BMW 4 Series Convertible M440i 2021 UK first drive

The car for anyone who turned their nose up at the first-generation BMW 4 Series Convertible (2013-2020) for looking too much like the Coupé version and, as a result, the 3 Series Saloon on which they were both based.

In switching from a metal roof to a fabric one and carrying across the new-gen coupé’s controversial front end, the second coming of the folding-top BMW 4 Series has far more road presence - especially in range-topping M440i guise. It's wider, longer and ever so slightly lower, and that new vertical grille (more lungs than kidneys now) ensures no one will mistake it for a G20-generation BMW 3 Series any time soon. 

The most potent powertrain in the line-up, at least until the BMW M4 Convertible arrives later in the year, it’s only here that the 2.0-litre four-pot of lesser models is exchanged for a meatier 3.0-litre six-cylinder, which sends 369bhp and 369lb ft to both axles via BMW’s xDrive all-wheel drive system. Unlike other territories, the UK won’t be getting a rear-drive-only version.

We've already driven the M440i on the Continent, but this is our first experience of it on UK roads.

The extra structural strengthening that comes with a folding roof means the new convertible carries a 150kg weight penalty over the coupé, which translates to a little under half a second longer in the 0-62mph sprint.

It’ll still get you to the legal limit at a rapid pace, with an eagerness to rev and an engine note that goes from dulcet to cacophonous as you approach the redline. There's definitely some audio synthesis going on, but you hear less of it with the roof down, and the active exhaust will still put smiles on faces as the engine spins beyond 6000rpm. Like a lot of modern BMW powertrains, the B58 engine avoids feeling overly boosty, with an almost (but not quite) linear response to throttle inputs.

The eight-speed transmission is more than responsive enough when left in automatic, so you don’t feel the need to take manual control with the wheel-mounted paddle shifters whenever you attempt a manoeuvre, like you would in the equivalent Audi. It just picks a gear and goes, rather than juggling ratios indecisively. Its 48V mild-hybrid technology helps fill in some gaps at low revs, which makes for smooth getaways and navigating stop-start traffic.

More impressive are its refined motorway manners, where it becomes a relaxed cruiser that lets passengers speak to, rather than shout at, one another. Roof-up isolation is very good, if not class leading, and with the wind deflector fitted, long top-down journeys are no sweat.