BMW completes M6 trio with Gran Coupe

BMW Australia has announced pricing on the final member of its brutal M6 trio – the four-door, four-seat Gran Coupe – ahead of its arrival in showrooms from July.

As expected, the slinky sedan is positioned smack bang between its M6 coupe and cabriolet siblings at $299,500 plus on-road costs.

The hefty pricetag also makes the Gran Coupe $70,000 more expensive than the mechanically identical but more practical M5 sedan.

Still, it takes acceleration bragging rights over the M5 – albeit by one-tenth of a second – with a supercar matching zero to 100km/h sprint time of 4.2 seconds. Both cars use the same ferocious 412kW/680Nm 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine.

The claimed acceleration figure is enough to match the car than many will consider its closest rival, the Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG, although not as quick as the considerably more expensive Porsche Panamera Turbo (3.9s).

Power is sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and fuel consumption is a claimed 9.9 litres per 100km – impressively low for a car of this type – which BMW chalks up in part to weight-saving measures such as the carbon-fibre roof.

If customers ask for the electronically controlled 250km/h speed limiter to be switched off, the M6 Gran Coupe is said to be capable of 305km/h.

To accommodate the rear doors and extra rear-seat legroom, the wheelbase is 113mm longer than that of the two-door models, sitting on the same 2964mm platform as the M5.

Driving aids include BMW’s Active M Differential with multi-clutch limited-slip torque distribution to the rear wheels and M-tuned active dampers.

The M6 Gran Coupe also retains hydraulic rack-and-pinion power steering, going against the trend of fuel-saving electric-assisted systems.

The four-door M6 gets 20-inch alloy wheels – as do the two-door variants – along with an Alcantara roofliner featuring a centre section in leather, as well as a carbon-fibre rear diffuser.

Despite the lightweight materials, The M-enhanced Gran Coupe weighs in at a hefty 1950kg – 5kg more than the M5.

The BMW ConnectedDrive package adds a head-up display, rear-view camera with surround view, lane-departure warning, and night-vision system with pedestrian detection.

Additions over and above the two-seat M6 siblings are limited to four-zone climate control and rear rolling sun blinds.

2013 BMW M6 pricing*

Coupe	$292,500
Gran Coupe	$299,500
Convertible	$308,500

*Excludes on-road costs.