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The all-new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé

ByDave Stopher

Jul 3, 2021 #BMW
  • Second-generation model features new BMW design language  
  • Wider, longer, taller with more rear headroom, legroom and boot space
  • Sleeker profile contributes to improved drag co-efficient  
  • Highly versatile, combining spaciousness and driving pleasure with optimised chassis for improved handling
  • Mild hybrid technology increases dynamism and efficiency
  • Enhanced connectivity and additional driving assistant systems
  • BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé priced from £40,465 OTR***
  • Available to order now with first UK customer deliveries from November 2021

The new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé is a car that delivers on so many fronts, combining sporting elegance with driving pleasure and, with five full-size seats, a roomy cabin and a versatile luggage area, it also represents modern functionality that is hard to emulate.

BMW has raised the bar even higher with the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé, building on the success of its predecessor. The latest version offers even sharper looks, improved driving dynamics, a superior engine line-up and even more interior space.

Like its recently updated BMW 4 Series siblings, the third body variant in the range adopts the brand’s new design language, along with a refined premium ambience in the cabin and a wide array of innovations in the areas of control/operation and connectivity.

Four doors, five full-size seats, a large wide-opening boot and a versatile luggage compartment also ensures the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé retains its characteristic strengths in both everyday driving and on longer trips.

The new edition of the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé will be built at BMW Group Plant Munich together with the all-electric BMW i4. Assembly of both at the company’s home plant will be almost entirely integrated into the manufacturing process developed for the BMW 3 Series Saloon and BMW 3 Series Touring models.

The UK market launch of the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé will get underway in November 2021. The new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé is available to order now and is priced from £40,465 OTR***.

Distinctive new look: substance underneath the style
The second generation of the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé is based on the technical underpinnings of the new BMW 4 Series Coupé, which means a far broader set of design and dynamic performance characteristics now distinguishes it from the BMW 3 Series range, compared with the outgoing model. The car’s aerodynamics and the rigidity of the body and chassis mountings have undergone rigorous optimisation, while bespoke tuning of the chassis technology promises a sporty and stimulating driving experience.

Distinctive proportions
Measuring 4,783mm long, 1,852mm wide and 1,442mm in height, the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé has dynamic coupé proportions but it is 143mm longer, 27mm wider and 53mm taller than its predecessor, while the track widths have also grown to 1,595mm at the front (+50 mm) and 1,623mm at the rear (+29 mm). This is also an increase of 6mm and 19mm respectively on the track widths of the new BMW 3 Series Saloon. The wheelbase of 2,856mm is 46mm longer than the predecessor’s and 5mm more than the 3 Series Saloon.

Expressive front end with strong road presence
Bold lines and surfaces with a three-dimensional structure are the defining elements of the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé’s expressive front end. Dropping deep down at its centre is the large and vertically prominent BMW kidney grille, which features mesh air intakes. The vertical intakes for the air curtains at the outer edges of the front apron work to accentuate the car’s width.

Like the bonnet’s character lines, the contours of the extremely slim headlights zero in on the kidney grille. The new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé comes as standard with Adaptive LED headlights, which include two slender, U-shaped fibre-optic light guides that serve as the daytime driving lights. There is also the option of BMW Laser Light including BMW Selective Beam non-dazzling high-beam assistant.

Graceful yet sporty character
Smoothly sculpted surfaces structured by crisp lines combine to produce a graceful, sporty look when the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé is viewed from the side. The flush-fitting door handles have a streamlined design, while the roofline ends in a pronounced spoiler lip on the boot lid.

Horizontal lines accentuating the car’s width are the dominant influence at the rear end. It is an effect reinforced by both the slim and stylishly darkened full-LED rear lights, which extend well into the flanks, and the vertical aero lips at the rear apron’s outer edges. The Black finish for the lower areas of the side skirts and rear apron has the effect of giving the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé a very low-slung, powerful stance on the road.

BMW M model with individual design accents
Specific design features give the BMW M440i xDrive Gran Coupé eye-catching looks that reference its sporting character. The front apron has the signature U-shaped graphic of BMW M models. The BMW kidney grille surround and the vertical trim around the air curtains come in Cerium Grey, as do the exterior mirror caps, tailpipe finishers and model badges, while the air breathers, the side sill trim strips and lower rear bumper trim including the side trim elements are painted in High-gloss Black. An M-specific spoiler on the boot lid rounds off the distinctive appearance of the BMW M440i xDrive Gran Coupé.

The M Sport trim for all other model variants also sends a clear message about the car’s dynamic ability. Among the elements at work here are the powerfully sculpted front apron and the rear bumper trim and side trim elements in Dark Shadow.

Optimised aerodynamics and intelligent lightweight design
The new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé body includes numerous measures that optimise its aerodynamic properties and have a beneficial effect on both driving dynamics and efficiency. An active air flap control system comprising flaps at the top and bottom, air curtains, streamlined light-alloy wheels and an almost completely sealed underbody serve to channel the airflow effectively. The drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.26 measured for the BMW 420d Gran Coupé, for example, represents a reduction of 0.02 over its predecessor.

An intelligent mix of materials helps to lower vehicle weight and combines with optimised load paths to enhance the body’s rigidity and crash safety. The hot-stamped steels and aluminium alloys used for the safety passenger cell are supplemented by multi-phase steels for extra reinforcement.

The front end of the car uses an engine side member made from extruded aluminium profiles and die-cast aluminium spring struts. Other advances over the outgoing model have been achieved through the aluminium construction of the bonnet and front side panels of the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé.

