Temperatures might be low outside, but BMW engineers are in the hot seat! Our spies caught them driving the new 1-Series Cabriolet, and as our exclusive pictures show in this week’s show, it’s got a soft-top.

The prototype was photographed testing on the busy streets of Munich, and while it’s wearing heavy body cladding - big cut-outs for the door handles and fuel filler give the game away - the cloth roof is clear to see.

The newcomer is inspired by the CS1 Concept, which was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in 2002. That also boasted a fabric hood, rather than a fashionable folding metal design, and had room for four inside.

Our images reveal how the road-going model is set to benefit from a heated glass rear screen to guarantee good visibility all year round.

Extra stiffening to the bodyshell means the baby cabriolet will offer typical BMW handling, while longer front doors aid rear access. Their frameless design should ensure stylish looks when the roof is folded, and make windows-down motoring a real wind-in-the-hair experience. A hard tonneau cover will also conceal the hood, giving a clean and uncluttered profile.

Advanced materials will provide the drop-top with good refinement, while alternative colour options for the fabric roof are also likely. Sun worshippers will have to wait for the new machine, though, as it isn’t expected to appear until at least 2007.

The Cabrio will be the third 1-Series variant. While the entry-level BMW is currently only available as a five-door, engineers are also developing a three-door model.

(this article was written by Ross Pinnock and taken from autoexpress.co.uk)

This entry was posted on Friday, February 10th, 2006 at 4:20 pm and is filed under New Cars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.