BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe (officially) revealed

The design malaise afflicting BMW shows no sign of lifting with the four-door BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe, which was unceremoniously leaked last week and will arrive in Australia by mid-2020.

The third model to wear the current 8 Series badge replaces the 6 Series Gran Coupe and BMW insists the big sports sedan stands alone alongside its three most direct German rivals (the Audi A7, Mercedes-Benz CLS and Porsche Panamera) to be developed directly from a two-door coupe.

Yet the two-door BMW 8 Series Coupe was itself derived from the BMW Group’s rear/all-wheel drive platform, rather than any stand-alone sports car architecture.

The four-door 8 Series will run the same suite of engines as the coupe and convertible versions released in Australia last month, which should result in a BMW M8 Gran Coupe as well.

But the Gran Coupe -- revealed here in premium M850i xDrive guise -- gets a 201mm wheelbase stretch over the Coupe, pushing it out to 3023mm and in to luxury territory. After all, the coupe’s rear legroom is desultory at best.

Long and sleek, the Gran Coupe tips well over the five-metre barrier at 5082mm long (up 231mm on the coupe) and is 61mm taller than its two-door counterpart, at 1407mm.

It’s even wider than the coupe, too, pushing the rear wheel-arches out 30mm to 1932mm, even though it uses the same front cut as the coupe, all the way back to the start of the windscreen pillars.

The BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe is considerably wider at the rear than the front, with the front-end’s 1627mm track width overshadowed by 1671mm of the rear-end.

That’s where the aping stops, because the A-pillars are significantly steeper than the coupe’s and leads to a roofline designed more to deliver front and rear headroom than the coupe’s uncompromising angles.

From there, though, it becomes awfully line-heavy. There are a variety of horizontal shapes and creases in the side bodywork, plus a pair of weird fins on the C-pillar that lead into the boot from the roof.

The rear door and panel surfacing, in particular, is filled with creases and stretch lines that smell a lot like the Audi A7 and the rear wheel hips look like a host of other cars you can’t quite put your finger on, including the Maserati Ghibli and Kia Stinger.

It’s a collection of awkwardness that speaks volumes about the growing sense of frustration within BMW’s design department, with insiders suggesting the design malaise has its roots in the BMW board itself.

The 8 Series Gran Coupe’s front-end runs adaptive LED headlights (with optional laser versions) and slim-line LED tail-lights lurk among no less than 16 horizontal lines before your eye arrives at the top of the boot lid.

The pair of trapezoidal, chromed exhaust outlets deliver the gases from a three-engine range (at least initially), topped by the 4.4-litre V8 of the M850i all-wheel drive.

Identical to the coupe and convertible, the M850i’s V8 gives the Gran Coupe 390kW of power and 750Nm of torque, hurling the AWD sedan to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds.

There’s also a version of BMW’s classical straight six in the 840i xDrive, with 250kW of power and 500Nm of torque from the turbocharged 3.0-litre engine. The new six-pot is 6kg lighter than its predecessor, helping it to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds, though the rear-drive version takes 5.2 seconds.

There’s also a diesel that’s almost as quick as the 840i, with the 840d xDrive ripping to 100km/h in 5.1 seconds. It throws out 680Nm of torque as the headline figure, backed up by 235kW of power.

The 840d is, unsurprisingly, the most frugal of the four powertrains, despite its heavy all-wheel drive set-up, with a combined consumption figure of 6.2L/100km (162g/km of CO2). The M850i provides the bookend at 10L/100km (229g/km).

The two 840i models take the middle ground, with the rear-driver posting 7.5L/100km (170g/km) and the xDrive lifting that to 7.8L/100km (179g/km).

All three motors will mate to the ZF-built eight-speed automatic transmission, complete with paddle shifters to deliver manual shifting when the extra effort is needed (or, more likely, wanted).

While the BMW 840i Gran Coupe is available as a rear-driver (with an active M Sport self-locking differential), the rest of the launch powertrains include the latest AWD system to give them a rear bias in their power delivery, and the M850i can also be specced with the M Sport differential.

At 1800kg (dry), the 840i is also the lightest of the three launch options and about 70kg heavier than the two-door version. Though that’s still awfully weighty, it’s about the norm for the category these days, and the xDrive system adds 55kg to take it to 1855kg.

The V8-powered M850i’s dry weight climbs to 1995kg (an astonishing 195kg jump), while the diesel-powered 840d is 1925kg.

BMW has tried to tie this all down with adaptive dampers, plus active steering in the all-wheel drive models. Active roll stabilisation is left as an option with the M Professional suspension package.

The braking systems are identical to the coupe’s, combining four-piston fixed callipers up front and floating single-piston units at the rear, though the V8 includes more powerful M anchors.

The rubber package on the M850i includes 20-inch alloys with 245/35 front tyres and 275/30 R20 rears.

BMW claims the Gran Coupe’s rear seats are “even more comfortable to travel in”, which is a relief because the coupe’s rear seats simultaneously attempt to break your ankles, knees and neck.

There’s more head, knee and shoulder room than there is in either of the short-wheelbase models, with a 1.5 square-metre glass area in the optional panoramic sunroof.

Besides the extra space, three electric sunblinds and four-zone climate-control air-conditioning also help the Gran Coupe’s rear passengers.

The centre console is stretched into the rear, making the Gran Coupe a 4+1 design, rather than a true five-seater. It has electric seats in the front, plus a 40:20:40 split in the folding rear seat that opens in to the claimed 440-litre luggage area.

The attempts at saving mass are heavily pronounced in the cabin, even more so than the body. While the body has a plastic bootlid (like the Z4), the interior boasts a magnesium dashboard supporting bracket and carbon-fibre in the centre tunnel.

But there are further weight-saving options, the most significant of which is the carbon-fibre roof (which also helps the centre of gravity). The rear diffuser, the mirror caps and the bars on the air intake can all be switched to carbon-fibre, too.

The interior tech starts with the latest BMW 7.0 operating system, which includes a “Hey, BMW” spoken function to help with a surprising range of commands.

The high-resolution instrument cluster runs to 12.3 inches, while the infotainment screen moves to a 10.25-inch unit.

While there is a touch-screen function, BMW also includes simpler redundancies, including the “Hey, BMW” voice commands as well as the iDrive scroller, gesture control and function buttons on the steering wheel.

It stands pat on the practicality stakes with just a pair of cup-holders, a single 12-volt socket and one USB port in the front, though there’s also a wireless charging tray for just about anything that isn’t made by Apple.

Fortunately, there are more USB ports in the rear and under the centre armrest, plus some top-shelf audio equipment. The Live Cockpit Professional option brings with it the fully digital instrument cluster and a 20GB hard-drive memory system.

Its audio suite ranges from a standard 205-Watt system with nine speakers to a 464-Watt, 16-speaker Harmon Kardon surround sound unit to a Bowers & Wilkins surround sound set-up with a 16-channel amplifier, 1400 Watts, dynamic equalising and 16 illuminated speakers. Yes, illuminated. Makes all the difference, apparently.