BMW dealer which is trying to sell their flagship car line, the 8 Series which consists of a convertible, a coupe, and a new for 2020 Gran Coupe is way too much these days. Its incredibly good looks and a wide array of model choices aren’t enough to sway customers.
More than 2,000 BMW 8 Series mobils are in transit. And of those, 700 are ones that dealers are waiting to unload on others. Known that BMW sold 4,410 of them previous year, that’s a lot.
Selling a new truck, car, or SUV is challenging at any time, but it’s especially difficult now during COVID-19. New car customers are more rare than respirators, face masks, sanitizers and toilet paper.
Having not offered the 8 Series for two decades, of course hasn’t helped matters. Neither has the fact that a more substantial, more roomier X7 crossover is every bit as opulent and starts less than the base price of BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe.
Never mind that we all prefer SUVs to cars, no matter what the price, the X7 is exquisite, frequently spotted at private schools, the perfect luxury family bus for the upper echelon, country clubs, and gated cul-de-sacs. As BMW’s ad slogan once suggested, although, if not the “ultimate driving machine,” the X7 is best among the “ultimate being-driven-in machine.”
8 Series’ mission is much more elemental to BMW’s long-promoted marketing as a driver’s car, one that’s enticingly wrapped and beautifully built. With the broadest rear track of any BMW, with active shutters flanked by LED and laser headlamps, its face features an oversized twin-kidney grille that is very much identical to the 8 Series Coupe and Convertible.
Its look is monied yet mean. But things change once driver get past the windshield, where the design takes on an eloquently flowing taut contour that is at once makes it romantic yet sporting. Its sloping rear backlight gives a suggestion that form matters more than function, something right of anything so rarified and lovely. And look closely, it’s larger than it seems.
The base model 2020 BMW 840i Gran Coupe is fully powered by a turbocharged inline-six-cylinder engine 335-horsepower 3.0-liter with either rear- or all-wheel drive. The M850i xDrive which is next to come with far more muscular 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 523-horsepower and standard all-wheel four wheel drive. Finally, the BMW M8 Gran Coupe with the same V-8 dishing out 617 horsepower with an eight-speed automatic is standard.
BMW offered up the M850i xDrive. M denotes BMW’s motorsports division, for those who don’t know, which endows BMW with additional athleticism, along with M-specific appearance items, including pedals, footrests, seats, steering wheels, door sills, and other things. It’s a bit much and a bit too new money.
The differences may not be noticeable to everyone but the speed-obsessed. The M850i’s 3.7 seconds versus the 840i needs 4.9 seconds to reach 60 mph, versus Beyond the 1.2 seconds difference, the M850i reaches a top track speed of 155 mph and stability control and boasts performance upgrades to its steering, suspension, brakes, differential, exhaust. It wouldn’t surprise you, I am sure that it runs on 20-inch wheels giving performance as run-flat tyres.
Like any other modern BMW, you can adjust its driving mode from Comfort to Sport Plus, but why would you need the former? Why not just the latter? It’s an M after all. The proof is as close as the throttle. Steeping on it unleashes M850’s wild and frenetic nature.
It is mechanized lightning, housed in a stoutly built machine delivered with a sophisticated intensity that’s aided and abetted by those massive wheels. It’s genuinely, albeit a heavy one, a velvet hammer . You can feel its weight in corners and where it feels more substantial than nimble. But then, when you need to stroll comfortably down clogged arteries, it effectively isolates you from the outside world.
It is an impression which has been reinforced by the interior, where space is ample, but not too generous. This is not the X7 after all. With 36.6 inches, the Gran Coupe might offer more rear legroom than any of the other 8 Series. Just watch out for rear headroom. It is 2 inches less than the front one. But this is what gives the M850i Gran Coupe its unique, intimate feel. It’s an authentic experience, one meant to the entrance, glass trim throughout the interior, AND augmented by a leather-stitched opulenc, including the shift knob.
To familiar ones with modern BMWs, the controls must feel familiar. With six shortcut buttons control the 10.25-inch iDrive infotainment screen and a giant rotary knob on the center console and . The driver will get a stunning 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, although its graphics are unnecessarily loud and confusing to read in such a hurry. For the Head-Up Display, it projects just the essential information in front of the driver, Thank goodness.