I love variety. Variety makes business sense too. After all, it’s difficult enough for carmakers to get folks onto their websites and
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
then down to their dealerships, so it would be best if they had the majority of bases covered when you arrive so as to fulfill your individual wants and needs. Such variety can be expensive, however, a much cheaper solution being to somehow coax everyone into a single model and therefore enhance economies of scale. It’s worked so far for Tesla, albeit in limited numbers, with even that niche EV automaker needing to expand its product offerings in order to grow its numbers.
Tesla sold a record 1,556 cars in Canada last year, all from a single mid-size four-door model. Considering BMW sold just 1,996 5 Series into the same mid-size luxury space, and Audi could only pawn off 990 A6 sedans, that’s pretty impressive. Then again the mid-size luxury sedan segment is one of the slower selling
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
categories in the auto sector, a problem Tesla hopes to at least partially answer with a new crossover SUV and upcoming compact sedan, although an issue BMW has long addressed by providing more unique individualized automotive solutions than any other premium carmaker with a total of nine car series and five CUVs, 21 unique body styles in all, not including trim levels, long-wheelbase varieties and special M branded versions, these resulting in a record 35,002 unit sales last year alone. And Canada doesn’t even come close to offering everything BMW has available in the U.S. or globally, having dropped slower selling models like the 5 Series Touring (wagon) and more recently the 5 Series Gran Turismo (hatchback), while never selling a four/five-door 1 Series at all (this missed opportunity should be remedied soon). We’re a smaller market than
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
many others and therefore it’s difficult to make a business case for something that might only sell in the hundreds, unless we’re talking halo models like the Z4, i3 and i8 that enhance the brand’s overall image. Without doubt the 6 Series fits this mould too.
BMW Canada sold a mere 490 last year, and it took three body styles that are all available with very unique M upgrades to make that happen. I can’t tell you how many 6 Series Gran Coupes got the nod compared to two-door Coupes or Cabriolets, but by the numbers of each I see in my part of town I’ll take a stab at guessing it’s a fairly even spread. Most that I see are in their highest M trim levels too, giving those who buy into BMW’s 6 family a rare kind of exclusivity normally associated with Ferrari or Lamborghini ownership. These exotic manufacturers don’t offer four-door models, mind you, at least not yet.
The
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
four-door coupe is a concept that defies logic, but it works. Really, only the name is strange as most are little more than sleek, low slung sport sedans; the 4 Series Gran Coupe a particularly stylish five-door liftback, but you get my point. Like that smaller model which is really based on the 3 Series sedan but features some 4 Series styling details and a ritzier designation to add appeal, this 650i Gran Coupe is really a stretched, lowered and 6-ified 550i, but of course to say such a thing wouldn’t be doing it honest justice as this is one of the most elegantly penned and opulently adorned four-door sport sedans on the planet.
True, its frontal styling is getting on in years. The Coupe and Cabriolet arrived in 2011 as 2012 models and their key styling elements haven’t changed much since inception, only ushering in new lower front fascias when the 2013 Gran Coupe arrived. This means that, like the 5 Series, its widened twin-kidney grille doesn’t butt
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
directly up against BMW’s near brand-wide headlamp cluster redesign, making these models look slightly dated compared to the rest of Munich’s offerings. It certainly has aged gracefully though.
Nowhere is this more apparent than inside where you’ll only find a nicer interior in the ultra-premium sector and then we’re only splitting hairs. The Gran Coupe was a full step ahead of expectations when introduced and it remains an absolutely stunning example of how to do luxury right. Make no bones about it, at 2,073 kilos (4,570 lbs) this is a luxury car, not that it isn’t endowed with an intoxicating dose of performance. My particular example is capable of sprinting to 100km/h in a shockingly quick 4.5 seconds, but BMW doesn’t want you feeling the least bit discomforted during the process.
It
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
starts with the exorcism of hard plastics, the only such surfaces being the steering column cover and lowest panel under the legs of driver and front passenger, the bottom portions of the B-pillars, and some small trim pieces like the window, lock and mirror switch surrounds. The rest of my tester was as beautifully finished as anything in the class, with black psuede covering the roofliner and upper pillars, contrast stitched leather surfacing the dash top, much of the instrument panel, the lower console and centre armrest all the way back to where it meets up with the leather-covered rear seats, as well as the door uppers right down to the armrests, pillars connecting the doors, and then onwards into the back.
BMW continued this luxe experience with piano black lacquer detailing, although it’s not covering cheap plastic like the majority following this industry trend, but actual
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
piano-like wood getting the shiny, inky surfacing treatment. It looks as richly applied in this car as in one of the Rolls-Royce Ghosts I tested last year, as does most every other detail. Only the nicest lightweight metal finishings are used inside too, while BMW has earned a reputation for some of the luxury segment’s best quality switchgear.
The primary gauges are almost completely digital except for a number of info and warning lights that surround the usual quad-dial speedometer and tachometer plus fuel and oil pressure gauge setup, these being high-resolution TFT displays incorporating clear, crisp graphics in an almost machiavellian theme of misty reds on black backgrounds.
I suppose this devilish design element makes some sense for a car infused with 445
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
horsepower and 480 lb-ft of twist via a twin-turbo V8, all that power requisite for shifting its aforementioned mass at the rapid rate also noted earlier. It really is breathtaking off the line, the 650i xDrive more than anyone could ever need and certainly capable of fulfilling all of my personal performance wants and then some. Its eight-speed automatic delivers its power more smoothly than the M6 Gran Coupe’s seven-speed dual-clutch automated gearbox, with cog swaps that may be a tad slower albeit imperceptibly to most, steering wheel paddles making either car’s human/machine interface more engaging.
