A V8 at last - my BMW 645Ci
Discussion
Seven months in, it's about time this big GT did some grand touring..
Glamorous this journey ain't, but it is one I've done every year, so it was a good chance to compare the 6er to the E46 328i it replaced. A week up around the Cairngorms not only let me try out the proper touring ability and the performance down lovely empty B-roads, it also provided an important test.. Can we do a 400-mile run on a single tank without having to make any concessions with cruising speed?
'Course we can. Let's just say we beat Google Maps by a fair margin, had plenty of fuel left, and got out at the other end without an ache or pain to speak of! The E46 was good, but this thing is just effortless. We stopped for lunch halfway up, and what felt like about fifteen minutes after resuming I glanced down at the odo.. I was astonished to see we'd done another 70 miles
once you settle in, time and miles just disappear. Most of the time it doesn't even feel like you're travelling at all, which is awesome. Normally we split the driving, but I did the whole lot this time because it just wasn't taking anything out of me.
There are bugbears. Some form of cupholder would have been nice. No, not that travesty that takes up the passenger's knee room, a proper place to put drinks. The HVAC really is a bit daft and unless you have the air con on, at least some of the vents will always be blowing hot air. Adaptive cruise would be nice. It's slightly wide for the narrow outside lane in motorway roadworks. Um.. running out of ways to criticise it, really. Brilliant.
Once up in Scotland, it's rude not to go hunting out the best roads you can find, so the customary hooning day was had alongside PHer Bork Factor's E46. Not as amusing a pairing as when we had cars that looked almost identical, but still pretty enough..
That E46 has never had to work so hard I went for a little run in it and it's a genuinely lovely car, nicely balanced, classic soundtrack and rewarding to push along. But when you get back in the big Six, Christ is it fast! There's just so much performance, in every direction. It feels better the faster you drive it, flowing across undulations and surface imperfections, surging forward on this huge wave of torque.. I spent most of the time in third gear, it's plenty flexible, and even from down at 3000rpm the shove it delivers on corner exit raises a grin every time. The brakes are up to the task, the pedal never changed and the response was always sharp and reassuring. These Goodyears are bloody good, you have to make a conscious effort to reach the limit under braking, and I still don't quite know where it lies in high-speed cornering - well beyond the point of wisdom on the road, that's for sure!
All in all, a far better showing than I expected. I thought it'd feel too big, too heavy, too uninvolving.. yes, it is a little effortless and I do miss getting to do two heel-and-toe downshifts into a tight corner, but it makes up for it with the breadth of its ability. It's so much quicker, sounds great and is just really satisfying to drive hard - I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Over the week, 1427 miles covered and 226 litres of fuel burnt. And damn near every flying insect in Scotland plastered to the front end. Success.. this thing is growing on me.
Glamorous this journey ain't, but it is one I've done every year, so it was a good chance to compare the 6er to the E46 328i it replaced. A week up around the Cairngorms not only let me try out the proper touring ability and the performance down lovely empty B-roads, it also provided an important test.. Can we do a 400-mile run on a single tank without having to make any concessions with cruising speed?
'Course we can. Let's just say we beat Google Maps by a fair margin, had plenty of fuel left, and got out at the other end without an ache or pain to speak of! The E46 was good, but this thing is just effortless. We stopped for lunch halfway up, and what felt like about fifteen minutes after resuming I glanced down at the odo.. I was astonished to see we'd done another 70 miles
once you settle in, time and miles just disappear. Most of the time it doesn't even feel like you're travelling at all, which is awesome. Normally we split the driving, but I did the whole lot this time because it just wasn't taking anything out of me.There are bugbears. Some form of cupholder would have been nice. No, not that travesty that takes up the passenger's knee room, a proper place to put drinks. The HVAC really is a bit daft and unless you have the air con on, at least some of the vents will always be blowing hot air. Adaptive cruise would be nice. It's slightly wide for the narrow outside lane in motorway roadworks. Um.. running out of ways to criticise it, really. Brilliant.
Once up in Scotland, it's rude not to go hunting out the best roads you can find, so the customary hooning day was had alongside PHer Bork Factor's E46. Not as amusing a pairing as when we had cars that looked almost identical, but still pretty enough..
That E46 has never had to work so hard
I went for a little run in it and it's a genuinely lovely car, nicely balanced, classic soundtrack and rewarding to push along. But when you get back in the big Six, Christ is it fast! There's just so much performance, in every direction. It feels better the faster you drive it, flowing across undulations and surface imperfections, surging forward on this huge wave of torque.. I spent most of the time in third gear, it's plenty flexible, and even from down at 3000rpm the shove it delivers on corner exit raises a grin every time. The brakes are up to the task, the pedal never changed and the response was always sharp and reassuring. These Goodyears are bloody good, you have to make a conscious effort to reach the limit under braking, and I still don't quite know where it lies in high-speed cornering - well beyond the point of wisdom on the road, that's for sure!All in all, a far better showing than I expected. I thought it'd feel too big, too heavy, too uninvolving.. yes, it is a little effortless and I do miss getting to do two heel-and-toe downshifts into a tight corner, but it makes up for it with the breadth of its ability. It's so much quicker, sounds great and is just really satisfying to drive hard - I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Over the week, 1427 miles covered and 226 litres of fuel burnt. And damn near every flying insect in Scotland plastered to the front end. Success.. this thing is growing on me.
parabolica said:
You did well to have fuel left after that trip; I do central London to Aberdeen twice a year and after sitting around 85 most of the way, I've only ever got as far as the junction for the A702 to Edinburgh! My new 640i gets me to Perth under the same conditions.
My cruising speed was, ahem, comparable. It's the city driving that murders it. This trip was actually quite useful for me to get an idea of what influences the fuel economy - most of my tanks are a blend of flowing A-road and stop-start traffic, which tends to get me 25-26mpg. Blasting across the highlands, much harder than I'd ever driven the car before, lo and behold still 26mpg it seems it's still quite efficient even using all of the performance, it's just traffic that it hates. This is nice, because now I feel little compunction about stretching it out when the mood takes me!Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff