BMW seem to have more variants of each model range than Ben and Jerry have different flavour ice creams.
The 6 Series Coupe has been with us a number of years now and even the original quirky shape with its rump of a bootlid has aged well. With a decent set of big rims fitted it is a car that can still pull a few admiring glances.
BMW has since tried to tame the original Chris Bangle artwork and some of the design eccentricities have been ironed out now. What we have today is a car that is pleasing to the eye but has been diluted to the point of perhaps being a little vanilla-flavoured. Shame that – we were starting to like the old girl.
Spotted a 6 Series Convertible the other day and strangely it seems to have a bit more road presence than the Coupe – it looks bigger and more aggressive. Maybe the truncated roof-line (with the roof up) has something to do with it. The car also had what looked like 20″ rims fitted and any 6 Series looks well-endowed with in-yer-face wheels that fill the arches. So there is your vanilla ice cream with a chocolate flake and a sprinkle of bits of fruit.
BMW, Audi and Mercedes are the kids in the park that are part of the same exclusive gang. One minute they are all on the swings then the next they are dashing for the roundabout and then the slide. The rest of the kids watch and wait until the gang has moved on before they can have a go.
Mercedes got the four-door Coupe thing rolling a while back with their handsome CLS. Nice, swoopy lines that makes the car look like it is going fast even when it is parked up at Sainsbury’s. A big hit for Merc who probably won over a few new customers who wouldn’t normally consider buying one of their cars.
Then Audi entered the same market segment with its A7 Sportback but with the added bonus of a 5th door making it technically a hatchback. To be fair VW had launched its own four-door Coupe with the Passat CC before the A7 arrived but it doesn’t compete at the same level in the market i.e. it is cheaper.
So BMW is the last kid to jump on the roundabout with its new 6 Series ‘Gran Coupe’.
At the front there is the usual BMW family-look with the signature kidney-grille and elliptoid headlights but go round the side and hello four-door 6 Series. It looks the part too. Nicely proportioned glass-house to accommodate the four doors while cleverly retaining some of the Coupe’s design elements. Of course the wheelbase is longer than the Coupe but then to get two adults comfortably in the back of the Gran Coupe it had to be stretched just a tad.
It’s the rear though that works particularly well. The lights have been slightly tweaked to blend in with the shallow boot-line and deep valance of the tapered tail-end. It definitely looks the business from behind but the overall shape looks a lot more striking than the new 7 Series.
So flavour number 3 turns out to be the Ben and Jerry’s ‘Core Dough-ble Whammy’….mmm nice!
Prices start at £63900 and the engine choice will include a diesel and two petrol options. A new 450hp twin-turbo V8 tops the range and all three will have 8-speed auto transmissions.
For more details of the 6 Series Gran Coupe or any other BMW model in the range call The Car Spy on 01732 760699 or email sales@thecarspy.net
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