I was travelling behind what I assumed was a BMW 6-Series coupe a couple of weeks ago, it immediately struck me as a BMW that was unusually expressive-looking, one that resembled nothing like the rest of its stablemates, that was when I pulled alongside and realised it was a four-door Gran Coupe.
Mercedes-Benz might have invented the breed with the CLS back in 2004, and Porsche redefined four-door performance with the Panamera, but if I had to stick my neck out and name the most beautiful four-door sedan (sorry, it’s a sedan for me) currently on sale, it would have to be the 6-Series Gran Coupe.
Here’s a little piece of anecdote that explains why the Gran Coupe doesn’t quite look like other BMWs. Unveiled as the Concept CS (no doubt in response to the CLS) back in 2007 as a four-door coupe, it got canned in 2008 when the Lehman crisis hit – an event that altered the direction of many car companies then. Turns out that BMW must have been quite close to putting it into production because when the Gran Coupe made its debut in 2012, it stayed true to the Concept CS, looking every bit like a product that hailed from the era when a bespectacled bearded designer named Bangle was still employed at Munich.
To these eyes, the Gran Coupe is what the F10 5-Series should have derived its inspiration from, and probably what Panamera owners secretly wished their four-door would look more like. It is unusual in that for a BMW, the 5.0-meter long Gran Coupe has more body overhang a BMW fan would be comfortable with, and that it also has an air of opulence more akin to that of a Mercedes-Benz CL. The Gran Coupe is also proof that overstretched kidney grilles, tacky “boomerang” ducts or laser headlamps can never beat proportions done right.
There are of course no lack of emotive options at these stratospheric levels, the aforementioned Mercedes-Benz CLS and Porsche Panamera, the Audi A7, and higher up the chain, the Maserati Quattroporte, Aston Martin Rapide, maybe even the Ferrari FF, but each seems to have a trick less or a quirk too many that detracts from the purity in design a grand tourer is expected to exude.
So while RM788,800 may be lot of money for the recently facelifted BMW 640i Gran Coupe, for those who have the means to splurge on an ultra-stylish, luxuriously appointed four-door sedan otherwise known as a coupe, you would have acquired a piece of automotive art if you chose the BMW.
BMW 640i Gran Coupe (M-Sport)
Price RM788,800 (incl. GST, w/o insurance)
Engine 3.0-litre, 6-cylinder petrol, RWD
Output 320hp, 450Nm
Transmission 8-speed automatic
Performance 0-100km/h in 5.4 sec, top speed 250km/h
Wheels/tyres 19in alloys; 245/40 R19 (F), 275/35 R19 (R)
Safety 6 airbags, Vehicle Stability Control
