► BMW’s new 8-series driven
► Is it a Porsche 911, S-class or DB11 rival?
► Whatever it is, it costs £100k
BMW M850i xDrive long-term test
1. Is this car proof that BMW has re-discovered its big-coupe mojo?
When, do we think, was BMW last in possession of its big-coupe mojo? For a couple of generations, the modern 6-series (which the new 8-series replaces) was a good car. But it wasn’t an E9, which is the big BMW coupe Munich pervs (guilty) go gaga for. I’ve driven a couple of E9s, including a 3.0 CSL, and they are sensational, even now: not actually that big, of course, with an engine like strong surf, real adjustability and an effortless, elegant style alien to contemporary BMW design.
The 8-series is not an E9. The truth is – like everybody’s big coupes – BMW’s has grown too big, too heavy and arguably too complicated. Blame everything from connectivity to crash structures. The M850i is vast but that huge footprint does not translate directly into cabin space (just a boot deeper, length-wise, than the Mariana Trench), and there’s little of the E9’s handling delicacy here. But as a big GT and everyday fast car, the M850i’s proved mesmerising, and far more convincing and enjoyable in this role – effectively that of Audi’s RS models – than the RS5 I ran. So yes, this car is proof of the return of a mojo – just not perhaps that mojo.
2. Surely weighing 1890kg is a problem?
Yes, it is. First off, it blunts the fabulous twin-turbo V8 of much of its savagery. All-wheel drive, swift yet cultured auto ‘box and still the 523bhp M850i never manages to feel ballistic. It’s quick, sure, but it’s not the supercar the raw numbers would suggest. That mass blunts braking performance and agility, too, despite the rear-wheel steering’s best efforts. Oh, and if you really enjoy the car’s body control (strong), grip (really strong) and traction (scarcely believable) you’ll savage the tyres, naturally.
Our fronts – fronts! – cried enough at 6000 miles, not through silliness but uneven tread wear. Some owners blame the Bridgestone run-flats. (Reliability was complete, the car asking only for new front rubber, a coolant top-up and fuel.) Neither can the car’s obesity and routine real-world 25mpg be unrelated. But all of this barely holds the M850i back as an awesomely capable GT. In fact, in terms of ride quality, stability and refinement, that weight almost certainly works for the car.
3. Is a 4.4-litre petrol V8 a good idea in 2019?
Not really, no. It’s a fantastic engine, and if you’re very wealthy/prepared to write off the fuel bills/living somewhere better than the UK, where petrol’s almost affordable, you won’t regret going for it. But for the rest of us the diesel 840d make a load more sense; more than £20k less expensive, not slow (1.2sec slower 0-62mph) and 46.3mpg (official) versus 26.9.
4. £108k…?
It’s a lot of money. It’s too much money. And it nags at the M850i evangelist incessantly. Yes it’s a very talented, very desirable car, but an M5 Competition is both of those things, and faster, more entertaining and more practical. The 8 has strayed too close to more rarefied species – on paper, it’s a bargain Bentley Continental GT or Aston DB11, but of course it’s neither a Bentley (sadly) or an Aston (less sadly, depending on the model) and, compared with other cars that aren’t Bentleys or Astons either, it’s terrifically expensive. Wait a couple of years, buy used.
5. And what’s it for?
Believe it or not, it’s for driving. And whether you’re cruising to work or hurrying to the other end of the country, the BMW will cover the distance at tremendous speed, with very little effort, and breed a very likeable sense of calm and complete control as it does so. It’ll use a load of fuel, your rear-seat passengers will hate you, and you may ponder why you haven’t sunk your pension into an M5 instead. But you may also be too content to care.
By Ben Miller
Logbook: Our BMW M850i xDrive
Engine 4395cc twin-turbo V8, 523bhp
Gearbox 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Stats 3.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 224g/km CO2
Price £99,525
As tested £108,405
Miles this month 621
Total miles 5870
Our mpg 21.1
Official mpg 26.2
Energy cost 25.7p per mile
Month 6: it reigns when it pours
So far summer 2019’s involved a return to rain-lashed weekends, sodden BBQ get-togethers huddled in the garage and no motorcycling.
The M850i doesn’t appear to have noticed. Yesterday I spent five hours on the road, all of them soaking wet and with the wipers flying. Our speeds – both between corners and roundabouts and around them – were barely diminished, so much grip and traction did the BMW generate. At one point a Range Rover Sport tried to use the wrong lane at a red light to jump a queue, hoping to launch away first and buy the time to move across. He had time, but only because the M850i was a flying orange speck on the horizon by the time he’d come off the brake and onto the gas.