Likewise the 650i GC is an outrageously adept handler, something its size and girth shouldn’t allow. It’s probably best suited
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
to the long high-speed sweepers of Germany’s various autobahns, where setting its standard adaptive cruise control at 240 km/h (150 mph) and keeping it within one of numerous expansive lanes is child’s play, but it loves to slice its way through circuitous backcountry two-laners too, while optional Adaptive Drive that works together with the 6 Series’ standard dynamic dampers with Sport and Comfort settings automatically adjusts the suspension for optimal ride and performance, as well as steering and throttle responses, while everything benefits from standard xDrive all-wheel drive, all of this high-tech kit coming together so that my test car’s considerable heft was kept in comforting check by unbelievable levels of 245/45R18 grip.
My loaner was shod in Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D rubber too, not the even more highly
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
adhesive standard 245/40R19 summers, while its multi-spoke wheels are nowhere to be found on this year’s standard or options menus, BMW Canada adding the rims and winter rubber for the winter months. It’s better safe than sorry this time of year, I suppose, whereas the winters allowed a little more sideways slip, and slip, of course, adds to the fun quotient. Either way the GC was absolutely dumbfounding through the corners, its ability to execute seemingly impossible tasks with such effortless ease that it only makes me wonder how much better this big BMW could be if the automaker were only to utilize its new carbon-fibre manufacturing capability when it rethinks this mid-size four-door coupe for its second generation. I can’t imagine this car weighing a few hundred kilos less, but my fingers are crossed that its design and engineering team can. It’s brilliant as it is, but it’s about as efficient as a private jet.
Maybe
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
that’s not fair. After all, I used just slightly more fuel than BMW’s five-cycle estimated average of 12.8 L/100km during my test week, and most of my driving was done in the city where it’s rated at 15.2. Its highway number is 9.8 L/100km, again impressively low for such a large, heavy, powerful car. The 650i makes use of various EfficientDynamics technologies to make this claim, auto start/stop and regenerative braking being just two, the latter unnoticeable although the former a bit abrupt during restarts, enough so to make uninitiated adjacent drivers take notice and furrow their brows at the oddball restarting his car before leaving the intersection, but I didn’t care. It makes for a cleaner local environment and is EV-quiet while waiting for the light.
All the better to enjoy my 650i’s upgraded Harmon/Kardon audio system, superb incidentally, and part of a $6,900 Executive package that also added satellite radio,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
various ceramic controls, a helpful surround-view camera, useful head-up display, a gorgeous leather instrument panel with contrast stitching, plus soft-close doors, while you can improve the audio quality even further with a Bang & Olufsen stereo for an additional $4,900.
The seats were beyond brilliant, by the way, with superb lateral and lower back support plus every conceivable powered function. Even the headrests get the first-class winged treatment, these chairs making me feel as if I was ensconced in some futuristic flying machine, although one with a bit of parlour club air. They’re 18-way powered, with four-way lumbar adjustment and the ability to extend the lower squab for long legged comfort, these part of a $4,500 Premium Seating package that also adds higher-end leather in a wide assortment of possible colours, mine done out in Cognac Exclusive Nappa with black highlights, while they also offered active
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
massaging capability and three-way ventilation to go along with standard three-way heat.
The piano black wood accents were $1,000 extra, while the unique matte-finish “Frozen” exterior paint added $2,000 to the bottom line. My test car also included high-gloss black “Shadowline” exterior window trim at no cost, while its aforementioned pseudo-suede Alcantara roofliner and pillars are priced at $800, their optional shade of black a no-cost swap. The powered rear and side sunshades will set you back $500 and $900 respectively for a collective $1,400, whereas aforementioned Adaptive Drive added $2,500 to the tally. The available options list goes on and on and standard features menu at least as richly appointed with some yet unmentioned items of note being active LED headlamps with
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
auto high beams, LED fogs, auto-dimming rearview and side mirrors, rain-sensing wipers, ambient interior lighting, a heatable steering wheel, heatable front and rear seats, navigation and a reverse camera in a very high-quality widescreen infotainment display, front and rear parking sonar, a large glass sunroof (although this car begs for a panoramic glass roof), everything noted pushing the 650i xDrive Gran Coupe’s base price up from $102,000 to $120,100 before adding freight and dealer fees.
The rear seat is quite confined, as you might expect, with only three inches of air left over in front of my knees when the driver’s seat was set for my five-foot-eight medium-build body, and about the same above my head. It’s better than what you’d find in the majority of two-door coupes including the 6 Series variant, while access to the back is a wholesale improvement. Rear passengers enjoy two sets of controls as part of the GC’s standard quad-zone auto HVAC system, keeping everyone
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
content in their individual climates, while separate seat heater controls are also fitted to the upscale interface on the backside of the front centre console. Additional luxe kit includes controls next to the auto window switches for powering the rear and both side sunshades just mentioned. It’s like a limo without the space.
You’ll be hard pressed to find a nicer four-door coupe no matter how much you’re willing to pay, other than the $130k 560 horsepower M6 version of course, whereas a more affordable 640i xDrive model is available from $90,900. It boasts the fabulously renewed and (in my opinion) conservatively claimed 315 horsepower twin-scroll turbocharged six and provides a zero to 100km/h sprint time of 5.4 seconds that’s still a force to be reckoned with, while its standard and available features set appears near identical to the 650i.
The 650i xDrive Gran Coupe is not perfect, but it’s certainly one of the grandest personal coupes currently available and carries that air of exclusivity most buying into this segment crave. Its performance is supernatural, interior superior and overall livability, at least for a coupe, superb.
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