RE: BMW M6 Gran Coupe: review

[Burnham]

sealtt said:

I bought a brand new M6 cabrio which is more or less the same thing, 4.4 v8.

Was pretty crap to be honest, I sold it after 8 months.

Too much road noise and a real lack of interior quality to be a good gt, way too heavy and zero driving involvement to be any good as a sports car. Just a big heavy block of (beautifully sculpted!) metal that isn't great at anything other than depreciating. I won't be buying a BMW again. Can't believe how much worse it was than my old SL55 AMG which was 10 years older!!

That surprises me about the interior, I though the 6 Series was pretty nice and solid. They are heavy, but from what I've read, the GC hides it weight pretty well, maybe its a longer lower profile that helps.

Not sure if any of these lumps should be considered a sports car.

The depreciation is whats steering me towards one. I wouldn't pay £100k for a GC, but at £55k its a nice proposition.

[E65Ross]

Not a GC but my dad has had his M6 coupe for almost 2 years now. Absolutely fantastic daily driver. Quiet, comfortable, relaxed and bloody fast.

It's not a sports car, and doesn't try to be. It does the GT thing very, very well indeed.

[sealtt]

Burnham said:

That surprises me about the interior, I though the 6 Series was pretty nice and solid. They are heavy, but from what I've read, the GC hides it weight pretty well, maybe its a longer lower profile that helps.

Not sure if any of these lumps should be considered a sports car.

The depreciation is whats steering me towards one. I wouldn't pay £100k for a GC, but at £55k its a nice proposition.

I think the GC looks even better than the Cabrio, and I did actually love the looks. Not that it was a head turner as such, not a flashy car as a fairly traditional design, but it got a couple of approving comments - especially about the colour, mine was sakhir orange - and it definitely has a level of 'status' and presence due to it's huge proportions.

Maybe my expectations were just too high for the interior, I was comparing it to the (then) new 2013 SL63 interior which was stunning inside - shame about the front end! Compared to that it felt a bit of a let down. Certainly not 'bad', just not as luxury as I would have hoped and definitely fell short of my expectations. Especially the road noise from the big wheels and fabric hood, that was terrible. Almost embarrassing given the price, weight and size.

Correct, they are 100% not sports cars. Don't imagine them being any good at that stuff and you won't be let down, to be fair I think the car is OK for a blast just not anything special which I had really hoped for - especially with it being an 'M' car with 560bhp! Rockets on the highway though, they seriously move. Begs the question, if not a sports car is there any point in 560bhp? That's for you to decide I guess, I enjoyed the huge power, but it nearly always puts your license at risk to get a proper smile on your face. Would be amazing for getting places quickly in Germany though.

The depreciation makes them much more sensible a few years old, really worthwhile looking at, as obviously you judge it very differently paying 3 year old price vs new price! I'd rate it more highly if I had paid £30k less for it. At the new price (even with hefty discount) my expectations were just not met. It also probably works better as a GC than Cabrio - less road noise, more practical, etc - so you don't feel so hard done by when it's not the greatest sports car.

Probably my expectations of the car were way off, I was expecting luxury, sportiness and something special & a little exciting. In the end it felt more like what I imagined an Audi product to be, more 'ordinary' and run of the mill. Not what I would expect for the money. But if your expectations are realistic then it might be worth a look.

[Burnham]

Thanks for the insight Seal, that's a very honest post. As for this: 'Begs the question, if not a sports car is there any point in 560bhp?' I guess that's just the world we live in now...certainly not saying you are wrong!

I wish I was in a position to have (another) 911, but the wife has given me an ultimatum - I can have any car I want (er...afford) so long as it has 4 doors and a half decent sized boot. Crazy as it seems, I even considered a Flying Spur in an act of craziness, but I'm only 39 so I think an M6 GC is more my bag.

This could be my first BMW (Wife has an S3 Sportback so appreciate your comment about Audi also!).

[sealtt]

I think you should still go and look at the Bentley if you considered it, you might surprise yourself about which car 'feels' right. I mean... I'm still in my 20s and I now have a new Range Rover Vogue! A year or two ago I'd never have imagined it possible that I'd buy such a car, always saw myself as a sports/cabrio guy, but the ultra luxury cabin, driving position, practicality and comfort means there's no car id rather cruise around in. Lovely being so relaxed, government could change all the speed limits to 20Mph and I'd just sit back and drive on in comfort, no worries and no stress. Very, very different to the M6, and I love it!

