BMW 8-series Coupe
BMW IS BRINGING BACK THE 8-SERIES AFTER an absence of nearly 20 years. The coupe you see here is just the beginning of the new line-up, which will later include conver tibles and four- door Gran Coupes, with M8 variants available in all three body styles. For now the two - door hard-top version of fers a new option for buyers looking for a sophistic ated yet still dynamic ally adept GT coupe. Topping the range at launch will be the M850i xDrive, which at £100,045 looks to be a keen compromise between the Porsche 911 C arrera 4 GTS and the more laid-back Mercedes-Benz S560 Coupe, both of which are priced around £103k. We’d also throw the £144k Aston Mar tin DB11 V8 into the mix. Here’s what the new 8-series Coupe will bring to tackle its rivals. BMW 8-series Coupe.
Chassis
The new 8-series is built from a cock tail of materials designed to reduce weight and increa se rigidity in strategic area s. Many of the body panels, plus the front and rear cra sh structures and the bulkhead, are aluminium, while the cockpit’s centre tunnel is c arbonfibre. Never theless, the M850i’s kerb weight is still a hef ty 1890k g. This is in par t due to BMW throwing its full arsenal of cha ssis tech at the new 8-series, including xDrive all-wheel drive, rear-wheel steering and, optionally, active roll stabilisation. It’s wor th noting that the M850i’s weight figure undercuts the Mercedes S560 Coupe’s by 110k g.
Design
Design chief Adrian van Hooydonk needed this new flag ship mainstream model to pur vey the ‘ideal’ BMW and point the way for ward for the design of future models. While it’s not a s attention-grabbing a s, say, an i8, the 8-series cer tainly looks imposing in the metal. Its slim LED or optional la ser headlights are the thinnest yet fitted to a production BMW, while the c ar also features a downturned and conjoined kidney grille – the first time these two emerging design traits have been combined. The roof ha s a subtle double-bubble ef fect, and the body a s a whole is a ver y deliberate exercise in creating a threebox coupe, shunning the trend of fa stback coupes that have become commonplace.
Interior
The overall cabin architecture is simplified compared to that of the out going 6 -series, but quality ha s been a key element, according to BMW, a s well a s incorporating all the latest interior tech. A par ticularly glamorous touch is the cr ystal-like gearshif ter, which sits in a control centrelike arrangement along side the i-Drive dial and cha ssis buttons. Although still suitably sumptuous, the interior – like the rest of the c ar – is more driver-focused than that of the Mercedes S- cla ss Coupe, a s is empha sised by the centre stack being angled acutely towards the driver. Its block y aesthetic could even be a gentle homa ge to the original 8-series from 1989.
sources: Evo UK, 9-18
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