SUV buster: BMW’s new 6-Series GT
BMW’s new 6-Series Gran Turismo is a seriously large car - but it doesn’t look or feel like it. Rob Maetzig explains why.
Right now it seems the entire motoring world wants to own big lumps of SUVs. That’s OK too, because most of today’s SUVs suit what modern motorists want out of their vehicles - practicality, flexibility, visibility, and ease of use.
However, what most SUVs don’t offer is good looks. Not really. Most of them are attractive in their own way, but they’re not the sort of vehicles that you’d really lust after as you would with a high-performance fastback or a top-end luxury sedan.
Let’s look at BMW, for example. The German manufacturer produces a wide selection of SUVs that range from the small X1 through to the big X5 and coupelike X6.
It’s all excellent product that is also mostly highly practical - but is it as good-looking, or as desirable, as say an M5 sedan or an i8 electric sportscar?
And that leads us to the latest addition to the BMW fleet - the new
6-Series Gran Turismo.
This vehicle, which has only just arrived in New Zealand, is unusual because it works to span the middle ground between a sedan, and estate and an SUV, with fastback styling thrown in for good measure.
The vehicle is built on the same lightweight Cluster Architecture platform that is also used for the
7-Series and 5-Series models. What BMW has essentially done is base the GT’s design on the front half of the 7-Series sedan and the rear half of the 5-Series Touring, and given it the Gran Turismo look via a beautifully curved roofline that sweeps deep to a rear that is 64mm lower than a
5-Series.
The 6-Series GT really does look a picture in its smoothly sweeping way - and in many respects that disguises the fact it is a large car.
It’s roughly the same length as a
7-Series sedan and quite a bit longer than both a 5-series Touring and sedan, and it’s taller than all of them with its pseudo-SUV 1538mm roofline. That allows the front seats to be mounted 7cm higher than a 5-Series to give it almost an SUV feel.
On the inside, the vehicle is huge. Effective rear legroom of
1027mm is much more than the
7-Series’ 980mm, it’s also got more headroom front and rear, and it cleans out almost every other BMW with its luggage capacity of
610 litres with all seats in use, growing to 1800 litres when the rear seats are folded down. That beats all but the X5 SUV, and it is able to be achieved because the GT borrows the compact rear suspension setup of the 5-Series Touring.
So it’s a big car. This is especially apparent in the rear, where all but the tallest can sit without their feet needing to be positioned under the front seats. The rear seats electronically recline too, and the rear headrests are as soft as pillows.
Only one version of the 6-Series Gran Turismo has been launched in New Zealand. It’s the 640i xDrive, a fully-loaded all-wheel drive model that is powered by a TwinPower turbocharged six cylinder petrol engine that makes 250kW of power and 450Nm of torque. The engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Standard equipment includes an M Sport package that includes M Sport braking and M exterior styling, 20-inch M light alloy wheels, the very good BMW Connected Drive system, gesture control, and a panoramic sunroof.
The vehicle retails for $155,600, but our review vehicle was priced at $172,950 thanks to installation of various pieces of optional equipment including adaptive two-axle air suspension with automatic self-levelling, a 16-speaker Bowers and Wilkins surround sound system, Nappa leather upholstery, an Innovations package that includes remote control parking, and a Comfort package that includes heating of the front and rear seats and steering wheel.
The whole point of Gran Turismo vehicles is to provide comfortable and powerful longdistance motoring - the phrase is Italian for ‘‘Grand Tour’’. So for our review we completed two journeys that each covered several hundred kilometres.
They were both cruisy expeditions. At 100kmh on flat tarmac such as along the Waikato Expressway the engine just ticks over at around 1400rpm, which leaves plenty of turbocharged oomph on hand for those times you need more - well, oomph. The eight-speed auto is efficient, and it can be used manually using paddles on the steering wheel.
This 640i xDrive is the first non-performance BMW to have this intelligent all-wheel drive system, and it works well. Under normal circumstances the xDrive is 60:40 biased to the rear wheels, and it will instantly change where the torque is going to suit the road conditions. It combined with the air suspension to provide a very comfortable, but secure, ride.
That’s what Grand Turismo motoring should be all about. A good-looking vehicle, big but with a smooth design that makes it look more compact, and with plenty of power and torque and the benefits of all-wheel drive.
Perhaps more to the point, the 640i xDrive also presents itself as an attractive alternative to top-end SUVs.