Critics of BMW’s recent design, look at this purple V8 super saloon. It’s a belter
As if buying a German sports saloon wasn’t already tricky enough. The BMW M5 and Mercedes E63 have now reached some sort of 1,200bhp dead heat, the Audi RS7 Sportback is all of a sudden good, and the AMG boys have concocted something else entirely in the shape of the complex but wonderful GT 4dr.
A car which BMW’s now made a direct rival for in the shape of the M8 Gran Coupe – aimed at all those M5 fans with another £30,000 stashed in their wallet.
It’s a mighty-looking thing. One of the best-looking BMWs on sale, though that’s not difficult nowadays. Regardless, we think it looks spiffing, especially in metallic aubergine. A special First Edition – limited to just five cars in the UK – will come in green and gold, in a nod to the M8 Gran Coupe concept of 2018.
To be fair, grans do like a bit of mauve. Not sure they’ll cope quite so well with 0–62mph in 3.2secs…
There’s the 616bhp 4.4-litre V8 of the M8 Competition up front and four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering beneath, the former switching to rear-drive only when you activate drift mode. Performance is startling: BMW claims a 3.2-second sprint to 62mph.
Almost all of its extra 231mm over a two-door M8 is contained within the wheelbase, with two big comfy seats in the rear and aircon controls and USB ports aplenty for their inhabitants to fiddle with. When they aren’t having their faces melted by the acceleration. A third seat is kinda there, if its inhabitant doesn’t mind straddling some buttons and screens.
“The M8 is a really grand, grand tourer,” said TG’s Paul Horrell of the two-door M8 Competition. “It looks and operates as you’d expect of a peak BMW.” The Gran Coupe ought to be even grander still, then. Prices start at £120,935, a surprising £2,500 cheaper than the two-door. More for less. It’s practically a bargain.
