The steering wheel is alive, sending back to your fingers little messages about the surface below, little sags in resistance to your turning, little tugs off the straight path. The driving position is long-arm Italian, which is to say mildly awkward. Each of these 6-Series forebears was a unique automobile, distinguished in both engineering and esthetics from its sedan stablemates. This is only a tenth of a second behind the last automatic-equipped Cabriolet we tested August 2002. It pounces on corners, tracks flat through the apexes, and devours the straights with a burly snarl from the V8.
Have we railed enough against the odious iDrive controller that substitutes German computer mouse-think for simple knobs and buttons? Interior needs a good cleaning and some repairs as well. It shows its relative best on the skidpad at 0. Rear window operation is controlled from the driver's door-mounted switches, which can be programmed to lower or raise all five windows simultaneously using a single switch. The radio-and-nav arrangement gets 29 buttons and two knobs, if we counted correctly, all black. Don't be afraid of long trips away from home. In the Germans you see plastic cladding evoking--no, make that simulating--what some graphic-design intern thinks cold fusion would look like. With the top up, the convertible shares the organic profile of the coupe we tested earlier this year January 2004.
It's small and ferocious and unexpectedly torquey. But it couldn't be formed in steel or aluminum. Let's just say, in the clinches, big horsepower gets respect. Bleached without chlorine, suitable recycling, the fastest way to find specific topics, to use the index, refer page 197, we have made every effort ensure that. A bull market can't be far behind.
From 2008, active became a standard feature on all seat options, reducing the risk of neck injuries in a rear-end collision. Nice trick, but there's only one seat to go for in the Coupé--the left front. This car makes you want to risk getting a ticket every day of the week. Powered by a 4-cylinder engine in 2-liter form, it came in two forms - 2000 C with 100 hp, with 120 hp. The M6 is powered by the 5. Maybe, though, a couple acres of black buttons all shoved up tight against each other--miss one and hit an uh-oh--maybe that's rational but not sensible.
There are three six-speed transmission choices: a Steptronic automatic, a sequential-manual gearbox, and a flawless manual. This is also supplemented by the company's Automatic Rollover Protection System, which deploys two roll hoops behind the rear seats when the possibility of a rollover is detected. A special polyurethane coating is used on the top's inner surface in an attempt to bring top-up interior noise levels close to those of the coupe. Generally, these switch between two paths for air entering the engine: one tuned for low- to medium-speed operation improving torque and response , the other improving top-end power. It cuts smartly when you turn the wheel, right up until-- surprise--it doesn't, just like a simulator. Its coupes and convertibles date back to the late 1930s, however.
Yet the 6-Series is anything but a mere re-bodying of either of these sedans. The ride is firm, but not so whole-grain crunchy as it sounds. Formerly, two different adhesives were necessary for these two functions; using only one saves 6. New Clutch with less than 5,000mi. Mercedes' brakes infamously respond with a long, dead, do-nothing zone at the start of pedal travel.
The coupe's nose pitches down just a little. Whether insuring a priceless historical vehicle or a weekend cruiser, no one knows more about insuring collector cars then Grundy. Family ties to the big 745i sedan lurk in the oversize grille kidneys, the smoothly groomed flanks, the single thin swage line along the side, and the boxy trunklid. When the surfaces are rough, you hear about it in full fidelity. The side character line starts on the thermoplastic front fender, streaks across the aluminum door skin, and fades away into the steel rear quarter-panel, all the while maintaining perfect shape uniformity despite three completely diverse materials. It's an extravagant system, allowing you to have your shifts or your leisure with no commitment to either. The system takes some getting used to and has left a few of our staff to question why a company known for its exceptional steering felt compelled to fiddle with it.
It is an excellent value for the money when it is compared to the other two or three other comparable sports car convertibles in its class. Each is powered by the brilliant 4. King of most roads, in fact: 0 to 60 in 4. Maybe, but we have no way to isolate that feature to test it apart from the overall feedback built into this new chassis, shared with the 5-series. The follower is held in place by an eccentric shaft, rotated by a small servo motor in response to the driver's accelerator-pedal movements.
The front brake calipers are of aluminum, which further reduce unsprung weight. There isn't even a coolant tempature Guage. Now, a decade later comes this new line of 6 Series cars. The later 8 Series coupes, sold in the U. This car has a commanding presence. The suspension is straight 5-series: a strut braced by two spindly aluminum links in front and beefy cast-aluminum lower control arms in back assisted by a pair of lateral links on each side, all mounted to a tubular aluminum crossmember.
Still, compared with iDrive, it's thrilling! There aren't to many negative's with this model. This is ground zero for combustion, and you're invited to enjoy it. Features both optional and standard include active anti-roll bars, variable-ratio steering, left-and-right-swiveling xenon headlamps, and an iDrive computer console with a porkpie superknob. The standard transmission is the heavier-duty version of two new 6-speeds introduced in the past year. It has an automated clutch, no pedal.