That’s right, it’s back. 19 years since the end of production for the first generation model, a new 8 Series will be going on sale as of this month, with prices starting from £76,270.
Deliveries are expected to begin toward the tail-end of 2018, with the 8 Series being built in the Dingolfing plant in Germany.
So, what’s all the fuss about?
The 8 Series is being billed as their most advanced and luxurious sports car to date. The headline grabber will certainly be the petrol-powered V8 ‘M850i’ model which starts from £100,045. A steep price but the performance stats back it up. The petrol V8 will put out a huge 530 horsepower alongside an earth-spinning 750 newton-meters of torque. This will be enough to take the car from 0-60 mph in just 3.7 seconds. Slightly concerning is the miles per gallon figure, which stands at a combined 28 mpg.
There is a diesel-powered option though, which is almost £25,000 cheaper but not quite as pokey… although still pretty rapid. Titled the ‘840d’, this model returns a more agreeable 46 mpg combined and still has an awful lot of torque, 680-Newton meters in fact. Power is considerably lower though, at ‘just’ 320 horsepower, which is still enough to take the diesel model from 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds.
Interestingly, both models are being offered solely in xDrive, which is BMW’s all-wheel-drive system. Purists may be agitated but rest assured there will be a power-biased to the rear wheels and the xDrive will simply help add more grip.
The images show that the 8 Series will have a low-slung posture with a, particularly long wheelbase. The overall length of the 8 Series will be 4,843 mm, which is only 30 mm shorter than the Range Rover Sport.
Inside, the 8 series is loaded with a new generation of BMW technology. Behind the steering wheel, there is an ultra-modern high res 12.3-inch screen which acts as your instrument cluster, although it can manage a number of other duties. Then, in the centre, there is another 10.5-inch touch screen high-res display which controls pretty much everything. The 8 Series has a 20gb hard drive to store music and files on, and it also has WiFi which should be excellent for the kids. There is even the option to turn the 8 Series into a mobile office using the Microsoft Office 365 function with Skype, which claims to have so much app integration that you simply never need to touch your smartphone while driving.
You would assume that the 8 Series is built to rival the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe, but the M850i is both faster and about £40,000 cheaper than the S63 and S65. The 8 Series could then be closely linked to the Aston Martin DB11, which is roughly the same size as the 8 Series, but again the BMW is faster than both the V8 and V12 Aston Martin.
At this moment in time, it does seem that this new 8 Series is essentially unrivalled. Expect to see these sell like hotcakes when they hit the showrooms in November.