By Ben Miller
Logbook: Our BMW M850i xDrive
Engine 4395cc twin-turbo V8, 523bhp
Gearbox 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Stats 3.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 224g/km CO2
Price £99,525
As tested £108,405
Miles this month 621
Total miles 5870
Our mpg 21.1
Official mpg 26.2
Energy cost 25.7p per mile
Month 5 living with a BMW M850i: tyre torturer
Well, this is embarrassing. Might I be the first person in history to need front tyres before rears for his V8 BMW? Pathetic. I should be routinely flaying back Bridgestones to the canvas, not leaning so hard on the fronts that it’s the steering wheels that need replacement, surely? I blame xDrive. And myself.
As I alluded to last month, the M850i’s front Bridgestones were in a bad way by 6000 miles, with heavy wear visible to both the inside and outside shoulders. This was apparent early on – I even upped my front pressures to try to help the tyres hold their shape – and reached crisis point this month. So I booked the car in with a trusted local workshop (main man David owns the cleanest Defender County you’ve ever seen) and asked my current account to adopt the brace position.
The tyres have been flawless thus far, so I ordered like-for-like replacements, even sticking with BMW-approved runflats. Fitment was, in the words of Careby Garage’s experienced technicians, ‘a bugger’, not helped by the Bridgestones’ unyielding sidewalls and the car’s tyre pressure monitors, which are easily damaged as the rubber’s wrestled into position.
An hour later the BMW and I were good to go, if £510 worse off. The 8-series felt bizarre for the first 10 miles, its steering maddeningly light as the box-fresh rubber skated over the road with all the friction of frozen fish on a wet tiled floor. But the B176 did a fine job running-in the new tyres. That done, the M850i was back in business: awesomely composed (nothing I’ve driven feels as rigid in the shell, making me think its Carbon Core construction might be more than marketing flam), a fluent overtaker and so grippy and composed that very fast is almost effortless. A supreme GT, then.
By Ben Miller
Logbook: Our BMW M850i xDrive
Engine 4395cc twin-turbo V8, 523bhp
Gearbox 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Stats 3.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 224g/km CO2
Price £99,525
As tested £108,405
Miles this month 621
Total miles 5870
Our mpg 21.1
Official mpg 26.2
Energy cost 25.7p per mile
Month 4 living with a BMW M850i: four points
Unhappy rubber
6000 miles and the front tyres are all but done (3mm left across the middle but on the limit at the shoulders). The Potenza S007s have been heroically grippy but suffered visible discomfort from day one, despite slightly higher pressures to try to help them out.
Power station
‘A honker’ – two words (from our man in America, Sam Smith) that perfectly describe the BMW’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 (with blowers between the cylinder banks, so the fans get busy every single time you stop). Powerful, cultured, musical and smooth as hot wax.
Madness
I hope there was at least a debate: digital symmetry or old-school (speedo and tacho moving clockwise). Inexplicably, symmetry won out here (revs rise ‘backwards’, up and left). No matter. Few engines are as flexible as the 850’s, or gearboxes as intelligent.
Negative Space
I get it. In a car like this the rear seats are a token gesture – an elegantly sweeping profile’s more important. But how a car this big can demand that I motor forwards until the dash is in my chest in order to seat anyone behind me feels ludicrous.
By Ben Miller
Logbook: Our BMW M850i xDrive
Engine 4395cc twin-turbo V8, 523bhp
Gearbox 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Stats 3.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 224g/km CO2
Price £99,525
As tested £108,405
Miles this month 621
Total miles 5870
Our mpg 21.1
Official mpg 26.2
Energy cost 25.7p per mile
Month 3 living with a BMW M850i: Which BMW? Tough choice…
My other BMW’s an HP2 Sport, a rare-groove sportsbike from 2010. Like the M850i, the HP2 Sport (born out of BMW’s Le Mans programme) was a flagship. Both BMWs use premium pricing to pay for exotic engineering, not least carbonfibre. The 8’s monocoque is reinforced with the stuff, and its roof is entirely composite. The bike’s bodywork is all carbon, offsetting some of the weight inherent in its incongruously old-school powertrain, BMW’s trademark air-cooled flat-twin.
There the similarities end. Where the M850i is loaded with assistance systems, all-wheel drive and heated everything, for fast, safe, easy miles, the analogue, rear-drive HP2 is demanding in the best possible way.
