When the new BMW 8 Series goes into production towards the end of this year, there’ll be an M850i xDrive Coupé version that will be thumped along by a powerful twin-turbocharged V8 engine.
The 4.4-litre motor in it will develop much more than 500bhp and it’ll drive all four wheels. What you need to know about the car is that it’s every bit as accelerative as that horsepower figure suggests, and it’s also nimble and athletic.
But what’s most remarkable about the pre-production 8 Series I drove for a few hours on the best roads in North Wales, though, is that it won’t even be the fastest model. That honour will belong to the full-fat M8.
We don’t yet know when the M8 will arrive or exactly how much power it’ll have, but you can bet your house on it being even faster and even more potent than the 592bhp M5. It will sit right at the head of BMW’s model line-up, like a navy’s flagship. The M850i, which you can see here in camo-wrapped pre-production form? It’s just the warm-up act.
“This is as close as we’ve ever got to a full M car with an M Performance model,” says 8 Series line director Markus Flasch. I won’t disagree.
How BMW has honed the new 8 Series
In the latter stages of 8 Series development, BMW has deployed a team of powertrain and chassis engineers, plus a small fleet of 8 Series development cars, to the UK.
Over the course of a week or so, those engineers will pound around North Wales to make sure the chassis tuning and the engine and gearbox calibration actually work on our roads.
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Eruuugghhh! Fugly.
Ooh, a Bavarian Mustang, how original. Coming to your local pimp sometime soon.
I wonder if BMW also improved
I wonder if BMW also improved the engine sound they play through speakers in the cockpit, maybe more of a V12 sound this time?
Naaa...
Mustaro with huge kidney grill so that people understand it’s actually BMW.
There is this usual comment about Mustang and Camaro being too big for European roads, will they say the same of Mustaro, I wonder?