Golf Clubs Win, New BMW 4 Series May Be Soft-top Only
by
Aaron Cole
Finally, BMW got my letter that the folding hardtop in its 4 Series convertible didn’t leave enough room for my tour bag and comically gigantic TaylorMade R15s, so they’re ditching the whole thing, German site Bimmertoday is reporting (via Road and Track and Automobile).
The convertible hard top can weigh roughly 500 pounds, Automobile reports. Cutting back to a soft top could shed some of that weight and spare space in the the trunk.
The German report also says that BMW’s Z4, co-developed with Toyota, will also have a fabric top instead of a folding roof.
The new 4 Series should arrive around 2021, after the all-new 3 Series hits the streets in 2019.
Already, the BMW 2 Series and 6 Series have soft-top roofs.
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S-Class Coupe! S-Class Coupe! Four door S-Class Coupe! http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/top-2007-Mercedes-Benz-Concept-Ocean-Drive.htm
Bout time they figured it out. I for one want to tour in my convertible, which means having a bit of luggage space, which means soft top. The current retractable hardtop Z4 and SLK have such pitiably small boots when the top is retracted that they are useless as tourers. The weight and hopefully cost reduction associated with going back to a soft top is an added bonus.
I beg to differ with most comments. I have had the soft-top E46 for 5 years, and I just purchased a hard-top E93. Both are lovely cars. Granted the trunk of the E93 is a tad smaller than the E46, but, I still found a way to fit my two daughters, wife, in the front, and a suitcase in the trunk for a week long road-trip. And the E93 hard-top is just gorgeous. While there is some extra weight, the extra protection against the elements, plus the soft top needed to be stored under a roof when snowing, plus the looks tilt strongly the scale towards the hard-top. The new soft-top would have to be shaped really nicely and a step above the old E46 to win me over
Having a very tough time believing that a folding hard top weighs 500 lbs. Maybe they're adding the weight of chassis stiffening that an open car needs sometimes, but...not 500 just for the folding top ass'y.