BMW's people-mover: 2 Series Gran Tourer

The arguments about BMW's right to build the front-drive 2 Series Active Tourer have barely died down and now this...

If the internet forums bristled about the first front-drive BMW, watch them catch fire when they see BMW's first front-drive, seven-seat family production car.

BMW is claiming the 2 Series Gran Tourer is the first premium compact model in the world to offer seven seats. It does so via a stretched version of the UKL architecture that also underpins the new MINI three and five-door models.

Others might suggest it's a more expensively fettled piece of the puzzle currently (and dynamically) dominated by the Ford S-Max. It's a claim BMW bats back by saying that the sixth and seventh seats are optional and that the car is a standard five-seater.

The 4.6-metre 2 Series Gran Tourer is 214mm longer than the Active Tourer with which it shares parts and therefore offers far greater interior space.

Sitting on a 2780mm wheelbase, the 2 Series Gran Tourer echoes its little brother's 1800mm overall width. An area where it differs significantly, however, is height, where the 2 Series Gran Tourer at 1608mm is 53mm taller.

Besides allowing it to carry seven seats, the bigger dimensions boost the luggage capacity from the Active Tourer's 560 litres to 645 litres and from the Active Tourer's maximum capacity (with the seats folded down) of 1820 litres to 1905.

The new car, which will make its public debut at next month's Geneva Motor Show, uses the same engines, gearboxes and suspension systems as the Active Tourer.

That means a choice of five turbocharged engines – from a 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-diesel to a choice of 2.0-litre turbo-diesels and from a 1.5-litre turbo three-cylinder petrol motor to a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder.

The most powerful of the 2 Series Gran Tourer's transverse powertrains will deliver 141kW and 280Nm. While blistering acceleration scarcely seems the point of this sort of car, the 220i version will manage to get itself to 100km/h in 7.7sec which seems quicker than it needs to be.

It's a fair bit sharper than its 100kW little brother, the three-cylinder 218i, which manages the same sprint, eventually, in 9.5sec. Still, the little engine delivers an NEDC combined economy figure of 5.1L/100km to better its faster sibling by a full 1.1L/100km.

It helps that the 218i is the lightest of all the 2 Series Gran Tourer models – at 1395kg it's 60kg lighter than the 220i.

The diesels are heavier, however. The three-cylinder 216d weighs in at 1420kg (DIN), the 218d 1450kg and the 220d adding a further 115kg despite carrying the same powertrain hardware as the 218d.

But it does use 17-inch wheels and tyres to be plus one to the slower cars...

The trade off is in acceleration, where the 140kW/400Nm 220d gets to 100km/h in 7.6sec despite the extra mass. The 330Nm 218d is considerably slower, at 9.3sec, while the 216d is slower again at 11.1sec. Yes 11.1sec from a modern BMW.

It tops out at 192km/h, too, which is slower than the 205km/h of the 218d and far slower than the 220d's 218km/h. The petrol 220i is the quickest of them reaching 223km/h.

The 270Nm three-cylinder diesel is at least frugal on the NEDC combined test, with a combined consumption figure of 3.9L/100km to boast emissions of just 104g/km.

The 218d is slightly thirstier, though still uses an acceptable 4.3L/100km while the flagship diesel posts 4.9L/100km.

While six-speed manual transmissions will be standard (at least in Europe) across the range, the three-cylinder versions will have optional six-speed automatics and four-cylinder buyers can choose an eight-speed auto. The 220d justifies some of its added heft by using the eight-speed auto as standard equipment.

BMW has tried to maximize the car's interior flexibility by giving the rear seats the ability to slide fore and aft by 130mm, while it divides into 40:20:40 configuration to fold flat at the touch of a button (or buttons).

The rear seat is claimed to be wide enough to carry three baby ISOFIX capsules or seats simultaneously.

The optional third row of seats can be folded flat into the boot floor when not in use.

BMW is also trialing an app especially for entertaining children. Available in Germany only (for the moment), the myKIDIO app sources and plays kid-friendly (and appropriate) content, from movies to TV shows to audio books, to be played on a tablet attached to the rear of the front seat. Or to the rear of the second row of seats.

The front-seat occupants are always in charge of what's being shown to the children and the content description is displayed on the front multimedia screen. It can also be changed from the front on the iDrive controller.

On the flipside, children in the rear can also access onboard computer information, like speed, distance travelled, how many kilometres remain on the drive or the outside temperature.

No more "when will we get there?" Perhaps…

All models of the car have a 6.5-inch multimedia display as standard equipment, plus Bluetooth and the ability to stream live music or podcasts from compatible smart phones.

Every model also delivers a driver's armrest, electric parking brake, automatic headlight activation and a collision warning with the autonomous city braking function as standard equipment.

The new 2 Series Gran Tourer's options include a head-up display, a panoramic roof, dynamic damper control for adjusting the ride quality, hands-free tailgate operation, radar cruise control and the Driving Assistant Plus that will take over the hard work of stopping and going in traffic jams.

At the present time, BMW Australia has no specific plan to bring the 2 Series Gran Tourer to Australia. Lenore Fletcher, General Manager Corporate Communications for the prestige importer, told motoring.com.au earlier today that any decision would be contingent on "customer feedback", but with the X5 SUV already offering seven-seat capacity in the range, there's no immediate need for BMW to add the Gran Tourer to the local range.