FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo

The lid has been lifted on BMW’s new 6 Series Gran Turismo, which will make its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September – alongside the new M5, X3 and X7 concept.

Due on sale later this year in Europe and next year in Australia, the 6 Series Gran Turismo is a leaner-looking, sleeker big executive car that tacitly admits the failings of two generations of the unloved 5 Series Gran Turismo.

Based around a product-planning philosophy clearly derived from Audi’s A7 strategy, the five-seat liftback will arrive with the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder 630i Gran Turismo SE as its starting point.

It will rise through an array of six-cylinder petrol and diesel powerplants before topping out at the all-wheel drive 640i xDrive Gran Turismo M Sport model.

There is no expectation for a full-house M version of the sexy new liftback, though there has been internal pressure put on M’s President, Frank van Meel.

A future M Performance Automobiles model will be the compromise car, despite the success of Audi’s RS 7 twin-turbo V8 monster and the availability of the M5 powertrain.

While nothing is official, M has provided broad hints that it already has the M5’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 loaded up in an all-wheel drive test mule that should next year become the M550i xDrive Gran Turismo, while its new quad-turbo diesel 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder thumper should power the M550d xDrive Gran Turismo.

Will become the only 6 Series
Completely redesigned inside and, obviously, outside, it has also undergone a change of philosophy, with BMW’s designers delivering the sleeker roofline and losing the dumpiness that plagued the 5 Series Gran Turismo.

Carrying the codename G15, the 6 Series Gran Turismo will need to be good, as within three years it will be the only 6 Series on BMW’s books.

The 6 Series Coupe is set to be killed off next year to make way for the more upmarket 8 Series Coupe, which made its debut at Italy’s Villa d’Erbe on Lake Como last month and will be headlined by the M8 super-coupe.

The 6 Series Cabriolet will suffer a similar fate, with the 8 Series Cabriolet slated to arrive in 2019.

For one glorious year though, the 6 Series badge will grace four full production models before that drops to three in 2018, two in 2019 and just one when the five-year-old 6 Series Gran Coupe is retired in 2020.

BMW is tight-lipped on the future of the 6 Series nameplate beyond that, but it looks as though the 6 Series Gran Turismo will ultimately be the only model between the 5 Series and 7 Series ranges in the longer term.

No shrinking violet
It’s a big car, slipping conclusively into the five-metre club at 5091mm, which is 87mm longer than the outgoing 5 Series GT and 154mm longer than the 5 Series sedan. It’s also 1902mm wide (precisely the same as the 5 GT, but 34mm wider than the 5 Series sedan).

A big visual difference to its predecessor is its roofline, which, at 1538mm, is 21mm lower, but it feels like even more because its tail is 64mm lower than before, and it’s actually 72mm higher than the standard 5 Series.

It promises greater rear legroom and high-speed stability by shifting to a 3070mm wheelbase, which is a full 95mm longer than that of the 5 Series sedan.

Set to be built at Dingolfing in Germany, the 6 Series Gran Turismo sits on the same Cluster Architecture platform (CLAR) as the 5 and 7 Series and BMW claims that has saved it up to 150kg of weight compared to the 5 Series GT.

Combining aluminium and hot-formed steels throughout the body structure, the platform also includes a 12-volt Flex-Ray power system to pull together the car’s array of suspension control systems.

It has air springs as standard at the rear-end, which includes a self-leveling function, though a full air-suspension system, with constantly variable dampers and active roll control, will be available as an option.

The 6 GT gains a slightly cleaner and more adventurous version of BMW’s notoriously conservative design language, with a stronger front-end and a rear-end that looks already to be the car’s strongest design feature.

Tapering off to a crisp, beautifully proportioned tailgate lid, the 6 Series Gran Turismo claims a slippery drag co-efficient of 0.25Cd in the cleanest 630i form.

Its extra length has allowed BMW to add another 110 litres of luggage capacity to the boot, which is now 610-litres large, while it can rise up to 1800 litres with the seats folded flat.

It runs a 40:20:40-split folding rear seat arrangement, while the liftback maintains the one-piece status its predecessor picked up in its 2012 facelift to replace its original 2009 two-piece system.

Familiar engine line-up
Its line-up of petrol and diesel engines doesn’t yet include electrification of any kind, which seems odd.

Regardless of the engine choice, the cars will only come with an eight-speed automatic transmission, though all-wheel drive (in a package with rear-wheel steering) will be optional.

BMW will launch the 6 Series Gran Turismo with three models, with the lightest 630i weighing 1720kg and carrying a 68-litre fuel tank.

The 2.0-litre direct-injection turbo motor is claimed to give the car 190kW of power from 5000rpm to 6500rpm, while its 400Nm torque peak arrives at just 1550rpm and stays on until 4400.

It’s enough to propel the big liftback to 100km/h in 6.3 seconds, with the speed limiter set at 250km/h, all with an NEDC fuel consumption figure of 6.2L/100km and emitting 148g/km of CO2.

The second model up the line is the 640i Gran Turismo, which has BMW’s latest inline six-cylinder turbo-petrol motor sitting in the nose.

Delivering 250kW of power at 5500 to 6500rpm, the engine is claimed to push the car to 100km/h in 5.4 seconds, though the all-wheel drive version is a 10th quicker.

For the 640i xDrive’s extra pace, though, the engine needs to work its 450Nm of torque more to shift its extra 65kg of mass (1770kg plays 1835kg). But it has a huge spread of torque, peaking at 1380rpm and holding a plateau until it begins to taper away at 5200rpm, almost as the power peak takes over.

Still, the extra mass isn’t free and the xDrive pays for it in fuel consumption, where it adds 0.7L/100km to the rear-drive car’s 7.0-litre figure, resulting in CO2 emissions of 177g/km compared to the lighter car’s 159.

Even that’s not completely clear, though, because those figures are attained on the 17-inch standard wheels that nobody orders. The xDrive’s economy worsens to 8.0L/100km on the optional 18-inch wheels and tyres and worsens again to 8.2 with either the 19- or 20-inch options.

The only diesel at launch will be the 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder turbo in the 630d and 630d xDrive versions.

The torque-rich motor reaches its 620Nm maximum at 2000rpm and if it’s stretched to 4000rpm on the tacho, it should have a claimed 195kW of power available.

Limited, like all 6 Series Gran Turismo models, to 250km/h, the xDrive version reaches 100km/h in six seconds, while the rear-drive version is said to be a 10th of a second slower.

Even though the diesel’s all-wheel drive system is 10kg lighter than the one on the 630i, it still brings the 1825kg 630d’s kerb weight up to 1880kg.

BMW claims 4.9L/100km for the base diesel and a 10th more for the all-wheel drive but, again, that’s for the car on its 17-inch standard wheels and you can add 0.4L/100km to that for 19-inch rims.

Hybrid to come
The line-up will be padded out next year with a four-cylinder 620d model and a plug-in hybrid version dubbed the 640e Gran Turismo.

As in the 330e, 530e, 740e and X5 40e, it will run a combination of a disc-shaped electric motor (mounted within the front of the eight-speed automatic transmission) and a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine.

Roomier throughout, the 6 Series Gran Turismo will also run BMW’s latest suite of semi-autonomous driving, connectivity, remote-control parking and gesture-control systems.

It retains part of the old car’s philosophy, with a higher seating position than the 5 Series sedan, while it can be ordered with a 10.3-inch touch-screen multimedia display and a head-up display that is 70 per cent larger than before.

BMW is trying to pivot from being a sporty brand to a sporty/luxury brand, and top-end 6 GT models will feature front seats with eight different massage programs and electronically adjustable rear seats.