So I’ve now owned a 640d M Sport Coupe for a month and thought I’d post my views now I’ve lived with it for a while.
For those of you who avoided the “saga” of my M235i this car was purchased as a replacement to that after a myriad of mechanical, electrical and customer service issues occurred over a short period of time. The initial replacement plan was to be a very heavily spec’d 335d X Drive but the wait being predicted meant that that wasn’t really practical so a deal was done on the 640d instead.
The car is a MY15 640d M Sport Coupe in Carbon Black and black leather with contract ivory stitching. It has the M Sport Plus pack, which consists of 20” Wheels, Harmon Kardon HiFi upgrade, Multi-Function Dash and the HUD, and also the Surround view camera system, with cameras in the rear badge, both wing mirrors and on the front bumper. I collected it with 4 miles on the clock and it now has about 800.
Engine/Drive: The car is fitted with BMW’s 3.0 Straight 6 twin turbo diesel which makes about 315HP and 465lbft and is mated to the near legendary 8 Speed ZF automatic gear box. This combination has been talked about quite a bit but for me it’s an epic combination, providing monumental acceleration when needed, great economy and once warmed through near silent running.
Considering the car has only a few 100 miles on the clock I’m averaging an easy 32 mpg (with an average speed of 24mph) and most of that has been over short runs or town driving. Over Christmas it’ll get its first real test when it’ll be used to go to the in-laws, but based on the ones I’ve borrowed before I’d expect to see about 50mpg average over the journey.
Acceleration is, as you’d expect with this engine, pretty decent at most speeds, with the gearbox deciding quite often that there isn’t any point in changing down as it can deliver whats required using the massive torque. If you want to really make it fly though a little more application of the throttle has it dropping 2 or 3 gears in 1 go and giving you a right kick in the pants. From stationary just mashing the throttle has it launching hard enough to make the 5.2s 0-62 seem quite realistic. Whilst it’s not going to beat the likes of the M235i down back roads it’s not exactly a bad handling car but you can feel it size and weight at times both of which are quite big
The noise, once warm, is very un-diesel like and has a deep growl to it which sounds pretty good, not the same as a v8 or s6 petrol, but by no means offensive.
The comfort of this car, given its riding on 20” run flats, is very very good. It feel to me better than the M235i which was using 18” MPSS and is very similar to that of my XFs which whilst being of 20” wheels used non-run flats. It’s not the waftiest ride you're ever going to experience but, given what the car is designed to do, driving across Europe in it wouldn't be issue.
Cabin/Tech: The cabin on this car is what sets it apart from pretty much the whole of the BMW range. In M Sport guise the dash is leather covered with contrast stitching which ups the quality feel quite dramatically. My car is fitted with the “standard” sports seats which are part electric with a few adjustments, such as the head rest and thigh support being manually adjusted. As they are electric they have both the memory and slide functions to give access for the rear passengers. Whilst not the largest rear compartment, for my two girls who are 10 and 7, there is more than enough room and with proper seats in the back they are more than happy being back there. They also manage to get in and out pretty easily as well. Adults have a bit more of an issue getting in and out but once in there is plenty of space for them, which makes my decision not to buy the longer 4 door Gran Coupe the right one. The boot on it is decent and can swallow a lot of luggage, but it doesn't have folding seats so it’s not as practical as some other cars.
The spec on the car is pretty high out the box, which given its got a list price of the better part of 70K isn’t really a surprise, but the options mine has fitted just add the last touches to it.
The Harmon Kardon system surpasses even the B&W (440w and 1200w) systems fitted to the Jag XFs that I owned at least for the types of music I listen to, which is mainly hard rock and metal.
The multifunction dash which turns pretty much the whole of the dashboard into a big LCD screen, including the rev counter and speedo, is brilliant. It changes completely dependent of what mode you are in and can show details from the phone, sound system and navigation directions. Even in standard comfort mode the little touches like the numbers growing and shrinking as you approach them is just cool and when you have the speed limiter on it hiding all the digits above the speed its set at just make it a nice thing to behold. What tops that thou is the HUD, having you speed, cruise control settings, Nav directions, phone and audio settings displayed on the windscreen is just awesome. It takes a little while to get used to not glancing down at the dash but once you’re used to it, it becomes second nature. Like all BMW both the dash and the HUD change colour dependant on the outside light so at night they both take on the orange glow rather than their daytime colours.
