I'm Driving A BMW 8-Series Gran Coupe For Six Months: What Do You Want To Know?
The CT long-term test garage has had something of a reshuffle. The Renault Sport Megane has departed, as had (sobs) ‘our’ Mercedes-AMG C43. Our sorrow has been fleeting, however, as the Merc has been replaced with this handsome steed: the BMW 840d Gran Coupe.
It is, if anything, even prettier than the 8-series coupe, and also longer - to make room for the extra doors, the wheelbase is just over 200mm longer.
The base price is £72,155, but as you know, no one is going to buy one of these without optioning some stuff. Well, a lot of stuff, actually. Our Black Saphire 840d is specced to £81,370, with the priciest options being the £2900 ‘Technology package’, £2100 for the ‘Premium package’ - which includes soft-close doors and seat ventilation - and a panoramic sunroof weighing in at £1850.
Under the nicely sculpted bonnet is a 3.0-litre inline-six twin-turbo diesel, providing 316bhp and 502lb ft of torque to all four wheels. 0-62mph happens in 5.1 seconds.
But should you get the diesel, or the much more expensive, considerably more powerful V8? Happily, we’ll be able to find that out, as in May, we’ll be switching the 840d for an M850i GC.
We’ll be putting plenty of miles on both (yep, that’s going to sting the wallet once we’re in the V8), arranging twin tests, and also seeing how the M850i compares to the new M8 GC.
Is there anything you’d like to see us do with these 8-series GCs, or anything you’d like to know? Head to the comments.
Comments
Exactly how good of a cruiser is it?
Space in the back?
Is the center console in the rear annoying?
Any good as a family car?
What’s it like after 4+ hours, cars can be so hit and miss with that, and a few minutes never gives the idea of what it’s like after hours.
Rear console isn’t quite as much of a pain as expected - had an adult in the middle seat flanked by two kids in high-back boosters and had no complaints! Was only a short trip though
Is there room for indoor ski transportation? 🤔
No idea. Fits a long-framed, modern geo mountain bike in quite nicely though…
Tech in it, how does it compare to Audis? Does it have Android auto?
I would ask more driving oriented questions, but they got asked already
fuск tech
I-Drive is better - I don’t like the way Audi is going with the ditching of the tactile rotary controller. Touchscreens just aren’t as easy to use on the move. More distracting too.
Can you hypermile both from the uk round the nurburgring and back to the uk? What about a road trip to the catalunya track since f1 winter testing will begin soon? Last idea road trip to a wrc round.
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shit b8 m8, I r8 -8/8
b0ring
yes, a lot
Fist test
How much fuel does it use and how reliable is it?
Is it actually fun to drive or just fast(especially the 850i)? If you can test it: How well does it withstand a trackday(overheating etc)?
It did about 40mpg on a 90-mile run back from the airport after I picked it up, and that wasn’t being particularly careful. Will have more fuel economy info on our first report. Will see about getting some track time for it!
If this comes to the States in diesel spec, the aftermarket is already rife with ECU tunes and physical deletes for the gov’t bits. One can expect the torque numbers north of 675… That should bring the naught to 100 (km) down to the 4’s - making what is an already proper GTourer, a much quicker, and more efficient Ultimate Driving Machine
It won’t come to the US with a diesel lol, literally nobody would want to buy a diesel car in that category of what’s basically flagships. There is zero chance the diesel engine gets carried here.
How much of a chonk this thing is? Can we have Alex flexing his muscles for comparison?
Actually, i too would like to know how well this carries it’s weight (on both the 840 and 850). Is it wallowy in the corners? Do you feel the 2 ton weight? Do you feel much at all with all the softening and electronics? Where does it feel like the weight is sitting? etc…
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