BMW M440i xDrive Gran Coupe 2021 Review - International

Due to arrive before the year is out, although possibly spilling into next quarter, the 2021 BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe range will kick off with the 420i from $75,900 plus on-road costs.

Nobody is cross-shopping the four-cylinder with the flagship M440i positioned $40,000 upstream.

But even so, there is an indicator there, with the 420i now $5000 more expensive than its predecessor because, BMW claims, there is much more equipment inside it.

The mid-level 430i will slide in above that at $83,900 plus ORCs (up $1400).

The new M440i xDrive doesn’t have a direct predecessor– the previous rear-drive 440i GC retailed for $103,200, before on-road costs – and will start life in second-generation all-wheel drive form at $115,900, though we’d pay good money to see a single one delivered in the base spec.

You might wonder why they’ve all meandered upstream in cost, but the new 4 Series Gran Coupe is a bigger car in most dimensions, has more power, more equipment, now scores over-the-air updates thanks to new operating systems and the interior materials are multiples better than before.

You might even start to think that $40K is not a massive margin between the top and the bottom of the range, given how much more you get on the M440i xDrive.

One of the big external changes, as far as BMW is concerned, isn’t that they’re slowly de-controversialising the grille, but that it has changed from over-under door handles to flush-fitting ones that hinge from the top.

It’s not a good change, and talk amongst the testers was of how often their fingers slipped off the inner part of the handle and how it threatens to be a fingernail breaker.

Let’s start the ball rolling with driver assistance tech, because BMW continues to march towards next year’s flagship 7 Series, which will come with Level 3 autonomy that enables hands-free highway motoring at up to 60km/h.

The 2021 BMW M440i xDrive isn’t going to go quite that far, but it’s deep into Level 2+ territory, with autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, full lane assist and a rear cross traffic alert system that’s tied to AEB.

Up from the lower-tiered models, the M440i xDrive takes BMW’s Driver Assistant Professional package, which brings semi-autonomous driving functionality including a start-stop system for the adaptive cruise, steering and lane control assist, and front cross traffic alert.

So it takes over the steering, accelerating and braking in heavy traffic, for example.

Inside, it has a 12-inch screen for an instrument cluster, with the central 10.25-inch screen operated by touch, by gestures (and good luck with that), by voice commands (properly useful now) and by the still-preferred iDrive controller on the centre console.

There is a Harman Kardon surround-sound system and full smartphone integration (including mirroring), inductive charging and a panoramic roof.

Externally, the M440i xDrive scores the long-range (more than 500m) laser lights as standard equipment in Australia, which will be awesome for spotting roos, and it automatically dims and automatically reaches out into the night again afterwards.

At 4783mm in overall length, the new 4 Series Gran Coupe is 143mm longer than its predecessor, while its 2856mm wheelbase is 46mm longer than before and 5mm longer than the stock 3 Series sedan.

It’s also 27mm wider in the body (1852mm) and 53mm taller (1442mm) than before, but the big jump in width has been in the tracks (the distance between the centre lines of the tyres).

At the front-end, that figure has been pushed out 50mm to 1595mm, while the rear is up 29mm to 1623mm, both in the ambition of delivering flatter body control and more secure mid-corner behaviour.

The luggage space is up 39 litres to 470 litres, and that can be expanded to 1290L by folding the 40/20/40-split rear seat.

All this extra size has to add up somewhere, and that somewhere is weight. The five-seat 2021 BMW M440i xDrive Gran Coupe now kicks off at 1825kg (dry), and that feels like too much in a too-much-weight automotive world.

Also, there was a time when a straight six from BMW spoke for itself, and beautifully, but now it needs some synthetic help.

BMW now uses synthetic sound to boost the noise, and it’s surprisingly good. The best so far, if we’re honest, and at its best when bursting to 100km/h in 4.7 seconds and almost as good everywhere else.

That engine delivers 275kW of power from 5500rpm to 6500rpm, and it’s backed up by 500Nm of torque from 1900-5200rpm, so there are few blank spots in its range.

It also has a 48-volt mild-hybrid system to give it an extra 8kW of boost to fill in any turbo or torque divots, and it mates beautifully to the most exquisite eight-speed automatic transmission in the world of cars.

Riding on a chassis that uses a five-link rear suspension and a MacPherson strut front-end, the M440i xDrive Gran Coupe will come standard in Australia with 19-inch Cerium Grey M alloy wheels (up from the 18s they use in Europe), and they can be optioned up by an inch.

It also steps up from the lesser 4 Series Gran Coupes by using the Adaptive M suspension system, which continuously adjusts the electronically controlled dampers, with the force metered at each wheel.

There’s an M Sport differential on the rear axle, too, to make the liftback feel more rear-drive, even in its new all-wheel drive layout.

There’s a new ‘adaptive’ setting that automatically adjusts to suit each driver’s style, and it remembers those preferences and patterns.

What’s more, there’s also a new adaptive electric power steering system, with variable assistance and ratio, plus a four-piston calliper for the front-end’s brake discs.

Lovely thing, in summary, so skip to the end if you need to save time. For everybody else, there is good and less good here with the 2021 BMW M440i xDrive Gran Coupe. And some utterly brilliant, like the howl and yowl and smoothness of that turbocharged inline six.

The engine never fails to hustle up. It’s always willing and it always sounds achingly glorious, whether it’s being prodded into a deeply rumbling response away from the traffic lights or it’s screaming at 6500rpm on an autobahn blast.

It’s wonderful in other ways, too. It’s just so very strong at every part of its rev range, and the adjustability of the engine note through the switchable exhaust flaps makes it a rare treat for all walks of life, in all conditions.

The steering isn’t so glorious, though, with the comically fat steering wheel rim giving way to a system that is surprisingly slow just off centre, but picks up the pace with the more lock you give it.

The ride works better than we expected, while the handling is everything you might have picked up by reading this so far.

It is a remarkably simple machine to point at a road and have it devoured quickly, fuss-free and, also, emptily.

There’s little joy or sparkle in attacking even the most tempting of winding roads. It just gets the job done with remarkable efficiency, in utmost security, without ever truly engaging you in the job.

The interior is a step up, though, and it’s clear that BMW wants the M440i Gran Coupe to be much more adult than maybe we expected.

Maybe there’s an M4 Gran Coupe coming and maybe there isn’t. Maybe there should be.

Or maybe the 2021 BMW M440i Gran Coupe could just be a little bit livelier.

It’s not that it’s slow, or lacks grip or lacks commitment to the cause. It just feels as though it knows best how to swallow any piece of road and you should just sit back and soak up its technical brilliance.

But that’s always been the way the best Benzes have made you feel. BMW has built its reputation on engaging the driver in a way that the M440i xDrive just… doesn’t.

Thing is, it has so many interior upgrades and so many premium pieces inside and so many clever ideas throughout that maybe that’s the customer it’s going for these days – people who have grown up with more in-your-face BMWs, but who are now more grown up themselves.

I can see what they’ve tried to do here, and they’ve nearly done it. It’s a lovely machine, but you never feel thoroughly engaged with it.

How much does the 2021 BMW M440i xDrive Gran Coupe cost?
Price: $115,900 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Late 2021
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 275kW/500Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.0-8.5L/100km (WLTP Combined)
CO2: 181-194g/km (WLTP Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested