If you’re reading this, you may assume that eCarOne has not
gotten any exciting cars in a while, but that could not be further from the
truth. In fact, in the last several
months since I’ve blogged, eCarOne has obtained some phenomenal cars including
a handful of Bentleys, two Lamborghinis (one is a Superlaggera), a couple of
Ferraris, a couple of Mercedes SLS (a coupe and a roadster), and their usual
bevy of awesome AMG Mercedes, M-Power BMWs, and everything else from Porsche to
Range Rover. So, why did this M6 Grand
Coupe wake me up? Well, that’s a good
question and I’ll attempt to answer it in the next few paragraphs.
To start, this is a 2014 model with less than 1,000 miles and
a $141,000 sticker price (eCarOne is selling it for $18k under MSRP), so this
means this car is fully optioned out.
This alone was enough to spark my interest… how did eCarOne get a car
that I cannot even find at most BMW dealerships today? How can I have the opportunity to drive a
“brand new” M6 Grand Coupe for a full weekend and pass it up? I could not even find one at most BMW dealers
and if I did, it would be very difficult to arrange for a 15-minute test drive
with a nervous salesman riding shotgun telling me to be careful! No, that’s not my cup of tea… I’ll take this
kick-ass 4-door M6 for a weekend and get the full experience (without the
nervous salesman riding shotgun!)
So, Saturday morning I took my 3 ½ year old boy (who’s a
bigger car nut then I) to eCarOne and dropped off my car to pick up the M6
Grand Coupe. Finished in a beautiful black sapphire metallic with black leather, I thought it looked really mean (especially
with the carbon fiber roof) but then again it looked very understated. As with most M-Power BMWs, you have to be a
bit knowledgeable to be able to tell it’s a special car; otherwise it looks
like a 6-series Grand Coupe with the sport package. The one big hint that it’s not just a
6-series was the huge carbon ceramic brakes finished in bronze... that alone
shows this car means business.
So, I opened the rear doors (yes a coupe with rear doors)
and secured my boy’s car seat. He got in
with no problem and had plenty of leg-room without my having to push the front
passenger seat all the way forward. In
essence, this car is a true four door with actual usable space.
So here we go. It
took me a few seconds to figure out all the buttons and options. Essentially, you have a multitude of driving
combinations. You have three settings
each for steering, suspension, and throttle (comfort/efficient, sport, super
sport). Then you have the option of
fully automatic throttle or manual transmission with steering mounting
paddles. For automatic, you have three
settings which control how aggressively the transmission shifts (more
aggressive means the transmission holds the gear longer and shifts closer to
redline). All in all without doing the
math, you have more than enough setting combinations to suite any taste and any
situation. This may sound overwhelming,
but once you’re set to what you like, you can store it to one of two “M”
buttons on the steering wheel (like seat memory or radio station memory… easy).
Since I had my boy with me, I took the 20 minute drive home
easy and got to know the car a bit. Then later that afternoon on my own, I went
out to see what this thing is all about.
At first, I had everything set to aggressive (super sport and manual)
then after driving the car for a while I found the setting that best suited me
(super sport throttle & suspension, and sport steering). I set the car on fully automatic with the
shift points set at aggressive. So all
this is nice, but how does this thing feel.
In a nutshell, this car is nothing short of phenomenal. The car felt like an extension of me (not
only my arms, legs, body but also my brain).
It’s like the car knows not only where I’m pointing it but also where I
want to go next! Hitting triple digit
speeds requires no effort at all, which makes this car not only ultra fun but
also very dangerous for the speeding ticket count…. If I owned this car, I’m
sure I’d need to have a few lawyers stored on my iPhone!
In addition to all out raw acceleration and speed (sub 4-sec 0-60 & 8.5 sec 0-100), this car
is surprisingly nimble. Despite its two
ton plus weight, this thing is glued to the road at any speed and can take any
curve with poise and confidence (0.92g lateral acceleration; on par with Porsche 911). Again,
it’s so effortless that it’s almost dangerous for the novice driver… you end up
feeling like Michael Schumacher in this car!
How about all other things that you’d expect with a car
priced at well over $100k? Well, this
Grand Coupe was equipped with a Bang & Olufsen sound system that puts
most home theater systems to shame. I
didn’t know what I’d rather listen to; the fantastic sound coming out of the
speakers or the fantastic sound coming out of the exhaust! Everything else about this car feels perfect,
from the infinitely adjustable and deeply supportive sports seats to the thick
sporty steering wheel. BMW has improved
the cabin feel tenfold in just the last few years, including but not limited to
an awesome navigation system with a screen bigger than the living room TV I
grew up with!
All in all, I think this Grand Coupe is a definite home
run. What did I dislike? Well, if I had to be picky, I’d say the truck
should have been equipped with an automatic closing mechanism and the rear
brake calipers should have been finished in a solid piece with a BMW logo like
the front calipers (now I’m being really picky).
To sum it up, I was not looking forward to driving my
Maserati Quattroporte after returning this car to eCarOne and for the first
time, I was actually disappointed to drive my beloved QP! The Bimmer Grand
Coupe spoiled me rotten!
I hope I’ve provided you some insight into this car, but do
yourself a favor and see it for yourself.
I’m glad to be back in the blogging arena and thank you for reading.
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