TORQUE TALK tic and the push in the back you get every time you go into the throttle makes its own strong case. The fact that you spend less time in filling stations is valuable in itself. All our test cars had the optional 20inch wheels, which look really good, and I was surprised that these massive Runflats managed to avoid corrupting the ride too much even on some well decayed Sicilian country roads. Handling and steering is very good with low roll angles when pressing on in the bends, especially in Sport mode. The car tracks very well and is not moved particularly by midcorner bumps. It was not unexpected that the longer wheelbase of the Gran Coupe seemed to substantially mitigate the remote and artificial feel of the Active steering system I clearly remember from when my 640i Coupe drive last year. Either that or BMW has tweaked the system since. The Gran Coupe thus felt more intuitive and less ‘microchip influenced’ in its driver feedback. In the final analysis, the Gran Coupe is not the most engaging drivers’ car in the BMW range. Its raison d’être is to be a fast and stylish grand touring car for a sophisticated audience.
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In terms of ride quality, all our test cars had 8.5J and 9.0J x 20-inch wheels, shod with 245/35ZR20 and 275/30ZR20 rubber. While the springs and dampers are calibrated for these sizes, there is no doubt that ride quality would be even better on smaller wheels. I personally would go the 19-inch route as the best overall compromise between ride, handling and looks. This is partly because I suspect the slight issue with ride even on high-speed motorway runs was influenced by the higher unsprung weight of the 20-inch Runflats. I know from past experience that both active damping, which the Gran Coupe has, and air suspension, which it does not, do not like heavy wheels and tyres, and there was a feeling on some surfaces and combinations of bumps that the ride would have benefitted from lighter footwear. That said, the ability of the suspension to absorb the worse of the bumps despite these big boots was impressive. There were a number of road surface aberrations that I saw approaching and could not avoid, which did not send the expected level of bump-thump to the cabin. In practice, the Comfort setting was often less comfortable than
Sport on some surfaces, since it does not pull things back together as quickly in preparation for the next bump when you are pressing on. Thus, I found myself using the Sport setting the most for its combination of ride equilibrium and snappier engine and transmission response. As with other such systems, Sport+ is a bit too aggressive for normal driving, and is best left out of the equation unless you are in attack mode. To further extend the Gran Coupe’s versatility, XDrive will be added as an option, with the 650i first. While this will be no doubt be popular in markets with severe winters, some enthusiasts, spurred on by the M550d ideology will no doubt tick the 4WD box for performance reasons. It would certainly be nice to have this option on the torque rich 640d. The BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe has great eye appeal and drives well too. I was also impressed with the versatility of its rear seat and boot arrangement, and very enthusiastic about the performance and economy of the 640d model in particular. The Gran Coupe is one of the highlights of my driving year so far. Local Dealer: Guarnieri