By Ben Miller
Logbook: Our BMW M850i xDrive
Engine 4395cc twin-turbo V8, 523bhp
Gearbox 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Stats 3.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 224g/km CO2
Price £99,525
As tested £108,405
Miles this month 1112
Total miles 5249
Our mpg 23.4
Official mpg 26.2
Energy cost 23.9p per mile
Month 2 living with an M850i: you drive our car
For all its gesture control and xDrive all-wheel drive, BMW’s M850i is an archaic automotive proposition – a big, heavy, quite beautiful hunk of metal with space for two, seats for another two and a monstrous 4.4-litre V8. It’s about as progressive as a Sunday roast. It also costs £99,525 before options and will rip through a gallon of unleaded in under 20 miles without trying.
So, it makes no sense. But finding CAR readers keen to drive it is easy nevertheless….
Meet the CAR readers
The GT Driver
35,000-miles-a-year Charles Bennie is 30 years a CAR reader, a passionate enthusiast and the custodian currently of both an AMG C43 and a Mini Cooper S.
The 6-series owner
Nick Cole owns a BMW 640d Gran Coupe and is patiently waiting for the four-door version of the 8-series, due this summer.
The BMW fan and Tesla owner
Former BMW fanboy turned Teslarati Andy loves the idea of a fast, refined and handsome conveyance but isn’t sure he doesn’t already own it – an 85D Model S.
Driving the Eight
Charles is besotted with his Mercedes-AMG C43 – in many ways a kind of mini-M850i – and perhaps prime for conversion to the 8-series fan club, of which I’m founding member and chairperson. But we don’t get off to a great start…
Straight off, Charles notes that visibility of the car’s extremities is poor – an issue exacerbated by the ultra-low driving position that works well once you’re up to speed. And, powering from one tight corner to another, Charles is also quick to point out just how heavy the BMW feels. He asks for numbers. I don’t sugar the pill, and tell him straight that this carbon-roofed sports coupe weighs 1965kg. ‘Hmmm, yes, that is a lot…’
But then the M850i starts to fight back, first with an effortless thump of acceleration to get up to speed on a slip-road. ‘Shit! It’s got a lot of poke – what a wonderful engine. A purring beast that’s ready to blast off whenever you need it to,’ gushes Charles as the 4.4-litre V8 does its thing. ‘Fabulous engine but very discreet too, unlike AMG’s V8s. This suits me better. But for all its manners it needs no encouragement whatsoever to get up to speed.’
As we power on, trading dual carriageway for sweeping rural roads, the BMW sets about really snaring Charles’s heart. Driving with the unhurried confidence of a man who enjoys his work, Charles and the M850i gel.
‘I really like the brakes – they’ve plenty of feel – but overwhelmingly it’s the car’s effortlessness I love. It’s so planted on the road, it goes exactly where you want it to go – thanks in part to the four-wheel steering – and there’s so much grip and composure; it laughs off mid-corner bumps. I normally drive pretty steadily but this just wants you to beast it!’
Come the end of his drive, Charles is smitten. ‘The more I drive it, the more I like it – a most extraordinary machine. Yes it’s heavy but it’s incredibly solid and beautifully made, and I love the engine. I’ll have to make a bit more money so I can get one of these.’
After a short stretch of A1 motorway, on which 6ft 4in Nick finds himself enamoured of both the BMW’s fine driving position and agreeably spacious cockpit, we get stuck into a great sequence of corners. The M850i rips through, the car’s adaptive dampers and impressive composure dispatching what should, at these speeds, be a challenging stretch of road. Nick’s enjoying himself, though he’s adamant he’d be enjoying himself more without four-wheel drive…
‘Through faster corners you don’t really feel the all-wheel drive,’ says Nick. ‘But in tighter bends I prefer the more natural feel of my rear-drive 640d. This is a little Audi-like. Does it need all-wheel drive? I guess it helps in the snow, when my 6-series really struggles.
‘As for the four-wheel steering, you get used to it. Again, it’s in the tighter corners that you feel it: there’s a definite sense of the rear axle helping pivot the car.’
Nick bought his 640d Gran Coupe because it was both the perfect car for his requirements and ludicrously discounted. He needs a practical family car that’s also fun on his two-hour, mixed-road daily commute. ‘The 640d is a good compromise that doesn’t feel too compromised,’ he says. ‘The M850i just wouldn’t work on a practical level, but it’s also a lot of money; £100k is ridiculous for a BMW.’
