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Creative

Needless to say, I never saw her again. John Buckingham would have been chuffed to bits.

Who is he? He’s the man who designed the new 8 Series and it couldn’t have been easy because he wasn’t the only person asked to do the job.

In fact, BMW used three creative teams, in Munich, China and John’s base in Los Angeles, to come up with designs for an 8 Series. Englishman John won with his bid when the BMW board held a meeting to pick a winner, and it was Los Angeles. So how good is the 8 Series? Choose from two, with a third, the M8, still to come. As it’s bound to be quicker than the dynamite

M850i that I was driving it’ll be nothing short of sensational.

The other car is a six cylinder 3.0litre diesel, but fear not. Like the M850i it’s got two twin-scroll turbos, giving the effect of just the four turbos.

That means 320hp and a huge 680Nm

(503lbs) of torque which catapult this

2,370kg, 16ft-long monster from

0-62mph in 4.9s on its way to the same limited 155mph as the M850i.

It’s so refined it doesn’t even hint of sounding like a diesel while, normally, its performance would be quick enough for all but the insane, which takes us to the M850i.

Step inside and it looks just the same, with four driving modes (I chose

Sport+ rather than Sport, Comfort and Individual). However, one immediate difference to the diesel was its crackling, booming, exhausts, its feel of being nicer to drive and, of course, its searing acceleration. The 0-62mph sprint comes up in a violent 3.7s, while the car absolutely rockets away at any speed. It’s fun, no doubt, but it’s a proper licence loser.

Both cars are hugely impressive, bearing M badges because they’re Mspec.

The quality of the interior is fantastic, with white stitched leather, electric, heated, everything, plus a big 4ft

6in boot extending to a whacking 6ft

4in with the rear seat backs folded down, limited only in height by the parcel shelf. Forcing more than toddlers into its cramped rear would be cruel, while some of the trim around the door pockets is cheap and out of place in what is otherwise a first class suite.

It’s the looks, though, that persuade the wealthy to buy such cars regardless of price, efficiency and kindness to the planet.

On those grounds John Buckingham will be more than happy, and so will BMW as they end up taking more satchels of cash to the bank.