BMW M Coupe...Continued

What We Looked At:

Roominess And Comfort: The M Coupe is strictly a two-seater with a comfortable but tight cabin -- roominess is not the point of this car, fun is! The heated 4-way power driver and passenger sport seats offer excellent support with large side bolsters to hold the occupants in place while cornering at high speeds -- an inevitable experience given the purpose and capabilities of the car. Leather trim is used throughout, including the seats, door inserts, armrests, steering wheel, shift knob and boot and the handbrake grip and boot. Air conditioning is standard as are cruise control and power windows.

The interior is an upgraded version of the Z3 offering and comes in black or one of several two-tone color schemes. In the two-tone schemes black is combined with either a Dark Gray, Imola Red, Estoril Blue, Evergreen, Dark Beige or Kyalami Orange. The highlight color appears in the center of the instrument panel, the door inserts, portions of the sports seats, armrests, center console, gear shift, brake levers and steering wheel spokes with a dramatic effect. The seats are sculpted in a similar manner to the M3s with curving lines in the insets. All of this combined provides a dramatic, cockpit-like and aggressive interior.

Standard in the M Coupe is an anti-theft Harman Kardon AM/FM stereo radio/cassette audio system. Nine speakers are spread throughout the cabin. The woofers, for tight crisp bass, are located ahead of the doors below the instrument panel. The tweeters and mid-range speakers for bright high-end and good stereo separation are in the doors at shoulder height. Additional mid-range speakers have been placed in the ceiling behind the seats. Finally there is a large sub woofer in the cargo area for ultra deep low-end. What this means is, in the rare instant you wish to drown out the wonderful growl coming from under the hood -- as you blast down a mountain road -- you can completely surround yourself in music -- an experience that is much like having headphones for your body. If you want to take this experience to the next step you can orchestrate it with the available 6 CD changer -- one of only a small handful of options available on the M Coupe.

Sadly, the M Coupe is not available with a true retractable or removable moon roof. The existing optional pop-up moonroof only opens a couple of inches. We are sure the BMW engineers can at least make the moonroof removable so it can be stored in the cargo area thus giving the occupants more of a view and bring them closer to the out-of-doors to which the Coupe will be transporting them. (Please BMW we implore you to rethink this option as a full pop top would make the experience complete.)