What do you know about the 6 Series? Most likely, the first thing to cross your mind would be ‘two-door’. Well, that’s not been the case since the uber cool 4-door Gran Coupe was introduced a few years back to complement the familiar 2-door coupe; and especially since 2017 as the entire 6 Series range consist of a single variant – the four-door 6 Series GT. And you can see it on our roads soon enough because BMW Malaysia just launched it earlier today.
The sole variant on offer is the 630i GT, and yes, a non-hybrid/PHEV as opposed what you would expect from BMW Malaysia. Also surprising is that it is locally-assembled, making the car the ninth model to come out from Kulim, Kedah and the 11th variant overall. Up front is a four-cylinder TwinPower Turbo engine that delivers 258hp and 400Nm to the rear axle via an eight-speed automatic transmission. It takes 6.3 seconds to go from standstill to the century and has a claimed average fuel consumption of 6.6 litres/100km.
The first ever 6 Series GT is sleek, but short of sporty as its two-door siblings were. What it does have is lightweight construction with more aluminium and high-strength steel for the chassis and body to help make it 150kg lighter on average compared to the predecessor.
The fastback style rear opens to a 610 litre boot (100 litre larger than before) which can go to 1,800 litre with the rear seats folded. The folding is easily done by an electric control function. It’s not just the size of the cargo area too, the aperture is large and the loading sill is lower by five centimetres thus making it level to the level of the compartment floor.
The sloping roofline didn’t seem to affect headspace for rear passengers, but that’ll depend on the passenger’s height too, wouldn’t it? But there’s a decent amount of kneeroom partly down to the long 3,070 wheelbase. Also at the rear is the rear spoiler than extends automatically once the vehicle reaches 110kph. The rear spoiler also serves to lower drag coefficient from 029 to 0.25.
The 6 Series GT rests on Adaptive Suspension that includes Dynamic Damper Control and two-axle air suspension. This allows for ride comfort and better handling; ride height can also be adjusted manually – increase it by 20mm or lowered by 10mm, at the touch of a button. Similarly, the ride height drops when the driver engages Sport mode, or whenever the car reaches 120kph.
The dashboard is typical BMW, with the iDrive and the 10.25 inch screen being the focal point. Voice control, head-up display, and gesture control are all standard. The steering’s M Sport, and as you can see in the pictures here, this deep tan colour for the upholstery doesn’t look too bad (certainly more interesting than the standard dark colour, which is also available).
This seems familiar...
M Sport steering.
Plenty of space, the panoramic glass roof helps enhance the feel.
Details on the rear door.
Driver Assistance systems include the Lane Departure Warning feature, Lane Change Warning, Collision and Pedestrian Warning, City Collision Mitigation, Crossing Traffic Warning, plus Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go function.
The locally-assembled BMW 630i GT is priced at RM450,000. You can head over to any authorised BMW dealership to have a look yourselves, but only beginning 8 September 2018 (Saturday).
