The New BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe Balances Out A Big Grille With More Doors

There’s a new version of the BMW 4-series, and yes, that means we will have to briefly talk about the big grille. Is it just us, or does it look better mated to the four-door body of this ‘G26’ 4-series Gran Coupe? It’s a little better balanced, and the new rear-most doors help break up the 4er’s bulky rear three-quarter. You also get a bespoke rear end with a new diffuser arrangement in with the deal.

Compared to the last 4-series GC, it’s 143mm longer, 27mm wider and 53mm taller, with the track widths bumped up by 50mm at the front and 29mm at the rear. The wheelbase is also 46mm longer than the old car’s, which should translate to a roomier cabin.

There’s definitely more boot space, which grows by 39 litres to an impressive 470. Drop the rear seats (which have a 40/20/40 split-folding arrangement), and you have 1,290 litres to play with.

The engine line-up is borrowed from the 4-series coupe. At the pointy end of the scale is the £54,670 M440i xDrive, complete with a ‘B58’ 3.0-litre turbo straight-six developing 359bhp. 0-62mph takes 4.7 seconds, a drop of two-tenths compared to the two-door version. That’ll be as fast as the 4er GC gets - even for BMW, an M4 in this body style would be a niche too far.

One step down is the £44,720 430i with its 242bhp 2.0-litre ‘B48’ inline-four, which will punt you to 62mph in a respectable 6.2 seconds. You can have that same engine in a lower state of tune with the entry-level, £40,465 420i, which makes do with 181bhp and a 0-62mph time of 7.9 seconds.

Diesel buyers only get the choice of one model - the 420d. It has a mild hybrid turbodiesel 2.0-litre making 187bhp and 295lb ft of torque and will do 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds with the optional xDrive all-wheel drive system. Want a manual? Tough - all of these are exclusively available with an eight-speed automatic gearbox.

Want one? The 4-series Gran Coupe go on sale in the UK this November.