The M240i convertible is certainly good, clean, top-down German motoring fun. To be honest, however, I didn't think it was quite as good as the M235i, although it isn't a fair comparison. I think the M235i had more snap because it wasn't a drop-top.
Otherwise, there isn't much to grumble about here. The single flaw — and Zhang and I both noted this — was some pop lacking on launch. It's as if the turbo were taking some time piping the juice to the wheels. But this vanishes in second gear, and from there on up to fifth it's party time. That said, the 0-60 mph is a quick 4.6 seconds (a few tenths quicker with the automatic), and the top speed is 155 mph.
The car has great balance, and in Sport mode, the handling, suspension, and acceleration combine to form what might be one of the best vehicles for carving up back roads that money can buy for less than sixty grand. I certainly adore the M2, but for my moolah, the M240i is a better everyday value. (FYI, the convertible adds about $5,000 to the price tag, while the M2 we sampled was about $54,000.) The M240i also seems as if it really, really wants to rotate at times, so if a dab of oversteer is your bag, this could be an excellent choice in automobiles.
As it typically is the case with convertibles, I spent quite a bit of time just tooling around in the M240i, rather than burning up the pavement or thrashing the corners. Ragtops just engender that mood in me. I wasn't even particularly bothered by the rev-matching feature, which ensured perfect downshifts every time, even if you're doing your own, feeble rev-matching simultaneously.
You can buy cheaper drop-tops, but the M240i has assembled so much juicy bimmer-ness in one package that you're likely to be tempted. I sure was. But then again, I think this strain of BMW is almost ideal.
By the way, the MPGs are a decent 19 city/29 highway/23 combined, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Taking the top off the car reduces its overall rigidity and makes it less tight in the corners. That said, you really won't notice it much unless you're pushing the car very hard. My colleague Ben Zhang felt that the top stowed kind of slowly, but it didn't bug me that much.
The engines aren't hugely different. The M2 and M24oi are running turbocharged inline six-cylinder units of 3.0 liters each, but the M2 cranks out more horsepower. Beyond that, the M2 has a limited-slip differential, which makes for more sure-footed handling at speed and has a stouter suspension.
Bottom line: The M2 is something of a track weapon, while the M240i likes winding country roads.
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