Grand Designs

You Have A Desire To Drive Long Distances And The Weather Could Be Tricky. This Trio Has You Covered, But Which Is Best Suited For The Job?

- Scott Newman

WHEN ALL-WHEEL DRIVE made its cross-species transmission from off-road agricultural and military applications to the world of passenger cars, it first landed in the premium performance coupe market. Audi gets most of the credit by creating the rally-revolutionising Ur-Quattro – and rightly so, to a degree – but 14 years before that, British company Jensen introduced the FF, a four-seat luxury GT that added a powered front axle to harness the 242kW/576Nm produced by its 6.3-litre V8. It was a complete flop – just 320-odd vehicles are believed to have been built between 1966-’71 – but the seeds were sown.

Five decades on, the BMW M850i proudly carries the torch first lit by the FF, a huge – and hugely expensive – four-seat grand tourer that deploys its massive V8 firepower to the ground through an automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive. If you need to travel long distances in comfort at high speed, the M850i, theoretically at least, is the car for you. Despite the revival of the 8 Series badge that adorned BMW’s flagship coupe from 1990-1999, it’s essentially a successor to the F13 6 Series; the two cars are extremely similar in size, range and market positioning, though the M850i’s $272,900 starting price ($40K more than the previous 650i) vaults it into competition with the likes of the Mercedes S-Class Coupe and, yes, the Porsche 911.