A comprehensive passive safety concept maximises occupant protection. Besides the extremely rigid passenger cell and highly resilient load-bearing structures, it also includes integrated safety electronics that deploy the restraint systems in the right sequence, at the optimum moment and with the required effect for the specific collision type and severity. The new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé features an active bonnet system to optimise pedestrian protection.

Highly versatile interior combining driving pleasure and spaciousness
The interior design is geared squarely towards providing a richly involving driving experience in the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé. The high centre console and flowing surface structure running from the instrument panel into the door panels generate a cocooning feel in the front seats.

Inside the new 4 Series Gran Coupé there is a driver-centric cockpit design and plenty of space for front and rear-seat passengers. Soft, raised knee pads on the centre console further accentuate the car’s engaging driving character. The five seats with standard folding head restraints are part and parcel of a versatile interior, which offers generous amounts of space in the rear with three full-size seats and more legroom and headroom than in both the outgoing model and the new BMW 4 Series Coupé.

The new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé offers 470 litres of boot space – an increase of 39 litres. Load space can be expanded to a maximum of 1,290 litres by folding down the sections of the rear backrest, with its standard 40:20:40 split.

The Start/Stop button for the engine is positioned in a control panel in the centre console, which also houses the BMW Controller and the buttons for the Driving Experience Control unit and electromechanical parking brake alongside the model-specific gearshift lever. The exclusive trim on the front door panels features in the rear, too, with the interior trim strips finished in High-gloss Black as standard.

The cabin also features sports seats with M-specific upholstery, an M leather steering wheel, doorsill plates bearing the M logo, an Anthracite-coloured M headliner and M interior trim strips in Aluminium Tetragon.

Trio of advanced petrol engines
The trio of petrol engines available for the new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé feature a twin-scroll turbocharger, a High Precision Injection system whose maximum pressure has been upped from 200 to 350 bar, VALVETRONIC fully variable valve timing and Double-VANOS variable camshaft timing, along with cooling and oil supply systems that are now more efficient. Petrol particulate filters have been added to improve their system of emission control.

The six-cylinder in-line unit powering the BMW M440i xDrive Gran Coupé was developed with the racetrack expertise of BMW M GmbH and comes with weight-optimised pistons and con rods as well as a twin-scroll turbocharger with indirect charge air-cooling. It generates maximum output of 374hp from its 3.0-litre displacement with torque peaking at 500Nm. It can sprint from 0 to 62mph in 4.7 seconds yet also return more than 35mpg. Its power is complemented by the distinctive-sounding standard M Sport exhaust system.

Efficient four-cylinder petrol engines in the BMW 430i Gran Coupé and BMW 420i Gran Coupé
Upgraded BMW TwinPower Turbo technology has also enhanced the performance of the 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engines. The more powerful of the duo has an exhaust manifold integrated into the cylinder head for the first time, resulting in extremely effective exhaust cooling for even cleaner emissions. It generates 245hp and peak torque of 400Nm, enabling the new BMW 430i Gran Coupé to accelerate to 62mph from rest in 6.2 seconds. Its efficiency translates into fuel economy of up to 41.5mpg.

The four-cylinder engine in the new BMW 420i Gran Coupé produces 184hp and peak torque of 300Nm, giving it a 0 to 62mph time of 7.9 seconds. Fuel economy can be as much as 42.8mpg.

Choice of rear-wheel drive or xDrive diesel models
Two-stage turbocharging and updated common-rail direct injection technology feature in the 2.0-litre diesel unit in the BMW 420d Gran Coupé and BMW 420d xDrive Gran Coupé. The engine produces 190hp and maximum torque of 400Nm, allowing 0 to 62mph sprint times of 7.3 seconds for the new BMW 420d Gran Coupé and 7.6 seconds for the new BMW 420d xDrive Gran Coupé. The two models post combined fuel consumption of up to 58.9mpg and 55.4mpg respectively.

BMW xDrive: precise transfer of power increases agility
BMW xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive takes traction, directional stability and agility to even greater heights. The system is fitted as standard in the range-topping model BMW M440i xDrive Gran Coupé and is available for the 420d diesel model as an alternative to classical rear-wheel drive. Drive torque is split between the front and rear wheels as required, courtesy of an electronically controlled multi-plate clutch in the transfer case interlinked with the powertrain and chassis systems. In all xDrive-equipped variants, the rear-biased set-up serves up real driving pleasure in extremely dynamic situations.

Mild hybrid technology optimises efficiency and dynamism
Mild hybrid technology has been included with the straight-six petrol engine as well as the diesel unit. Here, a 48V starter-generator acts likes an electric drive unit that assists the engine, allowing it to operate within an efficiency-optimised load range as frequently as possible. It also offers an electric boost effect that adds an extra 11hp to give the power unit an even sharper response.

The power used for the electric boost drive is harvested almost entirely through Brake Energy Regeneration and stored in a separate battery that also supplies the electric energy for the 12V on-board power supply.

Model

Max Power (hp)

Peak Torque (Nm)

Acceleration
(0-62mph)

Top Speed (mph)

Fuel economy (mpg)*

CO2 emissions (g/km)*

OTR Starting Price***

420i

184

300

7.9

146

38.7-42.8

166-150

£40,465

430i

245

400

6.2

155**

37.2-41.5

173-156

£44,720

M440i xDrive

374

500

4.7

155**

33.2-35.3

193-181

£54,670

420d

190

400

7.3

146

52.3-58.9

141-126

£43,095

420d xDrive

190

400

7.6

145

49.6-55.4

150-133

£44,685

*Fuel consumption and CO2 emission s are preliminary figures calculated using a vehicle fitted with basic equipment in Germany. For further information, please see the Notes to Editors.
**
 Electronically governed.
*** Preliminary on-the-road pricing, subject to confirmation of VED band.