BMW M8 review: Flagship has supercar-rivalling speed

The German brand’s new performance flagship has to be seen to be believed. The heavy hitter combines ultimate luxury with supercar speed.

2020 BMW M8 Competition.

Meet the range-topping BMW with supercar-rivalling speed, arresting style and a big-dollar price tag. We’ve been here before.

The brand’s last attempt at a performance flagship was the futuristic BMW i8, a forward-thinking coupe with concept car looks offset by a three-cylinder Mini engine. Yes, it had hybrid punch to deliver genuine pace, but the eco-minded i8 got pummeled on the sales charts by noisy conventional sports cars.

The BMW M8 Competition Coupe packs a powerful punch.

That’s unlikely to happen with the M8 Competition Coupe.

The go-fast version of BMW’s handsome 8-Series packs a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with enormous 460kW and 750Nm outputs. Claimed 10.4L/100km economy can be doubled at pace, the official 0-100km/h time is 3.2 seconds and its top speed is limited to 305km/h.

That makes it the fastest and most powerful production BMW yet.

It’s also one of the most expensive, priced from $352,900 plus on-road costs (about $380,000 drive-away). Yes, that’s expensive, and there are a few pricey optional extras.

The M8 Competition costs about $380,000 drive-away.

Premium paint is included, as is a sports exhaust, laser headlights, torque-vectoring differential, carbon interior trim and more.

Tech includes twin 10.25-inch displays, a head-up display, wireless smartphone charging and connectivity, voice and gesture controls, digital keys and a thermal night vision camera. A full suite of safety and driver assistance technology includes hands-off reversing to retrace your last 50 metres.

The cabin is an opulent space.

BMW pitches the M8 as a luxury machine, which is why you get a full leather interior, 16-speaker Bowers and Wilkins stereo, soft-close doors and memory seats. Front accommodation is suitably opulent, though rear space is tighter than the car’s size would suggest. The slightly cheaper four-door “gran coupe” version is a better bet for back-seat occupants.

Evidence of the car’s contrasting sports and luxury personalities comes in a variable brake response system allowing you to choose between progressive “comfort” response with smooth bite and easy modulation or a firmer “sport” mode with snappier pedal reactions suitable for high-performance driving.

The M8 is extremely quick, hitting 100km/h from a standstill in 3.2 seconds.

Our test car also had $16,500 worth of carbon ceramic brakes and $10,300 in exterior carbon fibre trim pushing its price well beyond $400,000 on the road. That’s McLaren or Aston Martin money.

Bentley and Ferrari aren’t far upstream.

And sceptics will say you get much of the same connectivity tech in a $50,000 1-Series, or the same fundamental powertrain in a BMW M5 sedan priced at a little more than half the coupe’s ask. That could be a problem.

The M8’s price also makes it roughly $100,000 more than the opulent and quick BMW M850i.

The M8 is handsome muscular looking performance coupe.

Just as the number eight crisscrosses at its centre to start another loop, there’s symmetry to this story. BMW first built an 8-Series coupe in the 1990s, though management cancelled production of an M8 as it would have launched during an economic crisis.

And we collected the new M8 on a landmark day when federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg conceded the nation is in a recession.

That might have been chilling, if not for the comfort of a gently heated seat, armrests and steering wheel. BMW’s Driving Assistant Plus suite also soothes anxiety with “semi-automatic cruising” made possible by self-steering, lane-keeping assistance and stop-start cruise control. It’s quiet on the road, with a comfortably taut ride to help escape reality.

Then you press a red “M” button on the fat steering wheel.

The BMW is let down by lack of exclusivity.

Suspension stiffens, the exhaust clears its throat and the four-wheel-drive system diverts power to the rear wheels. The eight-speed gearbox quickens its thinking and sharpens its shift times. Steering gains weight and the big coupe feels as if it hunkers down, like a boxer lowering his gaze with shoulders held high.

As with the best cars, the M8 feels smaller when you drive hard. The big coupe is surprisingly playful, wagging its tail exiting bends while bellowing a muted eight-cylinder tune accompanied by a percussive slap on gearchanges.

The M8 disguises near-two-tonne mass well, serving up dexterity and speed in a polished package.

VERDICT 3.5/5

Packed with tech, speed and refinement to rival the best cars on sale, the BMW M8 is an impressive machine for those who can look past questionable value and exclusivity.

BMW M8 COMPETITION VITALS

Price: About $380,000 drive-away

Engine: 4.4-litre V8, 460kW/750Nm

Warranty/Service: 3 years/unlimited km, $5051 for 5 years

Safety: Not yet rated, 8 airbags, AEB, active cruise control, lane keeping assistance, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert.

Thirst: 10.4L/100km

Cargo: 420 litres

Spare: Inflator kit

Originally published as BMW M8 review: Flagship has supercar-rivalling speed