New BMW 640d Gran Coupé Review

Advantages

Astonishing performance for the fuel economy on offer stood the original 6 Series Coupé out from the crowd and the Gran Coupé is the same but with two more doors. Unbelievably competent all-round.

Disadvantages

The car's list price of £63,900 increases rapidly once you've ticked a few options. The end result is a very expensive car that sometimes doesn't feel special enough. Blame part-sharing with cheaper models.

Summary

The 6 Series Gran Coupé sits in a small and lofty niche. Bigger and more luxurious than a 5 Series but low and sporting like the 6 Series Coupé, there's certainly much to like on paper. The 640d, with ample power and minimal thirst is our pick of the range, but it will be a rare sight on the road and those behind the wheel will have paid rather a lot for the privilege. So it is worthy?

The first reason buyers will pay a premium for the 6 Series Gran Coupé over the equally capable 5 Series saloon is desirability. There's no doubt that the 6 Series Gran Coupé makes for an impossibly beautiful saloon. However, when viewed as a coupé it very nearly pulls off the trick BMW's designers were aiming for – that of disguising a saloon as a coupé – but doesn't quite manage it. The BMW is more understated and serene that its Audi A7 and Mercedes-Benz CLS rivals, with soft lines and ovoid forms, but for that reason it's found slightly wanting for verve. Even so, a classically long bonnet, rakish profile and no shortage of stance give little reason to complain. 20-inch M-Sport alloys sweeten things up considerably, with no real impact on ride comfort.

The 640d may start at £63,900, but options such as metallic paint, Nappa leather (which you'll want), LED headlights and a head-up display – to name but a few – meant the bottom line for our car read £85,100. Sure, it's a lot of very well made, very well equipped, very elegant car, you'll argue. But for all of this there's something missing; a unique flair or individuality for a car this expensive, and it stems from the German habit of transplanting interiors between every model in the range. The 640d's interior is beautifully appointed but it's just too similar to the one found in the 3 Series. And that's something you could never say about the Jaguar XF.

Design may be the raison d'etre of the Gran Coupé but what really stands it out is the all-aluminium twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre diesel engine. Mountainous torque and 313bhp turn the five-metre long 640d into something of a beautifully sonorous, rather than silent, assassin; 60mph from rest takes just 5.4 seconds. The price you pay for all of this is a combined 50.4mpg and emissions of just 148g/km carbon dioxide; at a sustained 80mph we managed 51mpg with everyday driving returning around 35mpg. Overall, the 640d GC is comfortably faster, cleaner and more frugal than the Mercedes CLS 350CDI and even the outstanding Porsche Panamera Diesel.

There's been criticism of the different driving modes – ranging from SPORT+ to ECO PRO – in recent BMWs, that they don't make much difference or indeed any, but it's less of a problem in the 6 Series. That's because you never really want the car to stop being fast, quiet and relatively economical. So, in ECO PRO the throttle response is slightly damped but not too much and gearshifts come nice and early. That's fine – it's meant to be a creamy, luxurious car, after all. In SPORT+, however, the engine revs right up to the red line, the chassis firms up a little – again, not too much – and you can really lean on the car through corners. But that's all great, too, because this BMW is still a competent performance car underneath all the makeup. The 6 Series GC never really stops being excellent, no matter what you ask of it and versatility, ultimately, is just another facet of luxury.

Now that the 6 Series is well into it's model cycle, savings could runs into many thousands of pounds for new car buyers. The 640d still isn't cheap, but the combination of hatchback fuel economy, sports car performance and tremendous refinement means that, in objective terms, this car has no rivals. It's just that good.

AutoeBid new car deals choice: It has to be this, the 640d, which offers the same performance as the 640i but with 1 Series fuel economy. For company car buyers, BIK is 22 percent and VED is £130 a year.

Comfort           5 stars

Style                5 stars

Handling          5 stars

Depreciation    3 stars

Economy         4 stars

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