Fancy a BMW M5 Competition but with sleeker styling? Then good news: the M8 Competition Gran Coupé is here to satisfy your needs
It might seem odd to have two four-door, 625hp M-model saloons in your line-up in an era when everyone clearly craves SUVs, but with the arrival of this new M8 Competition Gran Coupé, that’s precisely what we’ve got from BMW. Powered by the same S63 B44T4 biturbo V8 as you’d find in the F90 M5 Competition – a motor that is, incidentally, also housed beneath the bonnets of a couple of megalomaniacal SUVs, namely the X5 M and X6 M Competition vehicles – the M8 Gran Coupé is a slinkier iteration of the supersaloon. Or maybe it’s just an M8 Competition Coupé with a couple of extra doors, which is presumably how BMW would like you to frame this newcomer in the M hierarchy.
Whichever way you cut the M8’s standing in the world, there’s good news and bad news on the pricing. The gladder tidings relate to the fact that, of the three M8 body styles available, the most practical and – in our opinion – the best-looking of the lot is the cheapest. The 625hp Gran Coupé is £2,500 less than the two-door M8 tin-top, and fully £9500 beneath the M8 Convertible. Lovely. But, at almost £124,000, perhaps we should have said ‘least expensive’, rather than ‘cheapest’; and as a mechanically identical M5 Competition is £21,555 less dear again, just shading beyond £102,000 as standard, then the M8 Gran Coupé’s position starts to look a little more unsteady. And all that says nothing of the M850i Gran Coupé, which is about the same money as an M5 Competition and which still provides 530hp of thump in the 8 Series’ elegant four-door body.
Never mind, though. For some people, M Performance models do not merit the same adulation that the ‘full’ Ms do, and the on-paper stats of the M8 Competition Gran Coupé make for eyebrow-raising reading. With the 625hp peak output and also a mammoth 553lb ft of torque driving all four wheels through an M Steptronic eight-speed auto and an Active M Differential at the rear, Dynamically, the M8 Competition Gran Coupé is about as spot on as a long-wheelbase, four-door, high-performance machine like this can get.
The steering remains pleasantly weighted and nicely useable in all modes, without any of the artificial heaviness that can sometimes afflict some of BMW’s non-M products with variable set-ups, while the body control is absolute across the board. There’s a wealth of mechanical grip, so to get the rear-biased M xDrive to show its cards you need to take quite a few liberties with the M8 on the road, but you won’t be complaining about that when the immense traction the Gran Coupé possesses fires you out of corners as if the whole car has just been punted up the backside by a gigantic and invisible cosmic force. Put a lot of effort in behind the wheel and work the drivetrain hard, or don’t go at it hammer-and-tongs and rely on the massive midrange instead, the outcome will still be the same – the M8 Gran Coupé is brutally quick and incredibly effective at swallowing up even the most challenging sections of road and spitting them out beaten, broken and bruised.
It’s also blessed with mega brakes, although it ought to be pointed out that our test car had the M Carbon Ceramic stoppers that are the solitary, significant chassis upgrade in the beefy £21,000 Ultimate Package. That’s a massive amount of cash for an option bundle, even if it does bring carbon detailing on the outside and under the M8’s long bonnet, as well as various interior comfort toys, a Bowers & Wilkins Diamond surround-sound system, BMW Laserlights and the desirable M Driver’s Package (MDP). Mind, whether you’d just be happier with the £7,995 M Pro Pack, which includes the brakes and the MDP, is perhaps the crucial question.
Thankfully, the M8 Gran Coupé also majors on the refinement front, save for a ride that borders on the overly-firm at town speeds. If there was a bit more compliance from the dampers in Comfort mode, it would be most welcome, but there’s just about enough give in the suspension – especially at higher A-road and motorway speeds – to make the ultimate 8 Series a delight to travel in.
The thing is, the M8 Competition Gran Coupé doesn’t do anything particularly transcendental that the M5 Competition can’t already achieve. So, the premium it commands comes down to whether you like the look of the vehicle or not. And, as we do, then all we can conclude with is this: never before, in the history of BMW, has the company seen fit to put out two M5s (of sorts) at the same time. Squint at the M8 Gran Coupé and you realise that is precisely what it has done here; coupe-ified the greatest supersaloon of all. For that, we have to say we’re thrilled with the excess of 625hp four-doors BMW has in its current product portfolio.
