes CLK Cabriolet and Audi A4 Convertible to name a few. But this is just the one drawback you have to think about.

It takes a matter of 22 seconds to close/open the roof. There is improved visibility of 38 percent because of the larger glass rear screen and side windows, with less room for blind spots. And this way, the backseat passengers would not feel so closed-in. The rear backseat can be folded so that there will be an extra luggage space if the previous figure is not enough. If it is still not enough or they have bigger items then they can specify a loading facility.

The lineup of this range starts with the 320i SE Convertible with 170bhp, higher than this are the 218bhp 325i and 272bhp 330i models. Next is the 306bhp 335i convertible priced at £40,770 in M Sport design then the 420bhp V8 M3 model which is the flagship model. There are the diesel variants with the lowest 177bhp 320d, the 196bhp325d and 245bhp 330d.

Prices are at 31,255 to 54,855 and insurance groups from 16 to 20 depending on the engine and performance. Carbon dioxide emissions are pegged t 157 to 309g/km and with 335i it has a max speed of 155mph and can go from standstill to sixty in 5.8 seconds. It has a fuel economy of a combined 29.7 with the standard safety features.

It is not cheap but compared to other convertibles that are not on par with the BMW's performance and engine then this definitely is a very practical choice. This is absolutely a range that must be looked forward to.