[BMWGUYinCO]

Hey Thrangster,
This is a great write-up and thanks for taking the time to document your initial impressions. I now have about 2000 miles on my '22 M850 Convertible and I wanted to add a few of my own observations in-line with your text:

Initial Impressions: Visually, the color combination (recommended by my son) is something I likely wouldn't have picked on my own, but my trust was well placed. The finish takes on various looks depending upon time of day and sunlight, (Absolutely agree - I have the Barcelona Blue and it changes noticeably as well depending on lighting) especially with the embedded gold flake. The Fiona red is not as bold as the web site would make you believe, and it all works extremely well.

However, the optimal interior color might be Midrand Beige, (only available on the M8 Competition however); if the color is close to what I see on the web, it may very well compliment the gold flake better than anything. (Well I have the Cognac interior and to me it is absolutely perfect - the color also looks expensive...)

The drive of the car is very good, though the car could afford to lose 300-500 pounds (AGREE!) to impart a more spritely feel. Sports mode acceleration is excellent, with no discernible turbo lag, and nice burbling (real and/or enhanced). Steering is very responsive, and corning as tested thus far is quite huggy (though push it an you will feel the extra poundage defining inertia in real time for you).

The car should be made available with non run flats, as the after-markets I put on noticeably improved road comfort. (Yep - I took off the Pirelli UHP Summers and shod it with a set of Vredestein tires - what a bargain set and greatly improved ride comfort) Still, given the shit roads we have in the northeast, I think the Comfort mode tuning could be even more forgiving than it is.

Interior Comfort: It's good, but here I would ding BMW a point or so in a few areas. First, the seats on this car should be 18 way with massage option. (I so miss the 18 way and massaging seats of my '18 M550) For a touring style car, you want maximum adjustability and comfort). Padding throughout is meager. Not only could th seat offer better cushioning, but the door and center armrests are quite thinly padded, (Fun fact! Did you know that these surfaces are heated?) and even things like the door handles could have some padding so it didn't feel like naked leather glued to aluminum (the door handles should feel like the steering wheel; taut, but with some give forgiveness you your grip.

Additional padding would feel more appropriate for a $120k MSRP car, but would also help with improving sound attenuation I think, depending on how and where applied.

I'm 5'11'' and 190, and wouldn't mind a scoutch more width to the seat pan and back, but its not terrible. Much bigger, I'm not sure how one might feel...

Interior Appointment: Overall, very nice fit and finish. The iDrive screen could be bigger and a slight redesign of the housing would fix that easily (and probably then match the other iDrive screen sizes, making it easier for BMW to source

The car is fairly quiet for a vert, though driving under an overpass expectedly reminds you of your roof choice.

Not sure if this is an interior/exterior comments as it lies in between, but the door hangs should absolutely be infinite-position hinges (or whoever the correct term is), not two-position. The door is large, swings out wide, and I am constantly battling it from closing back on me, especially when not on level ground.. I ding BMW for this as well.

I also got a $250 credit because they did not have the parts for wireless charging. Which is a good thing too, because the opening is so tight (iPhone 13 Pro Max), and so inconveniently located behind the cup holders, that I would be cursing a lot more if I were able to use it. (I did get the wireless charging and my iPhone 11 fits perfectly - it's a feature I would not want to do without TBH)

The car supports BMW digital key, which is ok in a pinch, but again, you need to place your phone in the charing tray to complete the car start. (Hunh - I actually haven't tried the digital key yet but will do so to see...) I can unlock with my iPhone or Apple Watch, though the Watch is hit or miss at the moment. The other thing is you need plan for when you're going to be parking with a valet, and bring your physical key, else you are out of luck. It would be nice if the digital valet feature could incorporate keyless driving for an 1/8 or a mile radius on your request (via PIN for security) to get around this...

Audio: The Bowers and Wilkins audio sounds better to me than the m850 tester Harmon Kardon, but doesn't sound better than the H&K that was in my x7. At the moment, I take this to be the appreciable difference in interior cabin space helping create a better soundfield. But despite the face that its a vert, I played music very familiar to me, and was hearing things I did not really hear before.


Apple CarPlay integration is great, and you still get one year for Sirius XM, and it still sounds as shitty as ever.

Now you need to update your impressions post with some top-down driving experience! I think BMW did an incredible job with the wind deflector and I have driven the car at 80 mph and there was absolutely no wind buffeting inside the cabin whatsoever except for the very top of my head. Note - all windows were up at the speed. And, if you haven't yet driven through a tunnel in sport+ mode and floored it, you're missing out on a fantastic sonic auditory experience! Speaking of the top - I use one of those sticky lint rollers to pull dust etc. from the fabric top, and I also bought the water repellent solution from BMW to maintain it. Another little tip - keep a Swiffer duster in the garage to occasionally wipe the dust off the interior. Last observation - this iteration of the autonomous driving (below 40 mph) is really good - I would call it very near to full self driving...it works amazingly well in traffic but it's tricky to engage. Hope you enjoy many miles of top down driving smiles!