First Drive: BMW 640d Gran Coupé

It seems an age since Mercedes-Benz wowed the world with its first CLS ‘four-door coupé’ and finally we have BMW’s answer, the 6 Series Gran Coupé. The ingredients suggest it’ll be a car that looks like the 6 Series with the dynamics of the 5 Series – and nearly as much space. It turns out to be rather more special than that. Here’s the likely best-seller, the 640d.

While Audi, Mercedes and Porsche started from a blank sheet of paper to style their four-door coupés, BMW went down the potentially risky route of taking its existing 6 Series shape and stretching it. It’s a resounding success though, maintaining the original car’s distinctively sharp detailing and adding elegance to the mix. There are several unique elements to the Gran Coupé, including badging in the ‘Hofmeister kink’ and a full-width brake light at the trailing edge of the roof.

All the extra length (113mm of the stuff) is in the wheelbase, to accommodate the extra back doors and allow rear occupants decent legroom. The doors themselves are frameless, adding to the occasion. At first glance it looks like there’s room for just two passengers in the back, but there is in fact a third seat belt for someone to sit on the raised centre section – for short journeys only we’d suggest. The rear is not as spacious as that of say a 5 Series saloon, but the seats are comfortable – and the car feels special to sit in. The seat backs fold down too, revealing a 460-litre boot – same as that in the regular Coupé.