2010 BMW 650i Convertible photos

The BMW 6-series is a big, powerful car with very good handling, something BMW is known for. In convertible form, it makes for a fast open-air experience. For the 2010 year, the 650i picks up new BMW cabin tech, but still has last year's engine.

Adaptive headlights are one of the options included on this car. When the wheel is turned, the lights pivot a few degrees to better illuminate the turn.

The 2010 650i is powered by the same 4.8-liter V-8 as the 2009 model. But the 650i lags behind BMW's 7-series in this regard, as the 750i uses a 4.4-liter V-8 with twin turbos, making substantially more power without sacrificing fuel economy.

There is plenty of room for the front seat passengers, but, as is typical with this kind of car, the rear seats offer little legroom.

The convertible top is completely power activated, merely requiring the driver to hold down a button. When stowed, the convertible eats up a small amount of trunk space.

With the top down, the profile of the 650i is bland. The rear of the car has an unfortunately designed trunk lid that looks like a growth on the back of the car.

Handling in the 650i is very good, with a suspension that limits body roll in the corners.

The design of the cabin hasn't changed from 2009 to 2010, but the entire navigation unit is new. It uses an internal hard drive for map storage, with space reserved for music storage.

A button on the right spoke of the steering wheel turns the lane departure warning system on and off. This system causes the whole steering wheel to vibrate when the car drifts over a lane line.

BMW keeps to classic-looking instrument gauges.

This car uses a six-speed automatic, that includes normal drive mode, sport mode, and manual shift mode. Its sport mode works well, keeping the engine speed high for power in the corners.

The iDrive controller has a number of buttons for quick access to cabin tech functions, something the old generation of iDrive lacked.

The new iDrive menu is one of the major updates for the 2010 650i. These stacked menu items are easy to search for any specific cabin tech function.

The navigation system incorporates traffic, and will dynamically route around bad congestion problems ahead, as long as it has a programmed destination.

This rotary interface, shown here for the Bluetooth phone system, is carried over to the navigation system for alpha-numeric input.

Satellite radio and HD radio are two of the broadcast options for the 650i.

For stored music, the 650i has a CD player, iPod integration, USB port, and onboard hard drive.

Music can be ripped to the car's hard drive from the CD player.