(aud) and I had it within the hour! 
A brief background on the actual car, it was the first and only in the M3 series to be V8 powered before BMW re-introduced the 6 cylinder for the next generation F80 series..
For more information please click this link to visit the Wikipedia page.
So lets get on with it eh!
Firstly, I'll apologize in advance for the finger prints all over the model.. It is gloss black after all and the only remaining pair of cotton gloves I have I left in my pants pocket and they are going through the wash as I write this review..
This model features fully opening bonnet, boot, doors and a mechanically functional folding roof. On the outside the models proportions look true to form and the metallic black paintwork is deep and consistent throughout with just the right amount of metalic sparkle. The only blemishes I found in the paint are on the bonnet but they aren't too bad and you can only see them certain light or viewing angles.. I'm sure they could be polished away so I'm not too fussed about it.
The only thing I could pick about the overall visual appearance would be the wheels do look like they could be slightly too large but maybe its their bright silver finish next to the dark exterior paint giving the illusion they are bigger than they actually are.. Still the model looks fantastic! Panel gaps are quite tight and consistent throughout with clear and defined detail lines and edges. Front and rear ride heights looks spot on in my eye. The model sits well and has a great stance!
Up front the twin nostril vertical slat grilles are perforated and highlighted by nicely molded chrome surrounds. The BMW bonnet badge appears to be a separately molded part with clearly printed logo and legible lettering. This model has registration plates fitted front and rear which is something I don't usually like on a model car but seeing these are realistic looking Euro rego plates and not Kyosho or BMW branded then I'm happy to let this one slide.
The main engine cooling opening has nicely detailed perforated meshing revealing the radiator detailing behind. The side vents however are not perforated or hollowed out. A minor gripe but they still look ok. Head lights are a little on the plain side but perfectly match the conservatively designed lights of the actual 1:1 car. There are nicely molded high/low beam and blinker assemblies all placed behind a crystal clear lens. A missing detail is the parking sensors.. Hey maybe these were an optional extra!?
The bonnet has the typical M3 power bulge and looks accurately shaped to the real car. There are two small vents but only the drivers side is a see through part though not perforated. The vent on the drivers side does line up with the air intake hole of the air box in the engine bay and the passenger side vent appears to be a heat outlet hole but is not see through or perforated. Windscreen wipers are molded nicely. From the photo below it is hard to see the paint blemishes on the bonnet.
The small vents on both front quarter panels have finely printed M3 lettering and visible tri-color stripes on the chrome plated bars. The vents are not see through nor perforated but at this small size I guess they really didn't need to be.. The vents do look great though!
The rear end is a similar affair to the front. The tail lights are all molded nicely. The clear sections for blinker and reverse lights are well defined. The rear meshing is perforated and the exhaust tips are hollowed out far enough to give the proper effect of exhaust tubing. Tube thickness could have been a fraction thinner but they still look the part and the muffler looks good too! Rego plate is exactly the same as the front.. And as with the front, the rear parking sensors are missing..
The top mounted third brake light molding is done well and the BMW badge is an exact match to the bonnet badge. The M3 badge is nicely done and has the tri-colored stripes. On the top of the boot lid there is the radio antenna which is also a separately molded piece and looks well done.
The uniquely styled "M" only cars side mirrors are very well molded and all mirrors have a reflective mirror surface.
Moving on to the interior cabin of the model. I'm glad I found a model with these color combinations as some of the other colors available I didn't like the interior color combinations. The tan on black has a great contrast and helps highlight the detail and sculpt of the interior.
The cabin is very well detailed. All buttons and dials are clear and well defined. Steering wheel looks accurate with all the appropriate wheel mounted buttons and BMW logo on the airbag/horn cap.
Flooring is covered in a carpet like material which looks and feels like the real thing.
The two toned driver and passenger front seats in particular are molded very well and each have nicely printed stitch and seam lines. There are also seat adjustment buttons on the sides. There actual fabric seat belts with well made and correctly sized buckles. From this photo you can also see the sill plates with M3 logo. All very nicely done.
Drivers accelerator and brake pedals are fairly simply molded but look ok. The brake pedal does look to be sitting too high but having not driven one of these cars I wouldn't know if this is how they actually are or not!? Still better they are there than not at all I guess..
The rear passenger cabin area and seats are also done very well. There is a nicely detailed center console section.
And something I discovered completely by accident whilst writing this review is the rear seat has a fold out center arm rest! How cool is that!
Turning our attention to the wheels, tires, brake disc's and calipers.. All wheels spin smoothly and easily and feature pass though brake calipers. The wheels are very nicely molded. Wheel nuts aren't painted a different color but still look good. There are no air filler vales but the center caps have the BMW logo identical to the bonnet and boot badges. Tires appear to be properly proportioned with realistic tire tread pattern design but do not have any tire brand or size markings on the sidewalls.. The front disc rotors do look a tad small compared to photos of the real thing and surface finish is too shiny. Also the crossed drilled holes are a bit too big. Brake calipers look ok but do look rather bland. This seems to be accurate to the standard issue brakes of the real M3 cabrio version. I did buy a set of Estoril Blue front and rear calipers from a dismantled Kyosho M3 GTS model on ebay which were quite cheap. So I will replace the boring standard looking calipers with these. I think it will look good! Let me know your thoughts on that idea..
