The New BMW M8 Gran Coupe Is Just As Bonkers Fast As The Two-Door

Consider this delightful dilemma. You want a BMW M8, but it’s not practical enough. You could go for the M5, but it leaves you wanting for style. Thankfully, BMW has recognised this potential plight and engineered a solution: the M8 Gran Coupe.

We all knew it was coming - don’t forget, BMW chose to first preview the M8 with a four-door Gran Coupe concept at the Geneva Motor Show last year. And while the production version is understandably less spangly, it’s quite a handsome brute, don’t you think?

The coupe version of the BMW M8 is a car we struggled to work out at the launch last month, but in this more practical guise, it might just make more sense. How much more practical? Well, the wheelbase is 200mm longer, making room for both the extra pair of doors and the knees of whoever fancies sitting in the back and being taken for a 616bhp ride. At least they’ll be able to keep themselves cool thanks to the new four-zone climate control system.

Boot space hasn’t been mentioned, but it should match the regular 8-series Gran Coupe‘s 440-litre luggage compartment. If your M8 needs to take a particularly bulky load, the rear bench has a 40-20-40 split-folding arrangement.

The weight penalty for all this extra practicality? A mere 70kg. As such, the M8 Gran Coupe - powered by the same 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 as the two-door - hasn’t lost any performance. In Competition form, the M8 GC will go from 0-62mph in just 3.2 seconds, and if you tick the right option, it’ll go on to a top speed of 189mph.

The 592bhp base M8 - which won’t be available in the UK - is only a tenth behind. It does, however, lose some of the Comp’s snazzier suspension tweaks like increased negative camber, and it misses out of some of the fancy drive modes.

Power is sent to all four wheels, although it is possible to switch to ‘2WD’ mode and have the rears powered only, while also switching off traction and stability controls. If that sounds like a recipe for big tyre bills and/or a big crash to you, there’s the 4WD Sport mode to consider. This gives the M8 a much greater rear bias, while still giving the safety net of powered front wheels.

Like what you see? You’ll be required to put down £120,935 before any options. This puts the M8 Gran Coupe right in the crosshairs of the Porsche Panamera Turbo and the Mercedes-AMG GT 4 Door.