Competes with: Mercedes-Benz CLS and AMG GT, Audi S7 and RS7, Porsche Panamera
Looks like: An 8 Series coupe with less sensuality and more practicality
Drivetrains: 335-horsepower, 3.0-liter turbocharged inline six-cylinder or 523-hp, twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8; eight-speed automatic transmission; rear or all-wheel drive
Hits dealerships: September
The rollout of BMW’s new flagship 8 Series continues with the unveiling of the 2020 Gran Coupe, a four-door coupe-style sedan that will join the two-door coupe and convertible atop the lineup.
Related: BMW Blows Lid Off 8 Series Coupe With New Convertible
The fastback sedan will be offered in three versions: a rear-wheel-drive 840i, an all-wheel-drive 840i xDrive and the M850i xDrive performance version. It will be the biggest and heaviest 8 Series model at 9.0 inches longer, 1.2 inches wider and 2.2 inches taller than the two-door coupe on a wheelbase that is 7.9 inches longer.
Pricing starts at $85,895 for the 2020 840i Gran Coupe. The all-wheel-drive 840i xDrive Gran Coupe starts at $88,795, and the M850i xDrive Gran Coupe starts at $109,895. All prices include a $995 destination charge. These new variants will join the coupe and convertible at U.S. dealers in September.
Exterior
The sedan’s styling is new from the less steeply raked windshield and back, and a sleek fastback roofline blends a trunk lid with an upturned spoiler lip. But overall it gives up quite a bit of the sensuality exhibited by the two-door’s body shape and surfaces, trading the purity of the styling for the practicality of its larger size and four doors.
LED headlights flank the large, one-piece kidney grille, and the aggressive bumper openings are functional. The heavily sculpted rear end features wide LED taillights.
A panoramic glass moonroof stretches from the windshield to the back window, though the M850i will offer a lighter carbon fiber roof that also lowers the car’s center of gravity.
Interior
The luxury cabin is familiar from the coupe model, just roomier, thanks to the added width and height. And the added wheelbase and length will make for more comfortable rear-seat accommodations than the tight coupe, as well as slightly more grand-touring-worthy trunk space measuring 15.5 cubic feet, not quite a foot more than the two-door. Rear headroom is up by 3.4 inches, legroom by 7.1 inches and shoulder room by 7.7 inches. The rear seat has a 40/20/40-split, folding back for more cargo room.
Front sport seats, and Nappa leather dashboard and door trim, are standard. Vernasca leather seats are standard on the 840i trim levels, with Merino leather as an option (standard on the M850i). A fancier Merino leather interior is optional for all. And the Gran Coupe gets its own center console that extends to divide the rear seats but still allow for a center passenger when needed. Ambient lighting also is standard.
The dashboard features a 10.25-inch touchscreen and center controls along with a BMW iDrive knob-and-button multimedia controller. A navigation system is standard, along with a 12.3-inch configurable instrument display and a head-up display.
Under the Hood
The 840i models get the latest edition of BMW’s 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder putting out 335 horsepower and 368 pounds-feet of torque and are mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission with standard paddle shifters and launch control. BMW says the rear-wheel-drive 840i Gran Coupe can accelerate from zero-to-60 mph in 4.9 seconds and the all-wheel-drive 840i xDrive can get there in 4.6 seconds. Both are speed limited to 130 mph with all-season tires and 155 mph with performance tires.
The brute is the M850i xDrive Gran Coupe with a 523-hp, twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8 putting out 553 pounds-feet of torque with an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. BMW says the zero-to-60 mph time is 3.7 seconds, while top-speed limits are the same as the 840i. The V-8 includes a standard flap-controlled sport exhaust system keyed to the 8 Series’ mild-to-wild driving modes, with the exhaust note in the most-aggressive Sport Plus most likely to unsettle your neighbors.
The eight-speed transmission’s electronic control system is capable of using data from the navigation system to alter shifting characteristics to suit current driving conditions, including downshifting early when approaching intersections and minimizing unnecessary shifts between closely grouped corners. BMW also uses navigation data and sensors that read the movement of other vehicles to avoid unnecessary activation of the stop-start system. The torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system is full time and rear biased. It has an electronic clutch that fully shifts torque between front and rear wheels. And adaptive shock absorbers are standard on all models. The 840i models get 18-inch wheels standard with larger sizes optional, while the 850i has standard 20-inch wheels.
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Safety
A full range of safety and driver assistance technology is offered for the Gran Coupe. Standard on all versions is a front collision system with automatic braking.
An optional Driver Assistance Professional Package adds a blind spot and rear-cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, lane-keeping steering assist, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, parking assistance and a 360-degree camera system. It also includes what BMW calls its Extended Traffic Jam Assistant that allows for semi-autonomous driving in congestion on limited-access highways at speeds below 40 mph.
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