[Luke.]

ReaperCushions said:

Pretty sure these will depreciate like a stone as well..

All the better for us in 3 / 4 years!

You weren't wrong. Looking at seemingly good ones now for £38ish k. Very tempted.

[MDMetal]

Read a few reviews which pointed out the small step the m6 is above the 650i GC, Seems the M6 while being a few points faster (0.4 I think?) lacks the softer suspension (obviously) and some of the other refinements. I'll say I haven't driven the M6 but I have just picked up a 650i GC which is absolutely gorgeous, stupidly fast for a large car and total luxury it's absolutely amazing. Unless your wedded to the M6 I'd say look at the 650i's they're cheaper and actually rarer (only ~15 650i GC's across the 2 trim levels)

[Ares]

MDMetal said:

Read a few reviews which pointed out the small step the m6 is above the 650i GC, Seems the M6 while being a few points faster (0.4 I think?) lacks the softer suspension (obviously) and some of the other refinements. I'll say I haven't driven the M6 but I have just picked up a 650i GC which is absolutely gorgeous, stupidly fast for a large car and total luxury it's absolutely amazing. Unless your wedded to the M6 I'd say look at the 650i's they're cheaper and actually rarer (only ~15 650i GC's across the 2 trim levels)

I had a 640d GC. I drove a 650i GC, it was 95% the same as the 640d, but had a bit of extra grunt.

I also had an M6 for a day - totally different beast. Performance isn't a massive leap, but is noticeable, but the car is very different. Ditto the leap from 240i to M2/340i to M3/440i to M4 etc.

[MDMetal]

Ares said:

MDMetal said:

Read a few reviews which pointed out the small step the m6 is above the 650i GC, Seems the M6 while being a few points faster (0.4 I think?) lacks the softer suspension (obviously) and some of the other refinements. I'll say I haven't driven the M6 but I have just picked up a 650i GC which is absolutely gorgeous, stupidly fast for a large car and total luxury it's absolutely amazing. Unless your wedded to the M6 I'd say look at the 650i's they're cheaper and actually rarer (only ~15 650i GC's across the 2 trim levels)

I had a 640d GC. I drove a 650i GC, it was 95% the same as the 640d, but had a bit of extra grunt.

I also had an M6 for a day - totally different beast. Performance isn't a massive leap, but is noticeable, but the car is very different. Ditto the leap from 240i to M2/340i to M3/440i to M4 etc.

I can well imagine, i guess the question is did it suit the car? The lower series I expect the M's to be better cars as you can thrown them round a bit and the sportier handling and response works well with the body shape, not so sure with the 6 series though? The reviews I read said you (unsurprisingly) lost some of the comfort in the m6, I'm loving having a luxury barge that can go toe to toe with most things you can meet. Either way both these cars are fractions of their original prices so either one makes a good bargain

[Ares]

MDMetal said:

Ares said:

MDMetal said:

Read a few reviews which pointed out the small step the m6 is above the 650i GC, Seems the M6 while being a few points faster (0.4 I think?) lacks the softer suspension (obviously) and some of the other refinements. I'll say I haven't driven the M6 but I have just picked up a 650i GC which is absolutely gorgeous, stupidly fast for a large car and total luxury it's absolutely amazing. Unless your wedded to the M6 I'd say look at the 650i's they're cheaper and actually rarer (only ~15 650i GC's across the 2 trim levels)

I had a 640d GC. I drove a 650i GC, it was 95% the same as the 640d, but had a bit of extra grunt.

I also had an M6 for a day - totally different beast. Performance isn't a massive leap, but is noticeable, but the car is very different. Ditto the leap from 240i to M2/340i to M3/440i to M4 etc.

I can well imagine, i guess the question is did it suit the car? The lower series I expect the M's to be better cars as you can thrown them round a bit and the sportier handling and response works well with the body shape, not so sure with the 6 series though? The reviews I read said you (unsurprisingly) lost some of the comfort in the m6, I'm loving having a luxury barge that can go toe to toe with most things you can meet. Either way both these cars are fractions of their original prices so either one makes a good bargain

It's a different breed of M-car. It's not a track car in the same way as the 2/3/4 are, but it is still nimble and 'chuck about-able'. I didn't see any loss of comfort, but gained far greater poise, feel, pace, dynamic performance and far more confidence inspiring. It's more 911 GTS than GT3 if that makes sense and far more sporting than an E63 or RS6/7, or even Panamera Turbo.