BMW M440i Convertible
First Drive · BMW 4 Series
Category: Luxury Convertible
Engine: 3.0L B58 Inline-6
Price: ~₹1.05–1.10 Cr (est.)
The M340i already set an impossibly high bar. Now BMW has answered Mercedes' E450 with something rawer, freer, and far more seductive — the M440i Convertible. Does it make the case for spending more and getting a little less practical? Absolutely.
When BMW launched the M340i, it quickly became one of our top picks in the performance saloon segment. Practical, fast, and deeply satisfying to drive, it made a compelling case for itself in a congested luxury market. But Mercedes had an answer — the E450, equally swift and wrapped in plush German opulence. BMW's response? Stop talking about practicality altogether. Enter the M440i Convertible: a car designed to make you feel something.
This is not the M4. It won't embarrass supercars or turn a track day into a masterclass. But that was never the brief. The M440i is BMW's grand tourer for those who want passion without punishment — and on that promise, it delivers emphatically.
375
Horsepower
4.9s
0–100 km/h
3.0L
B58 Inline-6
xDrive
AWD (Rear Bias)
19"
Alloy Wheels
Design: A Statement on Four Wheels
M4-inspired kidney grille and sharp digital DRLs define the 4 Series face
The M440i makes no attempt at subtlety. Up front, the M4-inspired kidney grille commands attention immediately — wide, bold, and flanked by razor-sharp digital LED daytime running lights that give the car an almost predatory expression. It sits on 19-inch alloys that fill the arches with authority.
Rear diffuser & twin exhausts
Around the back, the styling is equally resolved. A sculpted rear bumper houses a twin-exhaust setup flanking a proper diffuser — details that remind you this car means business even when parked. The overall silhouette, with the soft top raised, is long and elegant. Drop it, and the M440i transforms into something genuinely cinematic.
Boot space is a tale of two configurations. With the roof up, there is ample room for weekend luggage. When the soft top is retracted, the boot shrinks considerably — an unavoidable compromise of the convertible format. But anyone buying this car already knows that. The roof-down experience more than compensates.
Interior:
BMW Refined — And Then Some
Curved iDrive display, premium trim, and a chunky M-style steering wheel
Settle into the driver's seat and the 4 Series cabin immediately echoes the 3 Series architecture — but with a premium uplift. The signature BMW curved display dominates the dashboard, pairing a digital instrument cluster with a wide touchscreen in a single sweeping arc. It is intuitive, feature-rich, and unmistakably BMW in its logic and layout.
Trim quality is excellent throughout. Textured soft-touch elements wrap the dashboard, and the overall construction feels genuinely premium — not just ticking regulatory boxes. The 12-speaker Harman Kardon audio system fills the cabin with rich, detailed sound that holds its own even at speed.
The steering wheel feels pulled straight from an M car — chunky, tactile, with a red stripe at 12 o'clock and flappy paddles large enough to never miss in a hurry.
On the left spoke you find ADAS controls; on the right, audio management. The heads-up display is genuinely useful — one of the better implementations in its class — with a directional mode that makes it a true co-pilot in daily driving. A thoughtful touch: the seat belt extends forward automatically when the door opens, which you will appreciate every single time.
BMW has clearly been listening. The M340i's firmer seats attracted comment; the M440i's are noticeably softer, with improved cushioning and extended thigh support. They land somewhere between the typical BMW bucket and a Mercedes comfort seat — and that is exactly the right place for a grand tourer.
Rear accommodation is honest: this is functionally a two-seater. Knee room is tight, thigh support minimal. Adults on longer journeys will struggle. Children or short hops to dinner — perfectly fine. BMW never designed this row for transcontinental comfort, and the car's proportions make clear that the front two seats are the story.
Engine & Performance:
The Beloved B58
Under the long bonnet sits BMW's celebrated B58 3.0-litre inline-six — the same unit found in the M340i. Here it produces 375 bhp, channelled to all four wheels via xDrive with a deliberate rear bias that makes the M440i quietly eager when the road opens up.
The convertible is heavier than the saloon — structural reinforcement is inherent to the open-top format — and that shows in the 0–100 km/h figure of 4.9 seconds, about half a second slower than the M340i. In practice, you will never notice. Press the accelerator with intent and the B58 responds with the kind of surge that makes dual carriageways feel like race circuits. The power delivery is not brutal or abrupt; it is relentless and refined — quick rather than savage.
Press the accelerator and this thing just darts. It moves like a rocket. Quick, fun, fast — and unlike the Z4, it feels like a serious, full-sized grand tourer doing it.
The rear-biased all-wheel drive makes the car playable at the limit. On the right surface, the M440i will drift with surprising composure — not a party trick, but genuine driver engagement that separates it from its purely front-biased luxury peers.
Ride, Handling & Daily Life:
This is where the M440i genuinely surprises. The suspension tune is softer than the M340i — measurably so — and it transforms the car's daily character. Urban imperfections that would jar in a harder-sprung performance car are absorbed with composure here. The M440i will happily eat broken city roads without complaint, which matters enormously in the Indian context.
Handling remains quintessentially BMW — precise, responsive, and deeply confidence-inspiring — but the edge has been taken off in the best possible way. You are not white-knuckling through every corner; you are enjoying them. If you want to push harder, the M2 is the car for that conversation. The M440i exists in a sweeter, more liveable register.
ADAS systems work unobtrusively. Lane-keep assist nudged the car back into its lane crisply during our test. Ground clearance, a perennial concern on Indian roads, proved adequate across varied surfaces including some notably rough stretches during a brief drift exercise.
What We Love:
Intoxicating B58 inline-six soundtrack
Softer, more comfortable seats than M340i
Excellent daily ride quality
Stunning convertible styling
Rear-biased xDrive for driver engagement
Feature-rich, intuitive iDrive cabin
Genuine head-turner on Indian roads
Trade-offs to Know
Significant wind noise with roof down at speed
No neck warmers (rivals offer this)
Very limited rear passenger space
Heavier than M340i — slightly slower
Boot shrinks considerably with roof down
Convertible adds a premium over saloon
How It Stacks Up: M340i vs. CLE 53 vs. M440i
The M340i remains the pragmatist's choice — slightly quicker, a little more practical, easier to live with every day. If maximum performance per rupee in the BMW range is your primary metric, the saloon still wins.
The CLE 53 AMG enters this conversation as the M440i's most natural adversary. It brings greater luxury ambiance and a slight performance edge, but carries a premium price tag. Once the M440i's Indian pricing is confirmed — estimated around ₹1.05–1.10 crore on-road, placing it close to the E450 territory — it will represent a compelling value argument against the CLE 53. If both land at similar price points, the choice becomes genuinely difficult, and a head-to-head comparison would be very telling indeed.
For now, the M440i holds a trump card: it is a convertible. That alone earns it extra points in a market where open-air grand tourers are vanishingly rare at any price. The experience of the roof retracting, the engine note expanding into the sky, and that B58 wail echoing around you — no spreadsheet captures that.
Our Verdict:
A Masterpiece of Balanced Desire
9.2 / 10
The BMW M440i Convertible is not the most practical car in its segment, nor the fastest, nor the most focused. It is the most desirable — and that counts for everything when you are spending this kind of money. It tops our BMW shortlist, ahead of the M340i, and that is no small statement.