June arrival for BMW’s 4 Series Gran Coupe

BMW will charge a $500 price premium for its new four-door 4 Series Gran Coupe over its two-door Coupe twin when the niche-filling new model arrives in local showrooms in June this year.

The line-up for the latest addition to BMW’s burgeoning 3 and 4 Series range will mirror that of the two-door Coupe that launched in October last year, kicking off with the 420i from $70,000 (excluding on-road costs) followed by the sole diesel option – the 420d at $72,300.

Further up the range the 428i Gran Coupe is priced from $81,000 before it tops out at $109,000 for the 435i.

BMW’s closest competitor in the niche four-door coupe market is Audi’s A5 Sportback, which undercuts its Bavarian rival by $2810 with a starting price of $67,190 excluding on-road costs for the 1.8 TFSI, while the most expensive non-S-badged variant – the 3.0 TFSI Quattro – costs $98,400.

Audi does not charge a premium for extra doors with its A5 coupe, instead matching the Sportback.

The dimensions of the four-door 4 Series and the two-door are almost on par, with the Gran Coupe 4638mm long and 1825mm wide, with a 2810mm wheelbase.

BMW says the roofline of the Gran Coupe is 12mm higher than the Coupe’s lid, and stretches a further 112mm towards the rear. The higher roofline means improved headroom over the Coupe, while the frameless rear doors offer better access to the rear seat.

With the rear seats up, cargo space is up 35 litres, to 480 litres, matching the Audi A5 Sportback, while the capacity expands to 1300 litres with the rear seats folded.

Powertrains are identical to those under the sleek bonnet of the Coupe, although BMW’s official performance figures show that the addition of an extra pair of doors has slowed the 4 Series a little.

The base 420i gets BMW’s 135kW/270Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine that pushes it from a standing start to 100km/h in 7.6 seconds - 0.3 seconds slower than the Coupe - while consuming 6.1 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres on the combined cycle.

In 420d guise, the Gran Coupe is powered by a 135kW/380Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder diesel with a 0-100km/h sprint time of 7.5 seconds, whereas the Coupe can reach the same distance in 7.3 seconds.

The 428i uses a retuned version of the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four from the 420i, pumping out 180kW/350Nm for a 0-100km/h dash time of 6.0 seconds, 0.2 seconds behind its two-door equivalent.

At the top of the range, power for the 435i comes from a 225kW/400Nm 3.0-litre twin-turbo inline-six providing the quickest 0-100km/h time of 5.2 seconds, just 0.1 second off the Coupe.

Fuel use in the 428i is 6.4L/100km while the larger six-cylinder 435i is a tad thirstier with 7.6L/100km. Unsurprisingly, the oil-burner is the least thirsty of the range with 4.6L/100km.

Each variant in the rear-wheel-drive Gran Coupe range gets an eight-speed automatic transmission, while idle stop, brake-energy regeneration and an ‘Eco Pro’ driving mode are all standard.

The four-door 4 Series will also be the first Australian-market BMW offered with a built-in SIM card to allow full use of the company’s ConnectedDrive application platform.

Full specifications are expected to be revealed at launch in June, but BMW says it will be almost identical to the equipment levels of equivalent Coupe variants.

Expect the 420i and 420d to offer standard fare such as dual-zone climate-control air-conditioning, Bluetooth connectivity, electric leather sports seats with memory, satellite navigation and a reversing camera.

BMW Group Australia managing director Phil Horton said the 4 Series Gran Coupe would offer more practicality than its two-door twin in a similar package.

“The Gran Coupé variant adds more functionality to the BMW 4 Series without compromising any of the aesthetics or driving enjoyment of the vehicle,” he said.

“And in line with BMW’s strategic product direction, the additional functionality will not come at a premium. The 4 Series Gran Coupé will be similarly equipped and identically priced to the equivalent two-door Coupé models,” The addition of the Gran Coupe to BMW’s range brings the number of 3 and 4 Series derivatives to six, following the 3 Series sedan, wagon and Gran Turismo hatch sitting alongside the 4 Series Coupe and recently launched Convertible.

BMW’s hardcore M3 sedan and M4 Coupe twins are also due to join the range in the third quarter of this year.

2014 BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe pricing*

420i	$70,000
420d	$72,300
428i	$81,000
435i	$109,000

*Excludes on-road costs.