- 12/06/2018
- 1 Min Read
- By: Gregson Mathe
Leaked BMW M8 Images Reveal Questionable Styling Will Cloak A Powerful Platform
In case you've been living under a rock the last six months and haven't heard the news, BMW is coming out with a highly-anticipated new 8-series they're calling...ahem...The 8. Super original, I know. Boring hype nomenclature aside, the car looks very impressive on paper.
The standard M8 will reportedly get around 600hp, but the competition version will likely be around 650+, which is insane. This will all come from the 4.4-litre, twin-turbo V8 which is directly transferred from the current M5. The power will be put down through a rear-biased all-wheel drive system and should hit 60 miles per hour in the low to mid-three second mark. Though, if you want rear wheel drive only, you should be able to option your M8 with only that. Let the tire shredding commence.
Photos credit: germancar4um.com
These leaked photos are from a car forum called germancar4um.com. Here's what we know about the car so far: it looks pretty much dead on to the 850i with no extra wheel flares or widebody components. There's a quad exhaust out the back which will no doubt make some glorious noises with the V8 at full chat. We can also see a matte blue paint which I think looks particularly sharp. Other standout features include enlarged front vents, gills behind the front wheel arches, and a revised rear diffuser built around the quad exhausts. And finally, we have a proper snowflake-like wheel that fills out the wheel arches rather well. Overall, this has all the makings of a fantastic M car.
But now comes the time for a largely unpopular opinion: I don't like this car at all. I believe the new BMW M8, and corresponding 8-series, to be supremely ugly.
When BMW announced a new 8-series it came curiously close to the killing off of the two-door 6-series. The 6 now lives as a grand coupe (also known as a 4-door, or not a coupe at all), gran turismo, or Alpina B6. All of those have 4-doors. BMW then announced the 8 was to come out as a 2019 model year car to revive the 8 badge from the 1990's. And we all know how awesome that car looked:
But to me, none of the design characteristics from the old 8-series transferred to the new one. Sure, we're talking about almost 30 years of safety advancements and requirements between the two that effect the design, but this new one just doesn't do it for me. The new 8-series looks like a facelifted 6-series two-door, and that's extremely disappointing.
Still, my opinion aside, 650+ horsepower and M mechanics will make this thing a Bavarian blitzer on the highway and on the track. Though, I wouldn't buy one.
Would you?