The surround view camera is simply brilliant, it takes the reversing camera to a whole new level, providing an overhead view of the parking space, making reversing the car and judging how it’s aligned very easy. You can switch between the reversing camera and surround view easily and I tend to use them both equally. The 2 cameras on the nose also make pulling out of junctions and parking spaces much safer as the 6 has a very long nose and you sit pretty low.
Everything else is pretty much stock BMW so the iDrive is the latest NBT 4.2 upgrade with the pointless touch controller, although I do prefer the larger dial, it has the latest M Sport wheel which is a lovely thing to hold and the controls are laid out in a logical and functional manor. Bluetooth works well for both audio streaming and phone calls and the voice control is by far the best I’ve used in a car. I do have an iPod touch that I use for my music as my phone is an Android device so doesn’t support the BMW Apps system for the likes of Deezer and Spotify, but the iPod makes that easy to deal with and lives in the car and I can use the apps on it as well.
I am glad I decided to get the new car over the used ones I looked at which had the older iDrive as it would have felt like a big step back from the M235i. They also didn’t have the multifunction dash and the contrast stitching on the dash, little things I know, but when I’m chucking a far lump of cash at the car I think I would have felt disappointed after seeing and living with the newer spec.
Overall: This car is, I believe, the best car I have ever owned and I’ve owned a fair few in my time. The combination of looks, performance, equipment and comfort for me deliver a car that fits my usage profile pretty much perfectly. If I could have had a couple more options such as the sun roof or LED lights they’d have been nice, but anything over what I have would really have been in the “nice to have” category as it has everything on it that I’d want.
I’ve had a couple of things that are being dealt with by the dealer, one is that the headlights mist up when in use, which is booked in to have them replaced in the next couple of weeks, the other is there was a small nick in the leather in the back of the car when I collected it but the part is on back order with Germany so not expected until late January. Both of these are just being dealt with and are niggly at worst so not overly worried about it.
Overall I can think of no other car that I would rather have at the moment, for my current set of circumstances, which for the first time in a long time I’m not planning its replacement as soon as I’ve bought it…I think that just about sums up how I feel about it
For those of you who avoided the “saga” of my M235i this car was purchased as a replacement to that after a myriad of mechanical, electrical and customer service issues occurred over a short period of time. The initial replacement plan was to be a very heavily spec’d 335d X Drive but the wait being predicted meant that that wasn’t really practical so a deal was done on the 640d instead.
The car is a MY15 640d M Sport Coupe in Carbon Black and black leather with contract ivory stitching. It has the M Sport Plus pack, which consists of 20” Wheels, Harmon Kardon HiFi upgrade, Multi-Function Dash and the HUD, and also the Surround view camera system, with cameras in the rear badge, both wing mirrors and on the front bumper. I collected it with 4 miles on the clock and it now has about 800.
Engine/Drive: The car is fitted with BMW’s 3.0 Straight 6 twin turbo diesel which makes about 315HP and 465lbft and is mated to the near legendary 8 Speed ZF automatic gear box. This combination has been talked about quite a bit but for me it’s an epic combination, providing monumental acceleration when needed, great economy and once warmed through near silent running.
Considering the car has only a few 100 miles on the clock I’m averaging an easy 32 mpg (with an average speed of 24mph) and most of that has been over short runs or town driving. Over Christmas it’ll get its first real test when it’ll be used to go to the in-laws, but based on the ones I’ve borrowed before I’d expect to see about 50mpg average over the journey.
Acceleration is, as you’d expect with this engine, pretty decent at most speeds, with the gearbox deciding quite often that there isn’t any point in changing down as it can deliver whats required using the massive torque. If you want to really make it fly though a little more application of the throttle has it dropping 2 or 3 gears in 1 go and giving you a right kick in the pants. From stationary just mashing the throttle has it launching hard enough to make the 5.2s 0-62 seem quite realistic. Whilst it’s not going to beat the likes of the M235i down back roads it’s not exactly a bad handling car but you can feel it size and weight at times both of which are quite big
The noise, once warm, is very un-diesel like and has a deep growl to it which sounds pretty good, not the same as a v8 or s6 petrol, but by no means offensive.
