BMW surprised most everyone at the Detroit Show when it announced sub-$60,000 pricing for the new M3 coupe and sedan ($57,275 and $54,575, respectively, to be precise), but surprised no one when it casually revealed the third member of the M3 family ahead of an official Geneva Show unveiling in March. The M3 convertible shows off the same retractible hard top as BMW's lesser 3-series droptops, burdening the 414-horsepower, 4.0-liter V-8 with an extra 450 pounds. Still, the airy M3 will get up and go: 60 mph arrives in about 5.2 seconds, and the speedometer needle will swing all the way to 155 mph before the computer intervenes. Delivering the power is a new dual-clutch six-speed automated transmission that speeds up gearchages by anticipating and pre-selecting the next gear with one clutch while the current gear is still engaged by the other.
See more photos of BMW's M3 convertible after the break, courtesy of BMW.
