NEW BMW 4-SERIES
Remember the controversially styled BMW Concept 4’s enormo-grille? Well, it’s here to stay on the new 4-Series
Sit behind the wheelof BMW’s latest 4-Series and you can’t even see the front end. Seems like the best place to be
“YOU CAN HAVE AN OPINION ON THE LOOKS BUT IT’S NOT REALLY YOUR CHOICE”
hile there’s a lot to say about the new BMW 4-Series, only a contrarian would start anywhere other than, literally, the beginning. The front. And, oh my, what a lot of front it has. The new 4-Series flared nostrils have inflamed all conversation about the car – indeed about BMW design in general – ever since they were shown on a concept in September last year.
Actually, I’m less offended by the main grille design than most people are. My beef is the wider facial ensemble and its secondary apertures and fins and gills. The kidney pair are largely blanked off. If they weren’t, surely those other holes (which are mostly falsies too) wouldn’t be necessary at all. BMW is, or was, a company driven by the technical rather than the melodramatic. Do we need all this? Oh, and another thing. At what point in the design process did someone do a double take and venture, “Hey guys, haven’t we forgotten the numberplate?” The concept had a Perspex plate that showed the double grille in all its... glory. The production car’s plate of course has to be opaque, breaking up the effect. It’s like getting a forehead tattoo, then growing a fringe that partially veils it.
Anyhow. Moving on. This 4-Series diverges significantly from today’s 3-Series – both on the skin and under it. The first 4-Series was largely just a renamed, slightly wider and lower pillarless 3. Which had actually been the case ever since it was called the 3-Series Coupe back in the E36 era beginning in 1990.
This 4-Series Coupe is inhabited by essence of 8-Series, although the lines are simplified, less baroque. The straight line at mid-height along the side ties the front and rear together nicely, and the roof silhouette has a more elegant curve. The 3 saloon’s main feature line, by the way, is above the doorhandles and it doesn’t have that bulge over the rear wheels, so its character as well as its outline are more formally upright, and the proportions do the same job: the Coupe is nearly 60mm lower overall than the saloon, and the rear wheels are a finger’s width further out at each side. So it’s got more stance, and likely better grip, a fact further amplified by the 21mm lower centre of gravity.
Anyway, you can have an opinion on the looks but it’s not really your choice. BMW’s design director Domagoj Dukec told me, “Premium isn’t about customers telling us what they want. It’s our researchers seeing how people react. We define how BMW looks.” But BMW isn’t just one thing any more. “We have so many cars in the range. Some are more elegant and some are more expressive. But not all of them are both
– you don’t mix sweet and salty popcorn.”
“THIS 4-SERIES COUPE IS INHABITED BY ESSENCE OF 8-SERIES, ALTHOUGH THE LINES ARE SIMPLIFIED”
The body doesn’t only look different to the 3 saloon’s, it’s made of different stuff. The front wings, bonnet and doors are all aluminium to save weight and move its distribution further back. Under all that, the body is stiffened in several places around the front strut towers, the bulkhead and the rear axle attachments. The aim is more driving precision, evidently. Revised suspension geometry – more racy negative camber at the front – should have the same effect. The 3-Series clever ‘lift-related’ passive dampers are used, but all moving suspension parts are firmed up. And of course there’ll be optional adaptive and sports set-ups. The comms out of Munich says it’s notably more agile than the saloon. And remember, the saloon already tends toward a busier riding dynamic over pillowy comfort.
Pending the M4, the 4-in-chief is the M440i xDrive. I speak as one who adores the M340i xDrive, as a Touring especially, so this car has it all to muck up. But signs are it won’t. Again there’s the benefit of the enhanced feel and precision in the suspension, but also what should be an even better powertrain. The terrific straight-six gets an extra 11bhp, taking it to 385, thanks to a 48V mild-hybrid system. Its snap of extra e-torque should also swat away the 40i turbo lag – not that there’s much to begin with.
If you still seek purity on your BMWs I’d commend the 430i. One of my drives of the year in 2018 was in a 330i. Because fourcylinder and RWD, it’s lighter and more nimble than the sixes, with clearer messages coming through the steering. OK, it’s at its best on a dry and tightly curving empty road, which is what had been bestowed on me that sainted day. Anyway, the 430i gets the same remarkably sweet and punchy 258bhp engine, so I’d be optimistic. As well, you can rely on 330d xDrive, 320d and 320i mopping up the business users.
Don’t leave it to them though. The genius of the 4-Series, and 3-Series Coupe before it, has always been the breadth of the appeal. Not only because of the chasm of power output between base diesel and top M. But also just the fact it covers so much area on life’s spider chart. Sporty as most people want (but not a sports car), a satisfyingly precise thing to operate, a usable boot and back seat, quiet for long trips. It always was stylish without being attention-seeking. Now, let’s stop at stylish.
This 4-Series coupe will sire an M4, of course, with a straight-six recently launched in the X3 M. Launch being the operative word: it’s good for 503bhp. But the tyres will be relieved to know it has 4WD. In 2021, there’s a cabrio (fabric roofed this time) and Gran Coupe – one of BMW’s best cars in its current generation, and this time available as an M4 too. And the yang to the M-Power yin: the i4 electric car, which will mostly share the Gran Coupe’s body, but with its own wheels, drag-shaving aero aids and flashes of i blue trim.
So the 4 Coupe still sits around the desirable centre of gravity among a desirable bunch of cars: 3 saloon, 3 Touring, 4 Coupe, 4 cabrio, 4 Gran Coupe, plus i4. The misbegotten 3 Gran Turismo is for the chop. Peter Henrich, BMW’s head of product management, admits that some cars will have to die as the EVs arrive. “If you add things you have to edit others. The 3-Series Gran Turismo, I could imagine others will disappear too. The i4 and iNext bring new things.”
Why does the i4 share the combustion cars’ platform, when the i3’s was unique and had its own unique plant? Henrich says: “The i3 was visionary and is still modern. We learned a lot. But it was limited in scalability. We want to take electromobility to core segments for BMW and our customers. The i4 has a Gran Coupe concept which is at the heart of BMW.” Henrich reckons that petrol, diesel, PHEV and EV versions will all be in demand for decades. The man from the Bavarian Motor Works adds: “It’s not the engine alone that creates the characteristics of a BMW. It’s a lot of different elements – steering balance, the axles etc. The electric drivetrain brings assets, like immediate torque, an input we embrace.”
Oh, and the i4 concept and the iNext concept, like the 4-Series, have the enormo-grille. That said it won’t, says Dukec, turn up in the same form on all BMWs. He wants them to have more individual looks. But he isn’t apologising any. “We never used the radiator itself as an identity, like Cadillac, Mercedes and Rolls-Royce did. All of our early kidneys were vertical. So it’s not just us changing things for change’s sake. It’s our original. It doesn’t exist anywhere else.” You might, for reasons he doesn’t want, be grateful for that.
“THE ENORMOGRILLE ON THE 4-SERIES WON’T TURN UP IN THE SAME FORM ON ALL BMWS”