BMW M4 Competition Convertible review

As we said, this particular open-topped M4 is only available as a four-wheel drive Competition variant, but that top-of-tree spec is what most people would order anyway, so that’s not so much of a surprise. It’s also one of the few genuinely four-seat performance convertibles available at the moment, and also one of the cheapest. Which sounds odd to say about a car that will cost over £83k basic. Of course, you can go higher - a lot higher. The M4 might be well-equipped as standard, but you can option pretty hard. Different paint can be a no-cost option to varying from a grand to around 4k extra. The 19/20-inch ‘826M’ forged alloys and track tyres cost £850 (reasonable, if pointless), there’s the M Pro pack (carbon brakes and gold calipers) for £8k (£7,995, but who’s counting?), the M Carbon pack for £6,750 which includes those M Carbon bucket seats, variously priced comfort, visibility and tech packs. Then there’s the Ultimate pack for £13,250 which lumps a few of the more common packs together. Put it this way, you can have a hundred grand M4 convertible with ease.

But be careful - the configurator makes some colours look quite reasonable - in real life they’ll poke your eyes out. For instance, the ‘Kyalami Orange’ looks brown on the computer, but is more KTM/emergency services on the road. Mind you, whatever eye-bleed, resale-killing spec you choose, cheap, this is not. On leasing, you’re probably looking at a seven and a half grand deposit for 36 months at 10k miles per year, with £1,250 a month. But if you like fast and wind-in-your-hair with friends, there are very few better places to be.