Early in 2019 we attended the national media ride and drive event of the BMW M850i (which you are can read about here). The two-door coupe was the first of the 8 Series family to be introduced into the local market. The range has since grown to include a cabriolet and four-door coupe. Over the past few days we sampled the latter in M850i xDrive Gran Coupe guise, which sits just below the M8 GC in this particular line-up.
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Grand Tourer
Grand touring is such an eloquent term for road-tripping. It invokes a sense of opulence and prestige that conjures up images of five-star hotels and lakeside chalets in the mountains rather than service station burgers and highway motels. The term is also very European, used by automakers to describe continent-crossing trips with one’s family to vacation at your summer home, or winter abode. To ‘grand tour’ you require a car that is luxurious, effortlessly fast, comfortable and spacious enough for a quartet of bags, your skis and decent a stash of bubbly.
Check out our review of the BMW M340i xDrive by clicking this link.
Grand touring is the concept that repeatedly went through our heads as we spent more and more time with the M850i xDrive Gran Coupe. This four-door coupe is an extension of the 8 Series range to give buyers the advantages of its two-door counterparts but with a level of user-friendliness that most people require. The Gran Coupe has rear doors and a wheelbase that has been extended by 201 mm over the Coupe, ensuring plenty of rear legroom. We know there is plenty of space in the rear of the cabin because that is where we wrote this review (seriously).
Lounge-like interior
The M850i xDrive Gran Coupe is about as luxurious as cars at this price point can be. There are soft hides everywhere. In the test unit, cashew coloured seats and door trim really lifted the ambience as did the funky (adjustable) mood lighting at night. High-quality finishes and a premium Bowers & Wilkins audio system (quietly soothing our eardrums with the sultry tones of Diana Krall as we type these words) create a real sense of serenity. The jewel-like gearshifter may be a little OTT for some, but it certainly does look like a work of art.
Horses for courses
No need to slam the door as one slides into the captain’s chair as all four have a soft close feature, each door silently wound-in by electric motors when close to the frame. Fired up the V8 up front emits a low and unobtrusive rumble. With the drivetrain in its comfort setting the big 8 simply cruises around with no dramatics. Within the confines of the city the M850i xDrive Gran Coupe feels like a big car, as it is. One is constantly aware of its width (nearly two metres) and its over five-metre length. The 20-inch alloys shod with 30 profile rubber are not cushy over sharper ridges but also never fidgety.
Read our review of the BMW X3M Competition here.
But it is away from the city and into wider open roads where M850i xDrive Gran Coupe really shines. Proper grand touring should take place on wide open motorways. With an inordinate number of numpties hogging the motorways over the ‘long’ weekend we headed to less clogged arteries. Thankfully there are several to choose from in the Western Cape.
Powerhouse
The M850i xDrive Gran Coupe features a twin-turbocharged, 4,4-litre V8 that is good for 390 kW/750 kW. That power is fed to an eight-speed transmission that is coupled with an all-wheel-drive system. The Gran Coupe really feels at home in the more open flowing byways of the Winelands. This car builds up a head of steam within the blink of an eye. Lean gently on the gas pedal and you could exceed the speed by some margin without realising it. Even it its sportiest setting the suspension seems to flatten less than ideal tar. The sense of surefootedness doesn’t abate with speed, in fact the car’s attitude seems more in tune with cruising at speed rather than pottering around the the urban jungle.
Prodigious torque on tap from low revs allows one to dispatch slow-moving traffic with disdain, regardless of what driving mode you are in. Speaking of which, in the sportiest setting gear change speeds are quicker and the car’s engine note takes on racier note. Each upshift is punctuated by a crack of unburnt fuel exiting the exhaust and there is a volley of burbling on a trailing throttle. It’s almost out of character for a car with such good manners and, we suspect, few owners will engage sport mode.
Summary
When we drove the two-door coupe version in 2019 we walked away thoroughly impressed. We thought that it had a personality and segment all of its own. It felt sporty and fast, if not as hardcore as a Porsche 911 in the sporting stakes. While we expected the M850i xDrive Gran Coupe to be quite similar, and in many aspects its, it also has a character of its own. We return to the grand touring description from our intro. This car has the space and practicality that many require and, while it does have sporting credentials, that’s not its raison d’être. We like the M850i xDrive Gran Coupe very much and we imagine it would make an ideal companion over a long distance trip from say, Zurich to the Amalfi coast for a long weekend… just don’t forget the bubbly.
Model: BMW M850i xDrive Gran Coupe
Price: R2 055 112,50
Engine: 4,4-litre twin-turbocharged V8
Transmission: eight-speed auto, AWD
Max power: 390 kW
Max torque: 750 N.m
Top speed: 250 km/h
0-100 km/h: 3,9 sec
Fuel consumption: 10,7 L/100 km
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