Then the road opens up, clear of traffic, and the BMW surges from nothing to 90mph in moments. ‘It does sound lovely, doesn’t it?’ grins Nick, momentarily convinced perhaps. Then again, maybe not. ‘For me, the answer might be two cars: a family estate and a weekend car. Maybe a ’69 Mustang, just to have, to look at and to drive around in pretending I’m John Wick.’
As if declaring his impartiality from the start, Andy is unapologetic in his fondness for BMWs. ‘I owned pretty much every model iteration of the E92 3-series, from the frustrating 330d through a couple of 335s – the best engine – to the ultimately disappointing M3,’ he tells me. But after an Audi RS5 and an X5, Andy made the jump to EVs with his Model S 85D – a new Performance Model S with Ludicrous Acceleration turns up shortly. Can the M850i impress?
‘Straight away it does feel heavy,’ says Andy. ‘The Tesla’s heavier, but to an extent the electric motors mask some of that. This kicks really hard too but it’s different – it feels different. You don’t get any build-up in a Tesla – just the hit of acceleration. This feels… old school. It’s back to raucous power. I always thought that what I loved about a fast car was the noise and the speed, but when you drive a Tesla you realise that the exhilaration comes from the speed alone – you don’t need the noise; it’s just theatre.’
Andy’s confidence in the car builds quickly as he re-adjusts to using actual brakes (rather than relying on regenerative charging to slow the car) and a car that goes through bends like, well, like a BMW. ‘For something this big and heavy it does feel impressively agile through corners, with tight body control and lots of grip,’ he says.
‘It’s refined, too; quiet, and a nice place to be, particularly when you compare the interior to a Tesla.’
Out of a junction, Andy gives the V8 some stick. He’s just been telling me how indulgent engines like this are, and then… ‘There you go! Now there’s a big silly smile on my face! But seriously, I think I’m over engines. The cost of ownership is huge and a 4.4-litre V8 is just gratuitous. But if BMW accelerated its electrification and came out with this powered by a 100kWh battery, that would be a game-changer.’
By Ben Miller
Logbook: Our BMW M850i xDrive
Engine 4395cc twin-turbo V8, 523bhp
Gearbox 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Stats 3.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 224g/km CO2
Price £99,525
As tested £108,405
Miles this month 1079
Total miles 4137
Our mpg 20.8
Official mpg 26.2
Energy cost 26p per mile
Five questions our new 8-series must answer
1. Is this car proof BMW’s got its big-coupe mojo back?
Regardless of whether or not it’s a fair question to ask, the 8-series must – in a single car – undo decades of underachievement. That’s the ball we’re keenest to see the 8-series smash out of the park.
In the beginning there was the CSL Batmobile, a car so evocative (thank the countless race wins and spectacular paint jobs, not least Alexander Calder’s art car) that BMW’s yet to better it as a single-car manifestation of all it stands for. Then there was the ’80s 8-series, for a whole generation (tellingly, a generation then too young to drive) a knee-weakening confection of wedge silhouette and pop-up lights.
And now, after too long trying to get really excited about a couple of generations of lacklustre 6-series, the 8 is back, excitedly twinned with its GTE endurance-racer sister in BMW’s propaganda, and due in range-topping M8 guise at the end of the year. Priced as a flagship, can the M850i drive and feel like one?
2. Surely weighing in at 1890kg is a problem?
Whether you’re glancing at the 850i’s spec sheet or heading out for your first few miles behind the wheel, the sheer weight of the thing is hard to ignore. Yes it’s big (4851mm from end to end) and four-wheel drive, but a kerbweight of 1890kg is pretty astonishing when you consider that the body claims aluminium and carbonfibre in its construction, and that the barely-any-less-roomy-in-the-back-Porsche 911 is some 500kg lighter.
Given the BMW is unlikely to lose weight over the duration of our loan, the best we can hope for is that it’s a car no worse off for being a bit porky. Perhaps the engine’s so outrageously gifted, everywhere, and the suspension so adept, that the weight simply won’t matter. Perhaps it’ll even work in the car’s favour, helping it smooth out rough tarmac. Or perhaps we’ll be endlessly frustrated by its dim-witted responses and debilitating thirst.