The comfort of this car, given its riding on 20” run flats, is very very good. It feel to me better than the M235i which was using 18” MPSS and is very similar to that of my XFs which whilst being of 20” wheels used non-run flats. It’s not the waftiest ride you're ever going to experience but, given what the car is designed to do, driving across Europe in it wouldn't be issue.
Cabin/Tech: The cabin on this car is what sets it apart from pretty much the whole of the BMW range. In M Sport guise the dash is leather covered with contrast stitching which ups the quality feel quite dramatically. My car is fitted with the “standard” sports seats which are part electric with a few adjustments, such as the head rest and thigh support being manually adjusted. As they are electric they have both the memory and slide functions to give access for the rear passengers. Whilst not the largest rear compartment, for my two girls who are 10 and 7, there is more than enough room and with proper seats in the back they are more than happy being back there. They also manage to get in and out pretty easily as well. Adults have a bit more of an issue getting in and out but once in there is plenty of space for them, which makes my decision not to buy the longer 4 door Gran Coupe the right one. The boot on it is decent and can swallow a lot of luggage, but it doesn't have folding seats so it’s not as practical as some other cars.
The spec on the car is pretty high out the box, which given its got a list price of the better part of 70K isn’t really a surprise, but the options mine has fitted just add the last touches to it.
The Harmon Kardon system surpasses even the B&W (440w and 1200w) systems fitted to the Jag XFs that I owned at least for the types of music I listen to, which is mainly hard rock and metal.
The multifunction dash which turns pretty much the whole of the dashboard into a big LCD screen, including the rev counter and speedo, is brilliant. It changes completely dependent of what mode you are in and can show details from the phone, sound system and navigation directions. Even in standard comfort mode the little touches like the numbers growing and shrinking as you approach them is just cool
and when you have the speed limiter on it hiding all the digits above the speed its set at just make it a nice thing to behold. What tops that thou is the HUD, having you speed, cruise control settings, Nav directions, phone and audio settings displayed on the windscreen is just awesome. It takes a little while to get used to not glancing down at the dash but once you’re used to it, it becomes second nature. Like all BMW both the dash and the HUD change colour dependant on the outside light so at night they both take on the orange glow rather than their daytime colours.The surround view camera is simply brilliant, it takes the reversing camera to a whole new level, providing an overhead view of the parking space, making reversing the car and judging how it’s aligned very easy. You can switch between the reversing camera and surround view easily and I tend to use them both equally. The 2 cameras on the nose also make pulling out of junctions and parking spaces much safer as the 6 has a very long nose and you sit pretty low.
Everything else is pretty much stock BMW so the iDrive is the latest NBT 4.2 upgrade with the pointless touch controller, although I do prefer the larger dial, it has the latest M Sport wheel which is a lovely thing to hold and the controls are laid out in a logical and functional manor. Bluetooth works well for both audio streaming and phone calls and the voice control is by far the best I’ve used in a car. I do have an iPod touch that I use for my music as my phone is an Android device so doesn’t support the BMW Apps system for the likes of Deezer and Spotify, but the iPod makes that easy to deal with and lives in the car and I can use the apps on it as well.
I am glad I decided to get the new car over the used ones I looked at which had the older iDrive as it would have felt like a big step back from the M235i. They also didn’t have the multifunction dash and the contrast stitching on the dash, little things I know, but when I’m chucking a far lump of cash at the car I think I would have felt disappointed after seeing and living with the newer spec.
Overall: This car is, I believe, the best car I have ever owned and I’ve owned a fair few in my time. The combination of looks, performance, equipment and comfort for me deliver a car that fits my usage profile pretty much perfectly. If I could have had a couple more options such as the sun roof or LED lights they’d have been nice, but anything over what I have would really have been in the “nice to have” category as it has everything on it that I’d want.
I’ve had a couple of things that are being dealt with by the dealer, one is that the headlights mist up when in use, which is booked in to have them replaced in the next couple of weeks, the other is there was a small nick in the leather in the back of the car when I collected it but the part is on back order with Germany so not expected until late January. Both of these are just being dealt with and are niggly at worst so not overly worried about it.
Overall I can think of no other car that I would rather have at the moment, for my current set of circumstances, which for the first time in a long time I’m not planning its replacement as soon as I’ve bought it…I think that just about sums up how I feel about it
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