2022 BMW M4 Competition XDrive First Drive Review: This Drive is Secure

The 2022 BMW M4 Competition Convertible xDrive should appeal to a lot of people.

The regular M4 Competition is a quick and capable sports coupe, one we enjoyed aplenty last summer. And we liked the M440i Convertible just a month later, a grand tourer with just the right amount of edge.

Both of those rides were true-blue rear-drive models. Now the M4 comes with BMW’s xDrive all-wheel-drive system, promising even quicker acceleration and an added dash of all-weather drivability. What that means for the M4 Convertible is its confirmation as a card-carrying member of the grand tourer club.

(Editor’s Note: due to a camera issue, you’ll find a mixture of our own photography [red car] as well as that provided by BMW [blue car].)

BMW staggered the rollout of the different M3 and M4 variants, saving the xDrive models for 2022, to debut alongside the drop-top version of the latter. If you’re gunning for the xDrive, then be prepared to level up to the Competition trim, which unlocks the full-power version of BMW’s delightful turbocharged inline-six. That’s a chunky 503 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, hitting all four contact patches via the excellent ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic. Sorry, three-pedal fans: if you want a traditional shifter, you’ll need to stick to the basic 473-hp, 406-lb-ft, rear-drive M4. Or the four-door M3.

Like the other 4 Series drop-tops, the M4 Convertible ditches the complicated folding hard top of previous generations for a simpler fabric roof. Don’t think this is some lightweight sports car, though: curb weight is a faintly believable 4,306 pounds (1,952 kilograms), over 470 lb chunkier than the basic M4 coupe.

With the top up, the proportions are better than the convertible’s predecessor. Dropping the lid takes just 18 seconds—same as going up—and you can do it on the move, up to 31 mph (50 km/h).

I could go on about the looks, but it’s been over a year now. The embiggened kidney grille nose reminds me of Audi’s swap to the shield grille almost 20 years ago: shocking at first, inelegant always, but less shocking each passing day. More important is how the M4 drives.

With the move to AWD and the weight it brings, the M4 drives like a 85-percent scale M8. It is searingly, deceptively quick in a straight line, the xDrive seamlessly shuffling the power between the axles. There’s no muss, no fuss; just the M4 trying to pin its nose to the horizon. The 3.0-liter inline-six is linear and responsive. Opening up the roof allows a little more of that classic soundtrack to find your ears too, though it’s still a little subdued for my tastes.

As is the case with other M cars, there are myriad driver-selectable settings. The buttons on the shifter control transmission speed; dive into the M menu and you can alter powertrain, steering, and brake feel to taste. There are also two red buttons on the steering wheel to save your favorite setups to, for quick one-button access. Electronically controlled dampers offer three levels of tuning as well. As expected, Sport Plus is too stiff for road duty, but Sport is just fine, and Comfort is very livable without going floaty.

Initial turn-in is pin-sharp, which immediately sets the M4 apart from the lesser M440i models I also drove during the same event. There’s reasonable feedback from the wheel, and a good amount of weight in Sport; it becomes artificially heavy beyond that. Once committed to a corner though, the M4’s prodigious girth makes itself known, with a resistance to course-correction that doesn’t appear in the lighter coupe. Even with the sticky summer tires, it’s just enough hesitance to leave you second-guessing through canyon roads, forcing the driver to back off.

That’s okay: the M4 makes so much more sense as a quick, accomplished grand tourer. The transmission is so well-judged, there’s plenty of grip at all four corners, and the brakes are super-simple to modulate. If you really want rear-drive antics, you could always disengage AWD. But that doesn’t alter the curb weight.

The M4’s interior hasn’t changed much for convertible duty. It’s still the familiar, ergonomic setup, with a hexagonal center dashboard section housing the most common controls, with a 12.3-inch infotainment screen up top. Every material feels up to snuff, from the soft-touch plastics to the (generous amounts of) leather and Alcantara. I’d personally skip the played-out carbon fiber trim for something better suited to the red-and-brown color combo.

The seats in my red tester are the less-aggressive “base” options, the ones without the fancy carbon backing and awkward leg-separating bulge. They still do an excellent job of holding me in place through a zip up and down the canyons, and make ingress and egress so much easier. Space in the rear row is pretty tight for adults—maybe those carbon-backed thrones would be practical—and the roof will make contact with hairdos.

For a small sum, BMW will fit the M4 Convertible with neck warmers, which blast heated nape-ward. Not super necessary outside Palm Springs, but an important add-on for my countryfolk back in Canada.

iDrive 7.0 remains a relatively easy-to-use infotainment system. On the plus side, the redundant rotary knob makes it handy to navigate without much attention. On the other hand, there are a little too many sub-menus to dive into. I do appreciate the ability to nudge the dial north to handle the top menu, making swaps between (wireless) CarPlay and the native system a cinch.

Ahead of the driver is another 12.3-inch screen. Its dial display is crisp and fast-acting, and the ability to pin navigation in the center is oh-so-handy. What’s more, the instrument panel and head-up display work with Apple Maps too, so you don’t necessarily need to use the native system if you’d prefer. If you do, a simple “hey BMW” gets the virtual assistant ready.

Automated emergency braking, forward collision warning, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert are all part of the standard package. This tester includes the upgraded driver assistance pack, which pairs adaptive cruise control with the usual lane-assist features, plus a front cross-traffic alert, road sign assist, and automatic lane changes.

Pricing for the drop-top M4 Competition xDrive begins at $87,295 ($105,380 CAD). You can have the tin-top version for $7,500 ($8,600 CAD) less, and the RWD iteration of that for a few thousand less still. This model took a somewhat restrained walk down the options list, but that still resulted in an as-tested price of $104,295. Canadian options are slightly different, so the closest equivalent you’re looking at north of the border is $126,275 CAD.

That’s a lot of coin for a 4 Series. Like, more than the practically-loaded C8 Corvette we drove this year, and close to the Porsche 718 Boxster GTS 4.0 that beat it. Admittedly, both of those are strict two-seaters. Look for something that can offer the same level of performance and carry three of your friends and the M4’s sticker shock is less severe. We’re in-between Mercedes C63 generations, and it doesn’t seem like a convertible is coming. The RS5 Convertible is gone, too. A 911 4S Cab will cost about 25-percent more, and any adult you stick in the back will hate you.

AWD has had a marketing-led success story on par with toilet paper. Everywhere you look, more and more cars are sending their power to all four wheels. Since BMW brought it over to the M5 and M8 from its’ M-badged crossovers, it was only a matter of time before it showed up on the smaller M4. Broader appeal and all that.

The 2022 BMW M4 Competition xDrive Convertible is a sharp grand tourer. For those who need the absolute top-of-the-line, all-bells-and-whistles M4, this will satisfy. The switch to AWD does make it feel like more of a fast-forward M440i than its own unique beast, however. Those looking for something a little purer, a little more focused, will want to stick to the rear-drive model. Or hold out hope for the next M2.