Think the 4 Series Coupe is a tad too small? Well then you’re in for a treat as BMW Malaysia have just launched its brand new 8 Series Coupe locally. Sitting as its flagship coupe offering (apart from the M4 and i8, of course) is the M850i xDrive Coupe variant, which retails from RM1,088,800 onwards.
You may remember this lovely number as the BMW Concept 8 (click here to see our walkround video of it). Aptly, things have changed since then, but there’s no denying that this final production version looks arguably as stunning as its pre-production concept did.
Broadly, the 8 Series replaces the 6 Series. But it gets a new number because it’s grander than that. Also, the number 6 now resides on the rump of a big practical hatchback, the 6 Series GT.
Outside, the 8 Series coupe wears the stentorian new face of BMW, more angular and big-grilled than ever – though the grille has active shutters and is actually blanked off most of the time for drag reasons, opening only when the engine gets sweaty at low speed.
As standard, the M850i xDrive Coupe gets 19-inch M Sport brakes along with blue painted M callipers. Also standard are 20-inch M light-alloy wheels in y-spoke style 728 M with mixed tyres. Specifically with the choice of the Sunset Orange exterior colour offering (one of eight options in total), you can have these wheels finished in Jet Black too.
Underneath, BMW has thrown its best tech at it. For starters, there’s a 4.4-litre V8 petrol mill that makes a slightly extraordinary 530bhp and 750Nm of twist thanks to two twin scroll turbochargers, High Precision Injection, VALVETRONIC fully variable valve control and Double-VANOS variable camshaft timing.
Coupled with an 8-speed sports automatic box, all wheels are both driven and steered as standard, and the damping is adaptive. All these systems alter their thresholds in harmony as you switch between driving modes, being at their sharpest when switched to Sports – naturally…
By the way, 0-100kph will take just 3.7 seconds, whilst the claimed v-max figure stands at 250kph. BMW also notes that this powertrain will also grant the M850i xDrive Coupe with a respectable fuel economy figure of 10.4 litres/100km.
Sweetening the M850i xDrive Coupe further are its list of on-board features, some more advanced than the last, thus making this one of the most intelligent vehicles to hit our roads to date. Highlights include active cruise control with stop & go function, as well as BMW’s Driving Assistant Professional package.
The latter package adds Lane Departure Warning, Lane Change Warning, Pedestrian Collision Warning, Crossing Traffic Warning (front and rear), Emergency Stop Assistant, steering and lane control assistant, Lane Keeping Assistant with active side collision protection and Evasion Aid which now reacts to pedestrians.
Also standard is the BMW Live Cockpit Professional package. This adds a hi-res 12.3-inch digital instrument display panel plus a 10.25-inch Control Display that runs on the new BMW Operating System 7.0. Also present here are adaptive navigation, a hard-drive based multimedia system with 20GB of memory, two USB ports, Bluetooth and WiFi interfaces.
Not impressed? Then the Live Cockpit Professional package ups the ante thanks to the presence of the new BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant voice command suite. The M850i xDrive Coupe is the first in BMW Malaysia’s line up to feature this, and responds to the prompt “Hey BMW”.
On top of that, the BMW M85i0 xDrive Coupe also boasts an NFC-based BMW Digital Key feature that grants keyless locking, unlocking and ignition via smartphone, specifically through the BMW Connected App.
The new BMW M850i xDrive Coupe will be available at all authorised BMW dealerships nationwide from Friday, 15 March. Alternatively, pre-bookings can be done online at bmwbethefirst.com.my as well.
As always, prices include BMW’s 5-year unlimited mileage warranty coverage with free scheduled services, BMW’s 2-year (24-month) run-flat tyre warranty, BMW roadside assistance and accident hotline coverage, membership for the BMW Group Loyalty+ Mobile App - BMW White Card program, as well as access to the BMW Service Online privileges.
