Just wondered what you thought to it in general. The performance looks rather impressive. The GC has some good practicality aspects, while maintaining the coupe style (even though it's similar to a 3 saloon really).
Well I liked it enough to buy one
I was looking for something that was both practical enough to carry 2 young children, but that I would also be happy to drive 25-30k miles a year in mostly by myself.
I fully expected to get a 5 series but the 4GC caught my eye and after having tried both out I decided the smaller size and high level of basic kit that came with the 4GC alongside its good looks were enough to sway me from the more comfortable and wafty 5.
Th inside is identical to a 3 series in the front, with reduced headroom in the back. Not a problem for me since my kids are 4 and 7 but if you cart taller people around you might want to bear that in mind. The middle seat is useless, don't kid yourself its a 5 seater. The boot space is the same capacity as a 3 but more of it is usable, and being a hatch you can remove the parcel shelf for bigger stuff. Split seats are also standard.
Its a great car to drive with the 3 litre straight six, more than enough power for me to have fun with yet refined enough in comfort to pootle about in without feeling compromised. The I am no expert driver so never really push the limits, I've had a couple of TC on moments when getting a bit over excited coming off a roundabout but its recovered well and its never given me any concern over handling. When not in sport there is noticable turbo lag in some circumstances, particularly when flooring it at medium speed. In sport mode response is pretty much instant. Sounds pretty decent for a diesel from inside too! This lag was not so evident on the 435 I test drove.
Enough has been said elsewhere about the quality of the auto box and given you are looking at a 435 you don't have any other choice as far as I know. Fuel consumption wise, I have averaged 45mpg over the last 10k miles according to the onboard computer.
Options-wise mine came with the m-sport plus pack, comfort pack (I think anyway? The memory seats and extra storage and stuff) and active suspension. M-sport plus pack adds harmon/kardon, rear privacy glass, blinged up wheels and m-sport brakes. I wanted the h/k and the privacy glass, wasn't bothered about the wheels (I actually think the 18s looks better) but the blue brake calipers looks nice. As mine was an AUC I compromised on the wheels since the rest of the spec was what I was after.
Ride is relatively hard on the m-sport suspension, its tempered a bit by the active suspension option but don't expect a bumpless ride. The cabin is quite noisy at speed in my opinion, a combination of wind noise and tyre roar. Its bearable but if you are looking for cocooned comfort you will be disappointed. The 5 was much better in that respect. Given its mostly just me in the car I just turn the music up and ignore it.
It took me ages to get the seat and steering wheel into a position I was comfortable with but once set its perfectly fine. Not sure how people bigger than me would get on with the sport seats as they are very narrow. I'm 5'8" and 12 stone and its a snug fit for me. One nice feature on the seats is you can tighten up the side bolsters by pressing a button to really grip you in your seat when you want to fling it about, then press another button to loosen them up again for normal use.
As you would expect for a < 1 year old car its needed no maintenance other than the standard service.
Colour wise its Carbon black (its kind of blue really) which looks amazing when freshly cleaned and polished and then looks grey about 5 minutes after setting off. I think they look great in Estoril Blue and grey as well, not so much in silver or white but its personal preference.
All in all I'm very happy with it, I can't think of anything else in this (admittedly niche) class I would pick ahead of it.
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