The rear wheels and brakes are a similar affair to the front with only slightly smaller diameter disc's and smaller calipers.. these too will be replaced.
The front wheels do steer but only very minimally.. shown in the photo is the maximum range of movement being no more than a mere 20 degrees. And the steering wheel rotation seems even less than that!
There does seem to be some suspension travel but its only about 2mm up front and 3mm for the rear.. I don't see any springs so maybe this could be down to free play in the suspension components perhaps..??
The underside of the model is fairly average. There is definitely more happening at the rear of the car than the front. All of the suspension components are molded but nothing moves.. The exhaust system and heat shielding look ok.
There is the model brand, type, scale and place of manufacture molded onto the floor pan. Hey not even my stupidly expensive Fronti-Art Koenigsegg Regera has that! LOL!
What I believe to be the lowest point of the model is its awful engine bay..
Clearly it would seem that Kyosho put the majority of the effort elsewhere, the roof in particular and the engine bay got the left over dregs.. 
The engine detail is a single poorly molded piece of black plastic other than the few lines placed here and there.. There are a few small printed and painted details such as the red oil dip stick, some green on of the fluid reservoir bottles, the printed logo on the washer bottle cap and the tri-color stripes on the engine cover and that's it! 
Everything else including the struts towers and braces, radiator support and engine bay surrounding are very poorly crafted. And not to mention those big ugly cringe worthy dogleg bonnet hinges.. Considering how nice the model is everywhere else, the engine bay is (pardon my French) total sh!t. They could have put a little more effort into it and made the dog legs hinges smaller or thinner, added a pair of bonnet struts and painted a few more details on and around the engine. 
To be perfectly honest with an engine bay this bad on this nice a model then they should've just not bothered at all and made the bonnet a sealed section.. If it wasn't for all the other nice details and that wonderful folding roof then this model's engine bay would have definitely been a deal breaker for me. 
And finally moving on to what is clearly the highlight of this model, the functioning mechanically folding roof! Its a little daunting at first try and all the moving parts do feel quite delicate but once you have folded the roof in and out a few times it doesn't seem so scary anymore. The boot lid is double hinged allowing normal operation when the roof is deployed. The whole boot lid also moves rearwards away from the car to allow the folded roof to lift out of the boot space. All just like the real thing!
There is a strip of fabric which I assume is to assist you raising the roof assembly out of the boot. I am grateful that its there but its just as easy to use your finger to lift out the roof so either way it can be done quite easily.
There is also a spring loaded peg inside the boot that you press from the underside of the model which I also assume is there to assist in deploying the roof.
Folding the roof out, firstly you need to open the boot to the very rearward open position. You can either grab the strap to lift out the roof enough to grab it with your fingers or push the button from the underside as shown in the photos above..
Then lift out the roof assembly so its now positioned directly above the rear passenger seats.
Next you will have to fold down the small tabs on the parcel shelf as shown. Once both are fully folded in then close down the boot lid. Be careful with those little tabs as they do seem very fragile!
Next, fold out the rear window section so it positioned just over the parcel shelf.
Move the forward roof section up and forwards giving you access to the middle roof section. Then lift the rear section upwards so it joins up with the rear window. Move the rear window down onto the parcel shelf and than you can lock down the forward roof section in place and line it up with the upper windscreen frame.
There are two little magnets on the top of the windscreen frame which help hold the front section of the roof nicely in place and seem strong enough to not let the roof detach when the model is placed upside down.
Well that's basically it! Then to fold the roof back into the boot, simply reverse these steps exactly. Its quite straight forward actually. Just keep in mind that there are many small and delicate components including teeny weeny little springs which could spring out and be lost so please take it slow and gentle when operating the folding roof.
Once the roof is fully closed it lines up pretty well. I have found that there are a few small plastic locating tabs which don't allow the two roof sections to sit completely flush as you can see in the photo below. I guess they could be trimmed down a little to help make the roof section fit more snugly but I'm not so sure I am that adventurous to attempt modifying the roof! I wouldn't want to damage it beyond repair..
It does look great as it is nevertheless!
And as you can see when the roof is fully deployed it looks 99% spot on! You can see the hinge joints on the rear roof section but seeing how well all the rest mechanical components are hidden from view this is really nothing major and expected. I think they are visible on the actual car too anyways..? Other minor gripes are the rear window has no visible demister lines on the glass section though from the photos on the internet I can't quite tell if the actual car has them or not.. They also could have made the doors include the side windows and include separate add in rear quarter windows for when the roof is on (or off). But the car still looks great as it is without them. Besides I will be keeping this model on display with the roof down as I don't have that many open top cars in my collection..
Final thoughts on this model? I have to say even with the extremely poor engine bay that I am very pleased with this model. It has many high points and I absolutely love the folding roof gimmick!
It definitely makes the model! To be perfectly honest, if it just had a removable non folding roof section or was a fixed cabrio design then I simply wouldn't have ever bought it.. So would I recommend this model? Absolutely yes! Even to non BMW collectors! It really is a fantastic model. Awful engine bay aside, Kyosho have done exceptional work on this and I am more than happy to have this model on display in my collection! 
