New BMW 6-Series Edition Sport flushed out
Author: Chris Barker
Published: 12 August 2008
The new BMW 6-Series gets wise to what driving enthusiast ask of their ultimate driving machines. And that will be some half-decent, M-power suspension and an awful lot of punch and growl. The six-model line-up of 6-Series Edition Sport’s should do the trick, providing they don’t mind pulling £53,445 out of their slacks for the privilege.Simple question for you – which is the odd number out in the following sequence and why?1, 3, 5, 6, 7.No? Well, the answer’s 6, because all the rest are even numbers. And if you know your BMW, you’ll know it likes its odd numbers.So BMW’s first ever even number – the inaugural 1976 outing for ‘6’ - came as a bit of a surprise, and historically, has never really been embraced into the BMW family like t’other oddities. Unless you count the oft furry-faced brand purists out there, who love to spend their weekends threatening every orifice of their 635ci with all manner of superior home valeting products.These first generation 6-Series were built between 1976 and 1989, and were simply two-door coupes in grand tourer guise, constructed on the back of the 5-Series platform, and successes. And largely, failed.It’s fair to say that the BMW 6-Series had what amounted to more of a cult following than mainstream – other than directors of provincial domestic plumbing firms – thus carving out more of a niche market for itself, intentionally or otherwise, as it plugged away until its 1989 demise.And that was that.Until 2003 that was, when BMW brought the 6-Series out of its early, forced retirement, and made something that wasn’t solely destined for golf club car parks. Or ‘enthusiasts’ driveways thankfully.>Unlike its unfulfilled forbearer, BMW didn’t just let the next generation 6-Series labour under a couple of vastly under-powered engines, or a handful of un-insurably rapid lumps, instead offering a fair old spread of petrols and – shock, horror – diesels to appeal to a broader demographic.Anyway, to cut a long story a tiny bit shorter, the latest BMW 6-Series is going all sporty on us once more. But this time within reason.A brace of fuel-injected, 272 bhp 3.0-litre petrols, a couple of diesel-orientated, 286bhp 3.5-litres – all of which come in both coupe and convertible clothing – will tempt BMW 6-Series beginners and advanced. Whilst at the upper echelons, two fire-snorting, 367bhp 6.5-litre Edition Sports will beguile the ‘enthusiastic’ BMW driver.Prices range from £53,445 for the 630i Coupe, up to £65,820 for the 650i Convertible. A car which takes just 5.5 seconds to abolish 62mph, and not relenting until it hits its 155mph imposed ceiling. To a cacophony of boos and hisses all round.BMW’s new Edition Sports package – available for all 6-Series coupes and convertibles, less the M-derivatives – offers advanced driving dynamics and a more lithe, athletic appearance, courtesy of a new contoured bonnet, bespoke 19” light alloys and the anti-roll stabilization system half-inched from the performance defining M models.A new sports exhaust for enhanced engine breathing and aural pleasure also gatecrash the 6-Series Edition Sport launch party.The anti-roll stabilization assemblage of course provides 6-Series drivers with choices. Choices over axle rigidity. Something which in turn tightens up the overall handling of the coupe and convertible, especially noted in the road’s more testing hairpins and apexes. Which should appease those ‘enthusiasts’ we mentioned earlier, who might otherwise be thinking the new 6-Series is watered down in some way.
Of course you can rely on the interior to undo any good work in the eyes and derrières of true enthusiasts, who enjoy persevering without many remnants of creature comfort in their pursuit of motoring glory.And that’s because the new BMW 6-Series Edition Sport gets a nice, contemporary brushed aluminium interior feel, and plenty of other tactile fabrics. Still, you can’t keep all the BMW 6-Series fanatics happy all of the time.
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