2020 BMW M8 Gran Coupe brings 600 hp to the LA Auto Show
BMW's big boulevard bruiser gets two extra doors and a slightly lower base price.
BMW is pulling the proverbial sheet off of its latest boulevard bruiser at the 2019 LA Auto Show. Meet the four-door M8 Gran Coupe, making its debut Wednesday several weeks after our first drive of the the two-door M8 coupe and convertible.
At the heart of the new M8 Gran Coupe is the same drivetrain you'll find in the two-door versions. That is to say, the Gran Coupe is packing a twin-turbocharged V8 that produces a cool 600 horsepower in base trim and 617 hp if you step up to the Competition package. All those ponies route through an eight-speed automatic transmission and xDrive all-wheel drive, and mean the M8 Gran Coupe is good for a 0-to-60-mph sprint of either 3.1 seconds or 3.0 seconds, depending on which power level you opt for -- exactly the same as the two-door M8 Coupe.
Speaking of big, the four-door M8 is significantly larger than its sibling: It's 9.1 inches longer, 1.4 inches wider, 2.3 inches taller and has a 7.9-inch longer wheelbase. Interestingly, much like the standard 8 Series Gran Coupe, BMW expects the four-door version to account for roughly 50% of M8 sales.
The increase in size comes at a surprisingly reasonable penalty in weight -- just 185 pounds, according to BMW, for a total curb weight of 4,480 pounds. To be fair, that does bump the M8 to another bracket on the automotive Chonk Chart. For comparison's sake, that's the equivalent of 2.6 Asian water buffalos or around three Lotus Elans.
To manage all that girth, BMW has equipped the M8 Gran Coupe with a pretty trick suspension setup. The front uses a double-wishbone design, while the rear uses five-link geometry. These are paired with Adaptive M suspension as standard, which gets stiffened up on Competition package cars. Adaptive M electronically assisted steering is also standard.
Braking is handled by big-honkin' steel brakes, with 15.55-inch rotors up front and 14.9-inch units in the rear. The front calipers are six-piston units loaded with M compound pads. The rears are single-piston calipers. However, if you're genuinely ballin', you can opt for the BMW M carbon-ceramic brakes. These boost the front rotor size to 15.7 inches and should provide increased resistance to fade and wear -- a good thing on a big, fast car.
One particularly interesting technical component of the braking system is BMW's use of its M-tuned, brake-by-wire tech. This system kicks the booster and other vacuum components to the curb in favor of a single, self-contained module that uses electricity to amplify the driver's effort. This system has the benefit of being able to tune brake feel for individual driving modes as well as saving a bit of weight -- 4.5 pounds, according to BMW.
The Gran Coupe's interior is as great as any other M8.
Like all modern Bimmers, the M8 Gran Coupe comes with a fairly comprehensive suite of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), only some of which are standard equipment. These include forward-collision warning and BMW's Active Protection precrash mitigation system. The M8's optional Driving Assistance Package comes with active blind-spot detection, lane-departure warning, a surround-view camera, drive recorder, parking assistant, active park distance control, rear cross-traffic alert and speed limit information. Step up further to the Driving Assistance Professional Package, and you get adaptive cruise control that (pointlessly in the US) works at speeds of up to 130 miles per hour. You also get BMW's Extended Traffic Jam Assistant, to make quick work of your commute.
Tech in the cabin is plentiful, as you'd expect, and that means the latest and greatest version of BMW's iDrive infotainment system as well as the company's AI integration, which allows you to say, "Hey, BMW," and access a number of connected-car features.
Prices start at $130,995 for the standard M8 Gran Coupe, including $995 for destination. Add $13,000 if you have to have the Competition version with its 17 extra horsepower. That's a lot of money, but the base price is actually $3,000 cheaper than the two-door M8, which makes opting for the Gran Coupe seem like a no-brainer to us.