BMW 840d xDrive

While the Diesel has become about as trendy as a Muscular song (a moment of silence for Ariane – no, not the rocket, thanks), one wonders what a “heavy oil” block made under the hood of a large, stylish convertible that sold for over €100,000. Verdict after a week of testing. 

Some time before the launch of the new 8 Series range, I spoke with a senior manager at BMW, now retired. The guy was on fire, explaining to me that with this car, they were going to take a step forward and be able to attack a new range of competitors. In other words: beyond Mercedes, the historic enemy, the 8 Series was going to allow them to go and tap new customers? Which ? He didn't say it, but it wasn't hard to guess: well, maybe Aston Martin and Bentley, for example...

Obviously: all this brings in other parameters. The rarity, the prestige, the exclusivity, the attraction of the coat of arms, the “not expensive enough, my son” side, the image that one sends back to others and to oneself, in short, lots of subjective things. Subjective, like the relationship to the aesthetics of the machine. Whether I find her beautiful or not beautiful is none of your business. What matters is whether it makes you vibrate, shiver… or not. 

However, as far as I am concerned, it is difficult to remain unmoved by this machine, especially in relation to the brand's own history. In line with a 3.0 CSL (personally: I could sell some members of my family (horrible aunt Jacqueline, your days are numbered!) to have one, a Batmobile, of course), the sumptuous Series 6 of Paul Bracq (“sumptuous”: the  blogtesterbase comes out of its prudent neutrality, but here it has the right since, in this case, I was the proud owner of a 635 CSi), of the curious series 8 "mk I" (I let myself be pushed a mule cut, I buy a giant bracelet and I start looking for an 850 CSi), the failed Series 6 "Mk II" from Bangle (ugly, but I had the chance to go to the era a week with an M6 and this V10, mamma mia!) and the almost too perfect 6 Series "Mk III", which was almost hard to notice, the new 8 Series cannot deny this heavy heritage.

In short, you will forgive me this long digression, but this Series 8 does not leave me indifferent. And I must not be the only one to have this feeling, given the looks it arouses and provokes in traffic, probably because of its low height (1.32 m), the wide beans of its grille, its stretched taillights. In a world of greyish SUVs, its slender forms can only stand out, the 8' Cab screams to others "hey, you see, I'm not like you, bunch of unimaginative dirty clones". Without going so far as this provocation, it must be recognized that this car stands out: the 840d xDrive Cab' still measures 4.85 meters long and 1.9 meters wide, while weighing more than 2 tonnes. Do not let these figures frighten you: yes, and this is no small paradox, 

With a  d like...

Delight? Stupid? Dorothée (from the club – another minute of silence for Ariane – sorry, this news saddened me)? No. D for Diesel. However, the only way to realize this type of motorization is to wait for the machine to start; and again, it is above all necessary to position yourself in front of the hood. There, for sure, we hear the snaps of the genre. But that's the only place. Inside, it rumbles “almost” like a good big US V8, even if the sound has been worked on, and at the exhaust outlet too. And that, as the Compagnie Créole used to sing, is good for morale.

Anyway, let's resume the sequence. Door opening. Installation. We settle into the seats, perfect, we discover ergonomics, perfect, we push the contact button,  so easy , we look at the new fully digital instrumentation of the latest BMWs, clear, ergonomic and configurable, there's more to it. 

What to what? Put the selector (crystal, how chic! – although the command in question seems even more qualitative on large Volvos such as the XC90) on D, like Drive. There, something is happening. Something indescribable, silky, felted and vigorous at the same time. Let's take things in order: under the long hood, there is a six-cylinder. In line. In this  downsized world, it starts to put you in an exceptional environment. Less than the power (still only 320 hp, in our "beautiful France at 80 km / h", it starts to feel the cut-shifted), it is rather the 680 Nm that we must manage. In "normal" use, hear, follow the traffic, sometimes overtake it, without being the big hooligan, we realize thanks to the box 8, rather well managed and calibrated, we sail permanently between 1500 and 2500 rpm. And that is very good that way.

And this, for many reasons. The comfort, whether in terms of the seats, the suspensions, the sound insulation (thanks to the 4-layer soft top) is simply remarkable. But comfort is also the feeling of quiet strength that you immediately feel behind the wheel. With this precision that, at BMW, driving modes have a real impact. In "Sport", the sound is more present, the direction more precise, the car more communicative. But what does it matter. Already in standard mode, the 840d xDrive is a cocoon that takes minimal body roll and doubles all lags in one breath. 

In shape

So, yes, I can already hear stuff like “the  blogtester is nice , but Diesel is for vans and boats”. They won't be wrong. But not right either. Because unless you drive constantly like “fast & furious”, in real life and with only 12 points on the license, there is little chance of really exploiting the performance of an 850i, supposedly more noble; and then correct me if I'm wrong, but with this kind of car, you don't necessarily want to go into roundabouts like a starved staring at the exit of the bend through the window. 

What's more, it's not day and night: in both cases, the maximum speed is limited to 250 km/h – and in reality, it's been a long time since I drove at that speed, in France at least, and in terms of acceleration, the Diesel can hold its head high with a covered 0 to 100 in 5.1 seconds, barely a second faster than the 850i. And then, with the 1000 meters standing start covered in less than 25 seconds with a terminal speed of nearly 210 km/h, the toll exits allow him to keep his rank. 

The strength of this car is the comfort, the usual-looking flexibility, and the gargantuan torque that makes it ready to pounce, thanks to the fairly responsive 8-speed gearbox, and all this while having the elegance of not giving you too much make you realize it's a diesel. 

Obviously, that makes it downright unique on the market. Opposite, we have no Mercedes S-Class Diesel, Bentley Continental Cab' Diesel, Aston Martin Diesel. Add to that the xDrive transmission (which has the merit, however, of typing the car more "propulsion" in "Sport +" mode, even if the D is not entitled to the self-locking of the more powerful petrol versions) and you get an unusual cocktail in the automotive landscape. A long course, mainly on the road, allowed me to keep a fuel consumption below the 8 l/100 mark, and the driving pleasure is real. The flaws: the rear seats are measured, the trunk is cramped, the size not easy to manage in town or in car parks (fortunately, the cameras help and the memory reverse function is always useful). 

With a sum of new technology on the market (cab ', Diesel, all-wheel drive), a financial paradox (a beautiful sobriety but a high price), limited practical aspects, the 840d xDrive is singular. Did I enjoy every mile driven by it? In your opinion ?