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The 650i Gran Coupe may look like a a 550i with less rear headroom but that would definitely be an understatement according to the folks at BMW Blog. They took it to the road to see how well it performs, and brings us a very interesting review af what this car can bring to the consumers. Here is an excerpt:
But when you do finally get down to driving duties, the Gran Coupe will continue to impress. BMW has recently bumped the output from its twin-turbo 4.4 liter V8 to a healthy 445 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque. These figures are deep into serious sports car territory. Consider the rock solid chassis, perfect weight distribution and rear wheel drive, and it becomes clear that the Gran Coupe is a driver’s car.
I was afforded the opportunity to spank the BMW 650i Gran Coupe down a few Californian back roads, and it did not let me down. The chassis is indeed stiff and well balanced with moderate under-steer dialed in by the legal team. The steering has decent feel and excellent precision, pointing the nose exactly where your eyes and hands guide it.
ZF’s brilliant 8-speed automatic is on duty to shift cogs, and it performs best when left to its own devices in sport mode. The torque is endless and there are too many gears to fiddle with, so intervening with the transmission proved superfluous. It shifts when and where it should and after a hard drive in sport mode, it will carry revs all the way to redline and upshift under hard braking to keep the revs up. The transmission-engine package works very well together and suits the car.
The brakes were a touch small for a ‘sports car’ weighing 4,200 lbs and sustained brake fade – though they did hold up well unless provoked for longer stints of fun. A track day would not treat these brakes kindly, but if you don’t see a race circuit in your Gran Coupe’s future (and the vast majority of owners won’t) – don’t sweat this detail.
