The new M8 Competition Gran Coupé – the ultimate luxury M‑machine

BMW’s ultimate four-door is a further flowering of the M range. It follows rapidly on from the recently-announced Competition versions of the X5 M and X6 M, and the M8 Competition Coupé and M8 Competition Cabriolet recently tested by GRR. Like the other M8s, the Gran Coupé shares the same running gear and twin turbo 4.4-litre V8 – but gets even more power.

The M8 Competition Gran Coupé is endowed with 616bhp, so 16 horses more than its two-door siblings, to go with its 231mm extra length and two extra doors. It’s BMW’s most powerful road car engine ever, and able to despatch the 0-62mph sprint in a supercar-rivalling 3.2 seconds. That’s enough to make it, by a tenth of a second, the fastest of all the M8s.

The potent and plush newcomer, with four full-size seats, doesn’t outdo the coupé and cabrio everywhere though – at £120,935 it actually costs a few thousand less than the coupé and cabrio. As you might expect, though, the M8 Competition Gran Coupé lacks for little in its specification, as well as being among BMW’s more sportily attractive saloon offerings.

Transmission, all-wheel drive, differential, steering, braking, seats and drive modes are all prefixed by the magic letter M and thus represent the most dynamically focused elements available on any BMW. More than that, this is one four-door that should be quite at home on the track. Apart from specific drive modes and an ability to turn driver aids (including four-wheel-drive) off, the car’s cooling and oil supply systems have been beefed up for hard circuit use.

BMW sees all this as first and foremost anther push deep into six-figure luxury territory, but it’s clear it is not being achieved at the expense of competition-level driver appeal. BMW’s dearest-ever four-door is available to order now for delivery from April 2020. Also available will be the M8 Gran Coupé First Edition, complete with Aurora Diamond Green metallic paint finish with gold accents. If you fancy one of those be quick – there are there will only be five for the UK.