Specifications:

• Price: 45’000 KWD
• Power: 552bhp
• Torque: 502lb ft
• 0-62mph: 4.2 secs
• Top speed: 190mph (delimited)
• Economy: 28.5mpg
• CO2: 232g/km
• Weight: 1950kg
• Engine: 4395cc V8 twin-turbo
• Transmission: Seven-speed DSG, RWD

I honestly wasn’t expecting this machine from BMW, the M Division used to be for racing machines, but over the years has developed into luxurious speed demons, so when the M6 Grand Coupe came out I didn’t know what to expect, I thought the M6 & M5 would be it for the big cars from the M Division. The M4 is coming because the M3 is no longer being produced, then you the Z Roadster M, but the M6 GC was a very pleasant surprise. I worried the gap between the M5 & M6 was so infinitesimally small as to render the M6 GC redundant, but, with its frame-less doors, bespoke M-Division goodies – carbon ceramic brakes with beautiful gold calipers, new twin-strut front grille, neat rear diffuser – it really does feel far more special than either. I have driven the new M6 and it is an amazing machine, and then I drove the M5 and I was genuinely disappointed. So where would this car fit into the mix.

To my eyes at least, it looks fantastic, no doubt the best of the current M crop and arguably BMW’s best-looking M-car in the best part of a decade. And not only is the GC easier on the eyes than the standard M6, even though I have always loved the M6 but the four-door coupe bodyshell seems a better match for the broad-chested V8 powerplant. From all the reviews I have read, everyone said the M6 GC is different then the M5, so different it got everything right that the M5 got wrong. I got the wrong feeling when I drove the M5, it was just good on a straight line, that’s it, but this machine looks to have gotten the right touch from the M Division and BMW Engineering.

The expense is ridiculous but that will drop, and odd the M6 GC may be, but it’s a winner: certainly my favourite of BMW’s big M cars and one of the finest fast Germans on sale. Good enough to defeat the bruising CLS 63 AMG, not to mention Audi’s upcoming RS7? It’ll be fun finding out when they match them up.