The German automakers’ tradition with sporty versions became so solid that in nowadays those are expected right after each new release. After all, while the traditional sedans and coupes are supposed to improve what they’ve been offering in all those years, the market can always create some space for new well-accepted cars, even though they would’ve never been thought of four or five years ago. Few months after BMW announced its debut among the four-door coupes, it’s time to quench the public’s second thirst.
This category’s concept is already known: it’s the same luxury and technology wrapped in a much more casual design, in order to please the customers who need a four-door car but would love to distance themselves from that “limousine look” given by most of the luxury automakers’ sedans. That’s what Mercedes-Benz invented with CLS and the VW group repeated with Audi A5 Sportback and A7 and Volkswagen Passat CC. But BMW not only refused to create a four-door of their own at this initial moment, as also seemed to keep being outside it when those two brands presented those cars’ second phases. Considering all of that and remembering that this is the automaker who created X5, X6 and even dared to develop sporty versions for both, it wouldn’t be crazy to expect that those Germans had bigger plans. So they didn’t lose the opportunity to overcome the cars which inspirated this one. Instead of an innovation attempt which could easily be rejected, such as 5-Series Gran Turismo, this new car focused at improving its original concept. There are plenty of sportiness and casuality all over this car, but without relying on a fastback-wannabe rear design. This one looks much more like a casual sedan than a formal coupé, using smoother shapes combined with strong details to give a classy impression – it may become harder to sell M5 from now on.
The M version brought very similar changes to what was seen at coupé and convertible M6. There are the traditional exclusive bumpers, side spoilers and fiber carbon roof. But that mentioned “discreet sportiness” can be found at items such as the four exhaust pipes, the black-painted roof or even at the Motorsport division’s logo, discreetly placed at the gorgeous 20” alloy wheels’ center. This proves that M6 paid a lot of attention to the details, instead of only the overall impression. This idea becomes even stronger when entering the car, because BMW didn’t restrict itself to create only one more interpretation of their current interior design’s rules. There still are the big console and lots of other elements that highlight this car’s big width, but it also received details such as Merino leather seats, roof coating using Alcantara, Motorsport’s special steering wheel and much more – another big difference between these cars and the conventional sedans is that these ones’ customers would never hire particular drivers, because they are very aware of the additional driving pleasure found at them. M6 Gran Coupé, for instance, will use the V8 4.4 twin-turbo, with 560 hp and using the M Double Clutch seven-speed automatic transmission. This car also brings sporty suspension and active differential to achieve 0-60 mph in 4s2 and two top speeds: there’s an optional item package which will bring ceramic brake system, multifunctional seats, GPS navigator, Bang & Olufsen sound system… and will raise the top speed from 155 mph to 189.5 mph.