3. Is a 4.4-litre petrol V8 a good idea in 2019?
The 311bhp £76,270 840d has huge appeal, as much for being £20k more affordable than the 850i as for its promise of far less painful running costs. (BMW reckons on 39.2-40.4mpg combined for the diesel, versus 26.2-26.9mpg for the petrol V8). But, buoyed by a new credit card, the first joyous whispers of spring and the truth that no truly great driver’s car has ever run a diesel engine, we’ve opted for the Super Size Me M850i: an outrageous 4.4 litres of twin-turbo petrol V8 decadence, driving all four wheels via standard xDrive (rather than the M5’s switchable front-/rear-wheel drive – the flagship M8 will surely get that) and an eight-speed auto.
4. £108k…?
Clearly, BMWs pretty confident the 8-series is a seriously good car – how else can you explain pricing that’s nudging six figures before you’ve ticked a single box (£99,525 for the M850i before options)? The 850i isn’t a million miles from cars with badges synonymous with ‘luxury brand’ pricing, namely Bentley’s new Conti GT (perhaps the 8-series’ most like-minded rival, albeit for another £50k in W12 form, though a V8 is coming) and Aston Martin’s V8 DB11, which starts at £145k.
Partly because it comes groaning with kit straight out of the box,
and partly because taking the price any further north would quickly start to look entirely ridiculous, my 8-series ‘only’ boasts options to the tune of £8880. Of those the big hitters are the M Carbon roof (£2650: pretty, but on a two-tonne car?), the Technology package (£2800, and combining semi-autonomous Driving Assistant Professional and Parking Assistant Plus), the Adaptive M suspension Professional (£1895 – this car costs £99.5k and still you need to find more for clever suspension…) and BMW’s £1500 Laserlights.
The grand total’s £108,405, the elephant in the room Porsche’s outrageously good new 992-generation 911, pricing for which starts at £93k for the Carrera S with PDK. It might be 79bhp down on power, but the Porsche is also almost 400kg lighter…
5. And, all that aside, what’s it actually for?
Expensive, fast, pretty (I think), painfully cramped in the back and possessing of the longest bonnet and boot this side of a Rolls-Royce Phantom hearse, the M850i is a curious proposition when subjected to any kind of logical thinking. Perhaps tellingly, it has also prompted its maker to come up with a series of oxymoronic descriptors, including ‘elegant racer’ and ‘luxury sports car’. You what? Maybe everything will make perfect sense by the time we hand it back after six months.
Logbook: Our BMW M850i xDrive
Engine 4395cc twin-turbo V8, 523bhp
Gearbox 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Stats 3.7sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 224g/km CO2
Price £99,525
As tested £108,405
Miles this month 3058
Total miles 3058
Our mpg 20.1
Official mpg 26.2
Energy cost 19p per mile
BMW 8-series coupe: our first drive
The number eight has only ever been applied to stuff in the posher, pricier and quirkier realms of BMW’s portfolio – the Z8, i8, and indeed the original BMW 8-series coupe of 1989-1996. Now it’s back.
So this is essentially a 7-series coupe, right?
Absolutely not, protests BMW; although the 8-series uses elements of the same structure as the 5- and 7-series, it was always intended to be considered a new, separate model in its own right, to be thought of more as a sporting grand tourer than as a luxury car.
Munich argues it’s also not to be considered a replacement for the old 6-series, as the 8-series sits higher up the scale in terms of cost and capability.
The new BMW 8-series will be available in three body styles: two-door 2+2 Coupe, Convertible and four-door Gran Coupe.
The upcoming BMW M8 will be available in the same three costumes. The M8 is still maybe another year away at the time of writing, due for launch in late 2019.
What’s under the bonnet?
A choice of two engines: a twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 petrol in the BMW M850i, or a 3.0-litre straight-six turbodiesel in the 840d. Here we’re testing the M850i.
The M850i’s M prefix labels it as an ‘M Performance’ model, rather than a full M Division-developed car, as the M8 will be.
All 8-series models are all-wheel drive, under BMW’s ‘xDrive’ banner, but are very much rear-biased. In steady-state driving they’re purely rear-wheel drive, bundling torque to the front when required. Unlike the current BMW M5, you can’t flick a switch and make them rear-drive only for tail-out hooliganism, in-keeping with the 8-series primary remit as a comfortable Grand Tourer rather than a supercar-baiter.
The 8-series platform has potential to accommodate a hybrid powertrain, but that’s not planned for now.
How much does the BMW M850i cost in the UK?
That’ll be £100,045.
How much?!
One-hundred grand, plus options. Or £76,270 for the BMW 840d. A lot of wedge, and no mistake.
Does it feel worth the cash?
