BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe review

This is where the big steps have been made over the regular Eight, though only behind the driver’s head.

Up front the same cabin remains. Its vaguely traditional dials (they’re digital, but fixed with speed and rev counters of an almost-circular shape) and row of physical buttons for the air con will continue to appease the curmudgeons, but the dashboard otherwise feels too closely aligned to the layout in a 3 Series for this car to truly feel worth its cash. A problem which afflicts the regular Eight, and thus afflicts this one, too. The M8 at least adds much red detailing and an obscurely shaped gear selector. Much nicer than the vajazzled item in regular Eights.

Behind, though, there’s a vastness of legroom that the coupe sorely lacks, and unlike the two-door, you’ll be able to fit a toddler in their kiddie seat without having to move your own uncomfortably close to the dashboard. In that department the coupe and cabriolet barely justify their 2+2 claims.

Anyone over six foot will be struggling a bit for headroom in the back of a Gran Coupe, though, even if their legs have abundant space. They’ll only want shoving back there for short journeys lest they’ll be inventing new yoga positions in order to get anywhere comfortably. The middle passenger, astride the air con controls, will find that regardless of their size.

This is a melding of coupe and saloon based on the former, so it doesn’t have a vast boot like an Audi A7 or Porsche Panamera does, for instance. This car may be roomier than before, but still more of a trinket rather than a one-car-fits-all solution.