RE: BMW 8 Series Convertible leaks

[Nerdherder]

That plumpy car totally ruins the beautiful landscapes.

[Bund]

Thats got doing arse written all over it just like the 645 cab had when that came out in 2004....

[V12GT]

GranCab said:

Old ... out of date ... slow ... but ...

The car that I'm building a garage for... it's beautiful and makes a gorgeous sound, so its (many) faults can be forgiven...

[barriejames]

Not radical enough will lose tons of value really quickly

[anonymous-user]

PrancingHorses said:

The new 8 series is just a re-skinned 6 series. They made the gran coupe the 6 series....strange by BMW...

The new 8 is a replacement for the old 6 (Coupe/Convertible/Gran Coupe). It is not however just a re-skinned 6, it instead uses the BMW CLAR platform which was first used on the current 7 in 2015 or so. The old 6 used a variant of the then (2011) current 5 series platform. The current (newish) 6 is now a GT fastback model which also uses the CLAR platform.

Tad confusing! BTW, I'm not a BMW nerd, I work in the industry.

[FourRingedDonuts]

M1C said:

When there is a coupe/convertible version of a particular car, i pretty much always prefer the coupe.

However....this time....i don't, i prefer this.

I've always preferred a coupe over convertible but I'm with you there.

[HighwayStar]

Nanook said:

sidesauce said:

part from the SL (which is rumoured to be going back to a soft top in the next generation anyway), what car in this class/at this price point has a hard roof?

In terms of refinement the soft-tops have come a very long way; drive a Rolls-Royce Dawn and tell me the soft roof makes for noisy progress!

The SL is what I had in mind, but I suppose you're right.

Just struck me as a bit odd that the 3-series gets a hardtop, and the 8 series does not.

Eh no... the new 3 Series convertible will not be a hardtop. That’s going ragtop as well. Lighter and lower GoG.

[DegsyE39]

Do you have cataracts sam sheehan? how could you ever say that hideous thing is a looker.. I mean the rear end is gopping what happened to being subtle?!

Vajazzle gear knob for the chintz loving chinese market too i see

This from the firm that gave us the E31?

[AndyTR]

It's the thinly veiled journalism that gets me, "although we can expect the M850i convertible to sprint from 0-62mph in around four seconds, which would leave it three tenths behind the coupe"...deduced only from the e-mails from the gobsmacked BMW media department when these pictures 'leaked'. Mainstream car manufacturers seem to believe the bks they write will be ingested without question. They just need to stop trying to manipulate the motoring press and build some decent cars. This one is gopping.

[cerb4.5lee]

HighwayStar said:

Nanook said:

sidesauce said:

part from the SL (which is rumoured to be going back to a soft top in the next generation anyway), what car in this class/at this price point has a hard roof?

In terms of refinement the soft-tops have come a very long way; drive a Rolls-Royce Dawn and tell me the soft roof makes for noisy progress!

The SL is what I had in mind, but I suppose you're right.

Just struck me as a bit odd that the 3-series gets a hardtop, and the 8 series does not.

Eh no... the new 3 Series convertible will not be a hardtop. That’s going ragtop as well. Lighter and lower GoG.

A rag top will always look cheap and nasty for me though, I thought my Z4MR looked crap with the roof up. Surely a car that is as expensive as this is deserves a metal roof.

[Wills2]

Nice looking car

[JuniorD]

I wonder where those photos of the car were taken, llooks familiar but I can't quite place it.

[herebebeasties]

Peanus said:

Article said: said:

BMW's new top-spec two-door is quite the looker

Is it though

Yeah, quite. All the car mags seem to say it's good-looking, but IMO it's ungainly as anything.

I presume it's riding on huge 20 inch wheels or bigger, yet the amount of metal in the front wings over the wheels looks all wrong. I know: pedestrian safety regs, etc. etc. but the bonnet looks enormously too high for a car like this - the proportions are all wrong, especially where it meets the A-pillar, which has weird surfacing to try to hide it, but ends up looking ungainly and (dare I say it) MPV-like. Specifically, the base of the windscreen looks like it's a good 10cm higher than the base of the side windows. It just doesn't work for me, at all. I'd actually call it ugly.

Edited by herebebeasties on Thursday 1st November 11:22

[Molsheim]

I think BMW have totally lost the plot. This thing is hideous, with the exception of the 2 series I can't think of any current BMW that does anything for me design-wise

[Digga]

Molsheim said:

I think BMW have totally lost the plot. This thing is hideous, with the exception of the 2 series I can't think of any current BMW that does anything for me design-wise

They have, certainly compared to their previous efforts. M3s used to be proper track day weapons. Hell, even a 325 or 328 coupe was a decent place to start with a track car, but now they're too heavy.

The venerable "M" badge has been diluted to being a mere bauble by its ubiquitous use on patently un-sporting cars.

[HighwayStar]

cerb4.5lee said:

HighwayStar said:

Nanook said:

sidesauce said:

part from the SL (which is rumoured to be going back to a soft top in the next generation anyway), what car in this class/at this price point has a hard roof?

In terms of refinement the soft-tops have come a very long way; drive a Rolls-Royce Dawn and tell me the soft roof makes for noisy progress!

The SL is what I had in mind, but I suppose you're right.

Just struck me as a bit odd that the 3-series gets a hardtop, and the 8 series does not.

Eh no... the new 3 Series convertible will not be a hardtop. That’s going ragtop as well. Lighter and lower GoG.

A rag top will always look cheap and nasty for me though, I thought my Z4MR looked crap with the roof up. Surely a car that is as expensive as this is deserves a metal roof.

I can't remember where I read it but their man said they also were not happy with the look. The top of the windscreen reaches back, literally over the front seats plus raising the height the rear deck just to make the whole thing work. No one appears concerned or demanding Merc go metal roof for most of their 'verts...

[dxg]

berlintaxi said:

Those wheels are doing the looks no favours.

They're not even round!

(Come on, PH hamsters - sort it out. It's been complained about enough...)

[Colonel D]

what's up with that gear selector? Looks like something too tacky even for Halfords to stock it.

[kambites]

cerb4.5lee said:

A rag top will always look cheap and nasty for me though, I thought my Z4MR looked crap with the roof up. Surely a car that is as expensive as this is deserves a metal roof.

It's just personal preference. Personally I think pretty much all four-seat folding metal hardtops look terrible - they either have shocking proportions or a stupid looking seal line across the middle of the roof. Aestetically I'd far rather have a soft-top; plus they're lighter (which admittedly isn't really a concern on a car like this) and impact boot space less (which very much is).

[cerb4.5lee]

kambites said:

cerb4.5lee said:

A rag top will always look cheap and nasty for me though, I thought my Z4MR looked crap with the roof up. Surely a car that is as expensive as this is deserves a metal roof.

It's just personal preference. Personally I think pretty much all four-seat folding metal hardtops look terrible - they either have shocking proportions or a stupid looking seal line across the middle of the roof. Aestetically I'd far rather have a soft-top; plus they're lighter (which admittedly isn't really a concern on a car like this) and impact boot space less (which very much is).

I do have a very strong bias to a folding metal roof in fairness. Agree that it's just personal preference.