Michael SimariCar and Driver
It’s not easy to build a car that combines the diametrically opposed concepts of sportiness and luxury. BMW’s latest attempt to find the sweet spot between those polar opposites is the 2020 BMW M850i xDrive Gran Coupe, the newest addition to the already expansive 8-series family. Despite it being called a coupe, the M850i is really the sports sedan in the 8-series lineup and provides the comfortable performance of a high-powered four-door.
Introduced for the 2020 model year, the Gran Coupe has the same basic styling as the coupe and convertible 8-series. You get a relatively small BMW kidney grille, narrow LED headlights and taillights, and carefully tailored interior. There’s also the fire-breathing M8, which is powered by a 600-hp version of the twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 that powers the M850i.
The Gran Coupe amends the 8-series formula with a stretched wheelbase (7.9 inches longer than in the 8-series coupe), a more upright windshield (designed to improve headroom), and an increased rake for the rear window (for design reasons and to make room for a larger trunk). Those changes create a roomier interior for all occupants. The 36.6 inches of legroom for the Gran Coupe’s outboard rear passengers is positively civilized compared to the 29.5 inches in the coupe and convertible models. There is a seatbelt for a second-row middle-seat passenger, but the center tunnel eats up any legroom that could have been available, effectively making the Gran Coupe a four-seater.
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The interior is comfortable but doesn’t quite reach the superb luxury of the Mercedes S-class coupe. BMWs in general feel stodgier and more utilitarian than the high luxury offered by their fellow countrymen at Mercedes-Benz. The seats are trimmed with leather, but the standard interior fittings include leatherette on certain surfaces, and it cost $1730 to get the sparkly crystal interior bits that made our test car’s interior look so upscale. The large central screen works with BMW’s iDrive infotainment system, which is well organized and easy to use.
The M850i xDrive carries a $109,895 base price. That includes BMW’s delightful twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8, the same found in the X7. It makes 523 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque in this application. You’re also getting a rear-biased all-wheel-drive system and an eight-speed automatic.
Our test car added rear sunshades and four heated seats ($850), a $1700 driver assistance package, the aforementioned sleek-looking crystal trim for several of the infotainment controls and the shift knob for $650, Further upping its price were $1080 worth of piano-black trim throughout the rest of the interior, $3400 for a 16-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system, and $4100 for a carbon-fiber exterior-trim package. The total, $122,775, puts the M850i Gran Coupe in the same space as the Mercedes-Benz S-class coupe and Porsche Panamera.
The M850i showcased impressive straight-line speed and quickness during its brief stay with us. Its combination of all-wheel drive, a ZF-designed eight-speed automatic transmission, and that behemoth of a twin-turbo V-8 made the M850i absurdly quick for something so heavy. (It tipped our scales at 4683 pounds.) It sprinted from zero to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds at the test track, made it through a quarter-mile in 11.8 seconds at 119 mph, and shamed every driver that pulled up next to us at a stoplight. Should a quick getaway lead to the need for a hasty stop, the M850i came to a halt from 70 mph in 155 feet.
It was too snowy during our dalliance with the M850i to test its road-holding ability on the skidpad, but a rear-drive 840i Gran Coupe previously managed a solid 0.95 g. Still, this big faux coupe feels more cumbersome in corners than its quickness would suggest. The steering is hyper-isolated in comfort mode, and effort increases in Sport or Sport + mode. But while the steering adds weight based on the selected drive mode, the added effort makes the M850i feel even heftier. This car never achieves the light, lithe character we cherish in even the heaviest Porsches.
In Comfort mode, the ride over rough pavement is as smooth as the steering is isolated, but the M-tuned adaptive dampers stiffen up progressively in Sport and Sport + modes. The performance-oriented driving modes also bring a large dose of piped-in engine noise to the otherwise quiet cabin. We could do without the canned commotion. It’s immature and out of place in a car best suited to high-speed, long-distance cruising.
The M850i isn’t perfect. We’d prefer it if the M name was reserved for things that fell firmly in the sporty end of the spectrum. If we wanted a true luxury car in this segment, we’d stick with the S-class coupe. But BMW has successfully imbued this car with elements of both luxury and sportiness, achieving a careful balance of the effortless power and the comfortable isolation that many luxury customers expect. If you have a pile of cash, like the design, want a V-8, and don’t care that BMW brands it a coupe, it’s definitely worth a look.
Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com
