2005 BMW 645 Test Drives

The Mighty 645 Coupe & Convertible

The toughest part is deciding whether you want a convertible or hardtop.

"Wow!" said my neighbor.

Said gawking neighbor was "wowing" at a $76,300 BMW 645Ci Convertible parked in my driveway; a few weeks earlier the same neighbor slowed to a crawl as he drove by, giving two solid thumbs-up (and momentarily taking his eyes off the road) as he gazed at the cousin of the 6 series convertible, the $69,300 645Ci Coupe sitting in the drive.

HIGHS: Killer looks, brutish style, excellent handling LOWS: How to decide between the convertible and the hardtop?

Both cars are huge head turners. But they've also got something else: A certain menace to their mien that other cars in this class and price range -- the $70,000-$80,000 Mercedes-Benz CLK500 coupe and convertible, the $81,000 Maserati Cambiocorsa Coupe and the $70,000-$90,000 Jaguar XK series cars -- lack. To get a car with this level of performance (more on that soon) and this sort of big-muscled styling, you have to look at a Porsche 911.

The 911 is actually a good car to compare with the new 6 series. The 911 comes as both a coupe and convertible, and the prices are quite similar as well -- unless you start steering hard toward the top-end performance editions such as the 911 GT 2, which has a MSRP of $191,700.

Why not compare the BMW to the Benz, the Jag or the Maserati? We will, but as you'll soon understand, these are very different breeds of automobile, with both the Maserati and Jaguar leaning toward a certain quirky exoticism and the Benz going entirely the other direction, toward quiet refinement.

We think BMW engineers and designers knew all this going into the 6 series project, and we think they were right to not follow the lead of their competition. BMWs are meant to be different -- to be for drivers first. The 6 series is just that kind of car, with a few updates to the usual BMW swagger that we love, and a few we dislike.

All of that aside, the hardest decision may not be between this car and any other, but between the convertible 645Ci and the one with the fixed lid. To see why we're so darned smitten, keep pedaling the pages forward.