F06 640d Gran Coupé Is The Ultimate GT? (Part 2)
Mark Williams takes a 640d
Gran Coupé for a spin to
see if it might turn out to be his ultimate Grand Tourer.
It looks elegant yet
imposing and goes down the road with a relaxed gait.
It's late on a Friday afternoon
when I finally pull up at Cooper Reading's showroom, and after a few
pleasantries I'm shown 'my' Alpine white 640d Gran Coupé and I reckon
that as a piece of automotive sculpture this thing cuts quite a dash. It
actually appears to grow shorter in height the closer you are to it and, in M
Sport guise as tested, manages to land on just the right side of visual
aggression. Once installed, the interior immediately puts one at ease, the
sweeping lines of the dashboard combined with the contrast stitching lending
the environment an upper-class air which isn't affected by the 3.0-litre
straight-six diesel rumbling into life up front.
This
car’s greater refinement, seamless torque delivery, walloping overtaking pace
and inherently less agile feel made sense on some of North Wales’
Bavarian-style, wide, sweeping A-roads.
But crumbs, it's wide. Heading
out of Reading and back out into the countryside in the general direction of
Oxford, it feels like it's filling the lane, and there's the occasional thump-thump-thump
of offside tires pummeling the cats eyes. It soon becomes clear though that I'm
over-compensating and once I start to relax, the affect is less pronounced.
Other early impressions focus on the ride quality, which exhibits similar
levels of fidget to the X6 (but which I increasingly failed to notice the
longer I drove the car) and the noise, which is very pleasant. There's a
delicious half moan, half rumble under power from around 1500rpm out to 3000rpm
on the rev counter and you seldom need to go any higher than this, peak torque
of 465lb ft being available from 1500rpm to 2500rpm. Something else which
doesn't go unnoticed is the way the seat belt gently tightens its grip across
your shoulders as you move off from rest, which is a new experience for me
(although personally, I'd also appreciate a small mechanical arm or similar
device presenting the belt to me, as it's quite a stretch to reach). Oh and
another early impression - the superb (standard) stereo system, with excellent
bass reproduction and more power than anybody could reasonably need.
Next morning, the boot swallows
all the luggage my wife and her friend evidently require for their weekend
cruise break (40th birthday present, when did chocolates stop being acceptable?),
and once we're loaded up, we hit the A40 towards Oxford and are soon whistling
south down the A34, Southampton drawing near. The Gran Coupé is a relaxing
drive at a cruise-controlled 80mph and after a comfort break at some services
(during which the Gran Coupé draws several admiring glances) my passengers are dropped
at the cruise terminal and I retrace my steps home.
The
new BMW 640d M Sport Coupe is hugely competent and beautifully made, but has
lost the pronounced sporting edge of the previous model
Cruising back up the A34, left
arm resting on the shift lever for the eight-speed auto, right hand lightly
gripping the smooth leather-trimmed M Sport wheel (I'm still not sure about the
new design, seems a bit minimalist to me) the Gran Coupé's charms start
to work their magic. It's very quiet in here, even with the 275 section 20-inch
rears, and the high waist, low roof architecture combined with low-slung seats
and substantial dashboard design lend the interior a snug and cozy ambience. I'd
wondered (and worried) whether it would be like driving a pillar box, but the
visibility was generally excellent (forward as well as aft) and after several
days driving the Gran Coupé the view through my F30 Three's windscreen didn't seem
any more 'open' upon reacquaintance.
Cruising back up the A34, left arm resting on the shift
lever for the eight-speed auto, right hand lightly gripping the smooth
leather-trimmed M Sport wheel (I'm still not sure about the new design, seems a
bit minimalist to me) the Gran Coupé's
charms start to work their magic.
Baulked by traffic around
Newbury, I flick-flick to sixth and squeeze the throttle. There's a
hardening of engine note and a slight squat as I'm pushed down the road, I
flick to seventh, another to eighth and our 80mph cruise is regained. We're
soon around Oxford and back out into the Cotswolds, whereupon I simply keep
going in the general direction of Gloucester and South Wales beyond.
Now you may think this is
madness. After all, I'd already crossed the M4 motorway, why not just hang a
left and make for the Severn Bridge? Because it's more fun to take the Heads Of
The Valley road, which is basically the A40 later morphing into the A465 and is
a stretch of dual-carriageway interspersed with roundabouts every few miles. In
other words, 60mph SPECS zone aside, it's jolly good fun.
