New BMW M8 leaks online: Update!
We knew the M8 was coming - now we know what it looks like. Form an orderly queue...
UPDATE - 04.12.2018
Just three weeks after BMW revealed its hotly anticipated M8 would produce in excess of 600hp, images of an undisguised development car have leaked online to show us how that extra muscle will translate into a styling makeover.
Without camouflage, the photographed two-door super-coupe looks, well, fairly bloody menacing - probably more so than anything else produced today with an M-badge. Its thick front splitter, black kidney grilles and big-bore quad-exit exhausts certainly make so secret of the added potency up front.
You could say that with all the contrasting black trim applied to the leaked satin purple car, the M8 design is less fluid than the clean look of the M850i we drove last week. But there's no denying the finished design gives the 8 Series serious presence - maybe even enough to rival the similarly angry looking Mercedes-AMG GT-R. Compared to the Aston Martin DB11, the M8 looks downright yobbish.
Whether the look is to your taste or not is another matter. Although with the same all-wheel drive technology as the M5, it's hard not to get onboard with a coupe which will still be able to channel 100 per cent of the 4.4-litre V8's power to the rear wheels at the touch of a button...
ORIGINAL STORY - 09.11.2018
There's never been a Motorsport Division BMW 8 Series - the 850 CSI was as close as the E31 generation ever got - and so the arrival of the first M8 is pretty significant news. New details have now been announced by BMW, with the car due at some point in 2019.
Much has been carried over from the M5, as is to be expected, with the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 due to make more than 600hp, putting it ahead of the saloon. It uses the M xDrive all-wheel drive system as well, tuned specifically for this car, and said to offer "top-drawer dynamics with unimpeachable directional stability and unshakeable traction". Yobbos amongst you will be pleased to know that the M5's two-wheel drive mode also makes it to the M8, BMW promising a "driving experience of absolute purity" with the car "liberated from the shackles of control systems". Jolly good...
Modifications from the 8 Series to M8 will include "fundamentally reworked" suspension for agility and precision, with a wider front track, firmer anti-roll bars, stiffer wishbones, revised kinematics, unique toe links and additional chassis bracing. There's also reworked M Servotronic steering and larger, compound brake discs (395mm front, 380mm rear, with ceramics optional) and standard 19-inch light alloy wheels.
Finally, it's worth pointing out a few styling tweaks that are set to make production. Yes, this car is still in camouflage, but they're worth discussing. Note the larger intakes and trademark 'M' mirrors, with four exhausts and more prominent diffuser out back. BMW talks of the "dynamically stretched lines" of the 8 Series merging with "distinctive, functional design elements", just so you know. And if none of that quite appeals, then BMW is promising an M8 Convertible and an M8 Gran Coupe for the range, too. The latter one of those with more than 600hp sounds rather nice, doesn't it?
Also and rather disappointingly, there's no mention of the car going on a diet. Am really hoping they've shaved off quite a few kg to make the car less of a heifer.
Doesn’t seem like it is anything that new.
It would have been cool to be a shooting brake.
Have BMW just canned the 6 series/M6 name and called the replacement an 8 series/M8...?
Thats pretty M ish to me, its not M Sport, M Lite or whatever, its a full fat M car, I bet its a bloody awesome thing.
Wonder how long before we get the M8 Competition?
And yeah, this is just a 6 series replacement, and nobody liked that so lets not get excited about a different number some chump in marketing decided to use.
And yeah, this is just a 6 series replacement, and nobody liked that so lets not get excited about a different number some chump in marketing decided to use.
Extra power for not much money, dont see the problem myself, I now have a car that near enough matches a Lotus Carlton power wise, its RWD and has a 3 litre six cylinder engine, its pretty practical and makes some reasonable noises.
I found a lot of E46 six cylinders felt like they were just getting going and then hit the rev limiter, the were good looking though, better than what has come since.
I imagine it will have a considerable cost hike over the M850i, for little gain out on every day roads, and for most of the time will be the better car in terms of an all-rounder e.g. comfort / quietness etc.
The point of the M3/4/5 is that they offer so much more in terms of performance vs. other models in their series (in this country at least), but I can't see the benefit of the M8 justifying it's premium.
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