Unlikely Competition

BMW'S NEW M8 IS A FINE FAST LUXURY CRUISER, BUT IT'S NO PORSCHE 911 TURBO CRUSHER, DESPITE WHAT THE BAVARIAN BRAND MIGHT SAY

- Georg Kacher

MW WOULD LIKE to think the M6 came close to challenging the Porsche 911. It didn’t. And R&D chief Klaus Frohlich says the new M8 Competition “has what it takes to secure the sports car crown in the 600bhp segment”. It doesn’t. In fact, the M6 replacement is not a full-fledged sports car at all, rather a more desirable GT that weighs 285kg more than a 911 Turbo S.

The 8 Series is in essence, again, a re-bodied 5 Series, kicked upmarket to a new price point that comfortably eclipses its predecessor, the commercially inconspicuous 6 Series.

When they defined their new flagship, the engineers could have gone down electric avenue, taken a bunch of weight out or even put the engine in a different position, but instead settled for a pragmatic evolution of the status quo. Which raises the question of whether the latest arrow in M Division’s quiver is sharp enough to really hurt the competition.

Unlike its ancient ancestor, the legendary reduced-to-the max 3.2-liter CSL ‘Batmobile’ of the ’70s, the new M8 is kind of a no-holds-barred overkill proposition, aimed to be rigorously sporty yet overtly luxurious. To accomplish this problematic mission, its creators pulled out all the stops, just as they had done with the sixth-generation M5. But while it was easy to pardon the four-door saloon for taking on weighty go-faster bits and ritzy upmarket mod-cons, the M8 perhaps should have been more of a purist’s car.

In the end, it turned out to be more of the same, the strategists avoiding the risk of sharpening the brand’s flagship coupe when the Cabriolet and the Gran Coupe variants are destined to follow the same conservative concept that seemingly clicks with a loyal but aging clientele. Although the 8 Series is on a standard seven-year lifecycle, electrification of any kind is conspicuous by its absence.