Interior quality is difficult to fault – fit and finish are excellent, as are ergonomics with multiple ways to control the latest iDrive 7.0 infotainment, from voice, gesture and finger-tracing scribing to good old-fashioned buttons. All are intuitive, and the system is hooked up to some of the latest self-driving tech, including a new Reverse Assistant function, which can retrace the car’s path in reverse if you’ve driven forwards into a tricky spot; you work the pedals, it does the steering for you.
The seating position is notably low; 8-series project manager Bernd Limmer told CAR it was the first starting point of the design, and tyres the next; specially developed mixed-width 20-inch Bridgestones.
Semi-chintzy glass for the gearlever and starter button lift the ambience out of the ordinary, although the overall impression is of a mainstream luxury saloon rather than a bespoke sports car. The exterior, too, looks more saloon than coupe to these eyes, but the roofline’s low, fast arc is undeniably striking in the metal, as are the wide shoulders, short overhangs and what are currently the slimmest headlights in the BMW group.
Can a full-size human fit in the back seats?
Not really. A five-foot-ten adult will have their head comprehensively squashed, and the rear seats are best reserved for kids or particularly flexible adults for short trips.
You can fit a fair bit of luggage in the boot, and carry long items with the rear seat backs folded down, released by remote handles in the boot, although you’d need to negotiate past the rear screen’s low-set bottom edge to get them in.
What’s it like to drive?
Taken at face value, it’s a supremely relaxing car to waft about in, a few fingers resting lightly on the fat-rimmed steering wheel, enjoying how little lock is required to negotiate tighter turns (partly a facet of the standard rear-wheel steering, which can feel a little odd at roundabouts on first acquaintance but quickly feels normal).
The V8 sounds pretty good, albeit muted; a mellow, cultured baritone, popping and rumbling slightly synthetically on the overrun through the electronically controlled flaps within its exhausts.
As with most modern BMWs, switchable modes for steering, dampers and powertrain mapping ramp up from Comfort through Sport to Sport+. In the latter two modes, body control is remarkably good, with impressively tidy handling for such a large, heavy car, hinting that it’s capable of more than it might appear.
To demonstrate its confidence in the 8-series’ handling, BMW’s launch took in driving on-circuit as well as on the road. Estoril is a superb track, full of big stops, long multi-apex technical corners and high-entry-speed brave bits. We followed a BMW M5 Competition pace car driven by works BMW DTM hotshoe Bruno Spengler, and he wasn’t hanging about.
The 8-series acquitted itself surprisingly well. Particularly impressive are the brakes; made of steel (the M8 may feature ceramics) and the same generous size front and rear, they stand up remarkably well to continued punishment on track. They already smelled hot when CAR climbed in, but the pedal’s travel never changed throughout the session and once the front tyres were up to temperature there was never any doubt the 8-er was going to stop, and stop well.
Even with the standard-fit adaptive dampers set to their firmest mode, there’s plenty of weight transfer going on (the M850i does weigh around 1.9 tonnes, after all), but it’s well managed, and gives you plenty of options to manipulate the car’s attitude between turn-in and apex. The suspension’s stroke is well-controlled while the car is loaded up, too, making it happy to take plenty of kerb mid-corner and on exit without upsetting its overall balance.
An electronically controlled locking differential is standard, and with the stability control system switched into halfway-off ‘Traction’ mode, or all the way off, the M850’s natural pose is to exit corner with a slight whiff of oversteer on the go.
Its long wheelbase lends it predictability and it’s fun, safe, and quick in a straight line too – quick enough to keep a reasonably hard-worked M5 in sight.
New BMW 8-series: verdict
BMW says its internal nickname for the 8-series while it was being developed was ‘the gentleman racer’, both luxurious and exciting to drive. Despite its impressive on-track abilities, however, it feels more like an exec than a sports car on the road, to this tester at least. It could perhaps possess a little more drama and sense of occasion in return for its six-figure asking price.
BMW doesn’t consider it to be an S-class Coupe rival, because it rates the 8-series as ‘on another level’ for driving dynamics and agility. In fact it considers Aston Martin’s DB11 to be its closest competitor in ethos, but the Aston is considerably more expensive. Arguably considerably more exciting, too, but the 8-series has been designed with a broad spread of use in mind. ‘For some customers it’s a toy; they might have five or six cars in their garage. For some, it will be their only car,’ says BMW luxury product boss Carsten Groeber.
Even if it is perhaps missing a little drama, the new 8-series is a dynamically impressive, well-rounded machine. The days of big coupes with big engines may be numbered; perhaps we should enjoy, and admire, this car while we can.
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