BMW's oh so sexy ‘Six’

Let's be honest, most convertibles with the roof down are the equivalent of swimsuit models in terms of sex appeal. That is probably why the planners in Munich went with launching the convertible version of BMW's new 6 Series first, before unveiling the hard-top coupé.

But having just spent some time with the coupé I'm not so sure that topless beats evening gown, if you get my drift. Which is very evident in the coupé, it certainly has the curves to turn heads. It looks like the real deal, and in my opinion is the sexier of the pair.

On test here is the 650i which, contrary to what the shiny silver numbers on the boot-lid insinuate, is actually a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 pushing very respectable outputs of 300kW and 600Nm. Power delivery is merciless from idle to limiter, leaving the rear tyres and the traction-control systems throwing their hands up in despair. In overtaking terms, getting from 60km/h to 80km/h takes just one second, 80 to 120 takes just another four. That's the level of responsiveness we're talking about. Not to mention that the 0-100km/h time is 5.3 seconds (BMW claim 4.9). Not too shabby for something this size.

As Spiderman once said, with great power comes great responsibility, and the Germans have thrown in buckets of wizardry to keep the Six responsible. We've seen most of the tech in other ranges already, but they're certainly worthy of mention again.

My favourite is Drive Dynamic Control, which is standard in the 650i (but not in the sibling 640i and 640d) and allows you to flick between Comfort, Sport and Sport+ settings which progressively sharpen throttle, suspension and steering responses. It's not just a gimmick; get your teeth into the last two assault modes and you feel everything tighten up in terms of road manners.

Sport is the happy medium, but forget a smooth ride - the accelerator goes into hair-trigger mode. Comfort, and more so Comfort+ (linked to the Adaptive Drive system) is where most buyers will live, and this setting - coupled with the silky-smooth eight-speed gearbox - keeps the shark from any sort of feeding frenzy. Comfort is also the reason we managed a respectable 11.6l/100km consumption figure.

Debuting on the coupé is also quite a wicked set of Adaptive LED headlights (standard in the 650i), which, besides being amazing at night, add a new look to the car's nose.

Boot space is very decent but rear legroom is a joke; how a car this big could be so lacking in it is beyond me.

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