The BMW M850i Convertible is great, but is it worth the cost?

[SOUND] We do tend to rather like a convertible in the UK. We tend to buy them for the one day of the year when the sun comes out for summer as we call it Of course at the point that you put the roof down, then everybody remembers that they have rampant hay fever, and it has to go straight back up again. But nonetheless, it doesn't seem to matter to us. Which bring us to this, the BMW 8 Series Convertible on a conveniently sunny day. Now I've driven the eight series and it's more sturdily roofed form with both diesel and petrol engines and the diesel actually seemed to make more sense to me. It cost significantly less has as much talk as the petrol handles just as well and having driven one from Geneva to Buckinghamshire on a single tank of fuel and with plenty to spare. It seems to better fit the car's remit of being a long striding GTA. However. In the convertible, it definitely makes sense. [INAUDIBLE] The petrol because it sounds. [SOUND] Rather wonderful. [LAUGH] What we have under the bonnet is the 4.4 liter turbo charged V8. putting on 523 brake horsepower and 553 pounds for the talk which are identical figures to the cute i the biggest change is probably the weight which is going to buy 125 kilos because we've got this motorized roof over the top that puts the kind of way to this just over 2000 Kilos to tons, 125 kilos more than the coupe. Having said that, in the same way that the coupe disguises its weight very well, so does this. It feels actually surprisingly nimble. It's a big car. But for mine, the Wally Doesn't feel that big it feels pretty agile. Thanks I think a lot due to that rear wheel steering with this car has which as we've seen on plenty of other cars just disguises mass and bulk incredibly well. The biggest concern of course of the car like this which you should be able to enjoy driving Whether it's become a floppy with the removal of the roof, and it's obvious pretty much straight away, even with this car and it's Sports Plus setting, that that's just not the case. They claim that in fact with the extra basing the rear bulkhead there, that this car is only 2% Less than the coupe. It does fit it. It still rides extremely well is very comfortable. It deals with all the bumps incredibly, effortlessly. Just as you think you should ready for a big car like this really is very impressive. That extra weight has hardly doubled the performance either was not to 62 miles an hour taking just 3.9 seconds and not point two seconds shy of a coupe. At 15 seconds the roof takes a little longer to fell on the fell, but it's still an impressive performance from the folding fabric. Really, you can't afford to put it in sports a small class the whole time because the ride is Excellent. And then you get to hear the pops and crackles on the exhaust on the overrun. [BLANK_AUDIO] For a car that looks like a big cruiser, you come to the corners, and actually, [BLANK_AUDIO] It's really nicely balanced. It does encourage you to Enjoy the driving, which is a lovely surprise. It's got that really nice bounce and if you chip it into a corner, you can feel like it is definitely rare biased. Against [UNKNOWN] sinks into its suspension nicely but it still feels accurate. [SOUND] It's very good. Something I don't think is quite so successful in this car is the interior. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just that for 107,000 pounds, or in the state that this car is in, 120,000 pounds, it doesn't really feel like a massive leap on from Or a well-spec'd 3-series, to be honest. And for this sort of car, this car that has that feel good attitude of the V8 and the roof down and the imposing looks. You want the interior to match up to that. For me, it doesn't. So where does this leave us with the 850 convertible. Well it leaves me a little befuddled if I'm honest I just find this car slightly confusing because it seems like a bit of an anachronism from a company that produces cool slick up to date cars like the i8. This feels like a bit of a throwback. I can't work it out, there's a lot I like about it but 107,000 pounds I just can't quite work out who is going to buy it. And that's the trouble, this is 911 Cabaret or Maserati Grancabrio. [UNKNOWN] In fact, given that the stack of our car was 120,000 pounds this is AMG GT roadster, even if the territory all slightly different cars I know. But nonetheless, the eight series has some stiff and I'm inclined to think more glamorous, if not more capable competition is a car to use on those few days a year. When you can put the roof down. [MUSIC]