First Drive: 2014 BMW 435i Convertible

Az Issam
lundi 27 janvier 2014
1 Comment

Convertibles are not so hot . Open -top cars have never sold well in the United States , but sales were down 2 per cent of all cars sold in 2012 to just a meager 1 percent in 2013. Knowing this, I approached the launch of the BMW 435i Convertible 2014 with Beware - some say jaundiced - eye toward not only the car but also the segment. Talk to decide even thinner niche. You can also talk about relevance, as obviously there is not much in terms of raw numbers . BMW as it turns, four-seater convertibles on the market do not suffer nearly as much as pure seaters . In addition, the old 3 Series Convertible represented a "significant" share of sales of the 3 series . BMW is weird with numbers. For example, I was told a US- only manual transmission option in M5 accounts for " 10 to 50 percent " of sales. With that in mind ... BMW replaced the 3 Series Coupe and Convertible Series 4. What has not been said enough is that series 4 is a little more than just a two - door 3 . Not only the four long and wider than 3 , it is much lower. In addition, the Series 4 Cabriolet is 10mm lower. As the old E92 3 Series Convertible , the new 4 retains the folding metal hardtop . The descent and ascent process is even more slippery, but it still takes about 20 seconds. BMW said sound absorbing materials in the roof are good to eat up to 2 db of noise , and you can now increase or decrease up to a speed of 11 mph. I do not know why BMW bothered pointing out that the last piece , either. I guess if you drive a car park and it is rain , it is useful. But 11 mph is absurd slow, even by Los Angeles standards Sig alert. To return to the comparison E92 , the new convertible is 2 inches longer , 40 percent stiffer and weighs ( according to BMW ) 44 pounds less . BMW also claims a drag coefficient of 0.33 cd with the top down, and 0.29 cd with the top up , if I had a wind tunnel . I think the convertible is more beautiful than the coupe. A rare feat . Anyway , so far, so good.

As for driving, it is also good. BMW has chosen not let us loose in the powerful 435i , as opposed to the less expensive turbo four banger 428i . As for the F30 and F32 series April 3 go , I preferred the 2.0-liter cars with inline - vau faster yet superfluous. Call it a thing of balance. However, when driving a convertible hardtop ( F33 BMW - speak) , how a car tiptoe around the edge of the blade of a vertex is much less important than straight-up floats . As such , I think the big engine is the best choice here , especially for lazily cruising along next to your favorite body of water . ( Or through the eyes poppingly picturesque Valley of Fire Nevada . Enough to know that the park rangers maniac really mean when they say 35 mph ) . Explosions highway 80 mph are hassle free , no type - hair - muss non -event. With the top folded , there hood shake. The vibrations are particularly susceptible to the dead pedal through under moderate to strong acceleration . But hey, this is what happens when you cut up a unibody vehicle. Chassis bracing , even the variety of heavy Bavaria , can not do everything. Despite tremors, 435i Cabriolet flies on a twisting road exactly as I expected . That is to say , about as well as a bare breasts cut box . There are a couple of sticking points . One is the hydraulic loading Assist, an option so complicated, I'm having trouble thinking how to describe it . Here goes nothing : When the top of the 435i is down, the metal is folded in the manner of storing your rollerboard Tumi (assuming yours is less than 7 cubic feet or more equal or because it is amount of trunk space you have with the top down. Haut, you get 13.1 cubic feet) . The solution is an up / down button on the trunk lid. Press this button , and the entire top is folded hydraulically raised about 8 inches so you can access the storage space underneath. There are still one of those annoying convertible covers that must be in place before the summit will move. Hydro help load takes about 15 seconds to move the top up , but only a few to lower . To me, it seems unnecessarily complex. Chalk up Occam's razor needs a good sharpening from time to time .