We sampled a Euro-spec 125i, which happens to be a 3.0-litre with 218bhp, but Singapore-bound cars will 2.5-litre engines with identical power output – great if you’re tax-averse, less so if you’re a torque junkie.

But even with the more torquey 3.0-litre, and a six-speed manual, there’s little kick to the Convertible’s performance. The engine spins so creamily and sings so sweetly that it feels and sounds like something fueled on pure honey, but the BMW is a heavy car and feels like it.

If you’re in a hurry, there’s no way to get around it: you have to wring the engine to its 7,000rpm redline, so it’s just as well that doing so is an experience to savour,

At 1,585kg, the Convertible is a portly car, thanks to extensive structural reinforcements that BMW says were necessary to get the body’s stiffness and strength up to desired levels.

Indeed, many wobbly-bodied cabriolets are all over the place when the road gets twisty, but the BMW’s absence of body flex allows the suspension and steering to do their work properly, resulting in the kind of steering accuracy that lets you really gun it from corner to corner. The tyres do work hard to tie the car down, but they generate plenty of grip through all but the tightest corners, which ultimately cause the car’s mass to assert itself.

It’s actually surprisingly softly-sprung, the BMW, making a smooth show of things over rough roads, but with hints of floatiness over high-speed undulations.

Overall, though, the 125i is nicely-balanced and a proper handler, and by far the best car to drive in its class.

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