The BMW M4 Competition Convertible is a huge improvement over the previous generation in pretty much every single way. It’s faster, more capable, more exciting to drive, and it also doesn’t feel like it’s made from soggy balsa wood. That last bit is the more important than most, as its newfound rigidity allows the M4 Convertible to provide genuine open-top performance thrills without falling apart. There’s one other improvement that helps its design — the soft-top convertible that replaced the hard-top.

With the soft-top convertible, rather than the folding metal hard-top, the BMW M4 Convertible look significantly better with the roof up. It’s more elegant and its roofline is smoother because of it. Performance-wise, there’s an improvement due to the soft-top, too. Not only is it lighter, that lack of weight drops the center of gravity and makes it feel better.

This specific BMW M4 Competition Convertible, seen in this photo gallery, is wearing a stunning shade of Frozen Portimao Blue that really amps up the special factor. As if a 503 horsepower, all-wheel drive, convertible BMW M car isn’t special enough, the frozen blue paint really makes it stand out.

Under the hood is a 3.0 liter twin-turbocharged inline-six engine with the aforementioned 503 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque. All of that power goes through an eight-speed automatic to all four wheels. Competition/automatic/xDrive is the only combination for the M4 ‘Vert. And it’s shockingly fast for its size and weight, capable of 0-60 mph in just 3.4 seconds. For the record, that’s faster than the fastest M3 or M4 of the previous generation and the exact same time as the Ferrari 458 Italia.

While its new grille still isn’t universally beloved, we’re all getting used to it and, with the ride paint/configuration, it can look quite good and this Frozen Portimao Blue model is a perfect example of that.