One or two minor glitches aside, the cockpit area of the 120i convertible represents BMW at its clear-thinking best.
Simplicity is all in the layout of the controls, while the driving position allows the wheel to be pulled close to the chest of even very tall drivers. Apart from pedals fractionally offset to the right, the relationship between the driver and his or her primary controls is exactly as you’d wish.
If you stray beyond the driver’s seat, more significant problems arise. The rear seats are suited to small children only and even they will find legroom behind an average-sized adult seriously restricted.
There’s also precious little space to store anything, with a small number of tiny, all but useless trays and bins and a pathetic glovebox.
The roof, however, works very effectively; BMW says it takes 22sec to raise or lower, and we timed it at 24sec up/23sec down on a cold day. Best of all, and unlike its rivals, it can be operated at any speed below 31mph, so there’s no longer any need to stop, or crawl along at walking pace to operate it.
However, though air flow is managed very well with the roof down, with the hood up there is more wind noise at motorway speeds than you’d expect from the equivalent closed car.
There’s no question that the 120i SE convertible is an expensive purchase, albeit one that’s likely to hang on to its value longer than most rivals.
Once it’s yours, however, it should prove exceptionally cheap to run. Not only is the engine outstandingly frugal, but it is also a low CO2 emitter, which means cheap company car tax and Band D Vehicle Excise Duty. During its time with us it returned an overall figure of 31.2mpg, providing a real-world range of at least 360 miles.
In SE trim, the 120i is reasonably well equipped, but would you hope for a wind deflector, seat warmers and a rain sensor to be standard on a 25 grand convertible? Us too.