Our round-up of BMW M soft-tops begins with the M6 Convertible of 2005- 2010. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, granted. More pertinently, it’s not only expensive to buy but also expensive to own and, if anything goes wrong, too expensive to fix.
That’s why dealers aren’t interested in stocking examples that are very leggy (up to 90,000 miles is their limit, and most prefer no more than 60,000) or cheap (from around £16,000 is where they start). For less expensive examples, you’re looking at private sellers. That’s not necessarily a problem, since you can tell a lot about a car from its owner. Have your chosen M6 expertly inspected and you could stumble across a bargain.
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The M6 is powered by a 5.0-litre V10 producing 500bhp. Apparently, the coupé version was faster than the M5 saloon – or maybe that’s an urban myth. Anyway, most examples send all that oomph to the rear via a gearbox that has a flaky reputation; even some BMW specialists won’t touch an automatic M6 unless they’re totally satisfied the shifter is okay.
That’s why we plumped for an extremely rare manual: a 2007 car with 62,000 miles, which leaves plenty of room for a good warranty.
There’s no mention of its service history, however, which is a pity, because you want to be sure the conrod bearings have enjoyed fresh oil regularly. We would also check the clutch, because it has a habit of slipping from around 50,000 miles. Also on the test drive, we would feel for juddering caused by worn control-arm bushes. If that’s not enough, the suspension uses electronically controlled dampers that cost £600 per corner to replace…
