If you like the coupe’s styling, you’ll probably appreciate the four-door version as well.
Following the launch of the 8 Series Coupe earlier this year, we are now inching closer to the world premiere of its convertible counterpart. It’s bound to happen at next month’s Los Angeles Auto Show, but that won’t be the end of the reveals BMW has in tow for the resurrected 8er as the Bavarians are also cooking up a more practical four-door model. New spy footage from the Nürburgring shows the model in question, and it’s not an ordinary prototype as it appears we are dealing with the spicy M850i flavor.
BMW’s marketing department came up with the “Gran Coupe” moniker several years ago for the 6 Series GC and its direct replacement will carry the same suffix, but at the end of the day it will still be a sedan. We’re pretty sure some would have wanted a more practical liftback configuration instead of a traditional trunk, but it looks like the grand tourer will have a fixed rear glass and only the metal part will go up.
There are actually several prototypes featured in this video, and we can easily notice the styling won’t be going through any major changes compared to the two-door coupe. That’s a good thing as we’re finding the 8 Series Coupe to be quite the stunner and it should be a similar story with its roomier counterpart. Having seen the M8 Gran Coupe concept, we have high expectations from the road-going model.
Bear in mind these prototypes are not showing the full-blown M8, but the M Performance version that will be positioned right underneath it. Power will be provided by a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 engine rated at 523 hp and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque. The BMW muscle will be channeled to the xDrive all-paw setup through an eight-speed automatic transmission for effortless cruising.
As with basically all coupe-ified sedans, the 8 Series Gran Coupe won’t offer a lot of headroom for passengers sitting in the back because of the sloped roofline. That being said, people shopping in this niche are well aware of this downside and don’t usually have a problem with the more cramped rear compartment and smaller trunk compared to a conventional sedan.
Going up against the likes of the Porsche Panamera, Audi A7/S7/RS7 Sportback, and Mercedes’ CLS as well as the new AMG GT 4-Door Coupe, the 8 Series GC will be out sometime next year. The M850i will likely be offered from day one whereas the range-topping M8 GC is probably due at a later date.
Video: Automotive Mike / YouTube
Source: Read Full Article