This car came through BMW Individual, the programme that lets a buyer specify colours and materials outside the standard catalogue. It is finished in Tactical Green with a Merino Tartufo brown leather interior, and carries the Individual High Gloss Shadow Line trim — which darkens the window surrounds, spoiler, exhaust tips and mirror caps — along with the Individual Anthracite headliner. None of those options are easily found together.

The convertible uses a soft top rather than the folding hard top of the previous generation. It is 40 percent lighter, which lowers the centre of gravity, and it opens or closes in 18 seconds at speeds up to 50 km/h. Multiple insulation layers keep noise and heat out, so it is quieter inside than a fabric roof suggests.

The engine is the 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six: 510 horsepower and 650 Nm, through an eight-speed automatic and xDrive all-wheel drive. 0 to 100 km/h takes 3.7 seconds, with the top speed limited to 250 km/h.

Losing a roof costs rigidity, so BMW added underbody bracing and bolted the rear subframe rigidly to the body, alongside the Active M differential and adaptive M suspension. The standard brakes use six-piston front calipers on 380 mm discs; this car has the optional M Carbon Ceramic system instead, with gold calipers and larger discs — 400 mm front, 380 mm rear.