Thirty years ago, it was pretty easy to keep track of the big German luxury car manufacturers’ lineups because they only sold a handful of cars. However, thanks to a strong shrug toward the prospect of internal sales cannibalization, those small lineups eventually expanded to fill every niche, no matter how small. It eventually reached the point where so many cars were on sale, some of which simply fell through the cracks. This is the often forgotten BMW 640i Gran Turismo, and not only is it unusual and practical, it’s also a rare sight on American roads.
For the 2018 model year, BMW rolled out the 640i Gran Turismo, the successor to the 5 Series Gran Turismo and one last shot of making the sedan-based liftback stick. By the middle of 2019, the automaker announced that the 640i Gran Turismo would be discontinued stateside, meaning it only had a lifespan of two model years. So what went wrong?
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Well, it certainly wasn’t the powertrain. This is the only 6 Series variant to use the B58 three-liter turbocharged inline-six, a considerable upgrade in reliability over the old N55 that offers a nice balance of power and efficiency. In the 640i Gran Turismo, it made 335 horsepower and 332 lb.-ft. of torque, good enough to get this big hatchback from zero-to-60 mph in a hair under five seconds. What’s more, it came attached to the excellent ZF 8HP eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission and BMW’s xDrive full-time all-wheel-drive system, exactly the sort of setup you want for four-season commuting.
Although the 640i Gran Turismo may look a bit like the old 5 Series GT, it actually rides on the same CLAR platform as the previous-generation G30 5 Series and the Toyota GR Supra. This offered several benefits, from cleaving 330 pounds from the curb weight to dropping the roofline by nearly an inch to adding 3.9 cu.-ft. of additional cargo space, but the biggest thing is that it features BMW’s late-2010s body electrical system, meaning you get all sorts of modern toys. A digital instrument cluster, full LED headlights, wireless smartphone charging, a panoramic moonroof, automatic emergency braking, and lane departure warning all came standard, and the options list went even deeper. How about four-wheel-steering, massaging seats, a 360-degree camera system, night vision, power sunshades, or a Bowers & Wilkins audio system?
Loads of equipment there, yet it was all fairly easy to operate. The 640i Gran Turismo came with iDrive 6, arguably the last iteration of BMW’s infotainment system with a clear rotary knob-first focus. This means you get simple menu structures, real buttons for several shortcuts, and one of the few good uses of capacitive touch technology—lightly pressing your finger to any of the preset buttons would cause a small banner detailing the shortcut to flash on the screen so you don’t accidentally select the wrong thing. Nice.
This weird 6-er didn’t fall apart in the corners, either. When Car And Driver tested it back in 2017, the magazine summed the car up as “Not a crossover. Not a wagon. Better than either.” And had this to say about its ride and handling balance:
The test car was equipped with the $4100 Dynamic Handling package that includes active steering, an adaptive air-spring suspension with adaptive dampers, and dynamic anti-roll bars. What it amounts to is a car that remains flat during cornering and utterly serene during cruising. And it’s freakishly quiet. The earth could open up beneath the 640i GT and the driver wouldn’t know about it until the car fell into the abyss.
All that suspension tech pays off in a 0.90-g skidpad performance and almost no nose dive under braking. With a 160-foot stop from 70 mph, it brakes well, too. There’s nothing about this beefy machine that screams high performance, but it performs.
So far, the 640i Gran Turismo sounds compelling, yet BMW pulled it from the U.S. market mid-way through 2019. While BMW didn’t break down exactly how many of these hatchbacks were sold here, with 3,762 examples of all 6 Series coupe, Gran Coupe, convertible, and Gran Turismo models sold in 2018, total sales numbers for this five-door variant are looking low. So what went wrong?
Well, to start, the 640i Gran Turismo came out of the gate at a base price $13,000 more expensive than that of the X5 SUV. That’s a huge price delta, and I wouldn’t be surprised if most BMW shoppers looked at it and just went with the X5. Then there are the looks, which are definitely on the weird side, albeit less weird than the 5 Series GT this thing replaced. Also, the naming scheme was confusing. Why was this a 6 Series considering every other 6 Series was markedly different?
Fortunately, low sales volume and lack of public awareness means these things are pretty cheap second-hand for what amounts to a lot of car. Check out this 2018 model, up for sale at a BMW dealer in California. Sure, it might not have the M Sport appearance package or the fancy Bowers & Wilkins audio system, but it’s covered a mere 39,056 miles since new, sports a clean Carfax, and has an asking price of $27,491. That’s a lot of upscale family car for the money.
Looking for a higher spec? This 2018 640i Gran Turismo up for sale in Iowa has the M Sport package, the power sunshades, Harman/Kardon audio, the 360-degree camera system, and the upgraded advanced driver assistance suite. While it does have 74,511 miles on the clock, that’s about normal for a seven-year-old vehicle, and the fact that this thing has a clean Carfax and is good enough for a BMW franchise dealer to retail it bolsters appeal. The asking price? A reasonable $24,991. Not bad.
If I may be bold, the BMW 640i Gran Turismo has some cult classic potential. It’s rare, it’s interesting, and it comes with a story. It also seems like a surprisingly good daily driver, which means it’s an unusual car that doesn’t have any particularly unusual needs like two-stroke premix, isn’t difficult to source parts for, and has space for pretty much whatever you want to throw in the back. If you’re looking for a left-field daily and aren’t afraid of German car maintenance, maybe add this to your list.
Top graphic image: BMW
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Quite cool, though rare enough that they were practically unobtainium when I was looking a few years ago, especially since I insisted on getting a wagon or a hatch in an actual color. Ended up with a blue 18 440i GC that, now with just over 50k on the clock and often parked as I spend more time as a contractor asshole driving beater trucks than a real estate asshole driving a bimmer these days, may last me another 10 years…
I thought the Audi A7 was a beautiful car. I wish Mazda, Honda or Toyota would make something like this. I’m done with German vehicles.
A neighbor has one of these in a dark almost-black blue. It isn’t an M-Sport car, but it is oddly proportioned and not attractive in my eyes.
i actually liked these you get 7 series room and cargo capacity for 5 series money. also the more ground clearance the better i always say.
I’ve thought about these and the 5-series GT. I like hatchbacks, and a “premium” hatchback with some power is a rarity in the US market.
It was a 6-series because it’s a coupe. Same reason an X6 is an X6, and a corresponding 4-series hatch is a 4-series.
And no, “coupe” has nothing to do with the number of doors. Neither does sedan for that matter.
This is the rarest car I’ve seen in the wild. We have Vectors, Oceans and all sorts of exotics. The 6 GT: I’ve seen one once, and have the photo to prove it (but can’t post it).
Isn’t difficult to source parts for, unless you need collision repair.
I’ve always liked these and toyed with buying a certified one a few years ago. They’re weird, unique, have tons of space, and a B58. That being said, these were technological showcases similar to a 7 Series so shit is going to go wrong and fixing it is going to be really expensive.
I’ve zeroed in on these and want one. Yup, fixing will be a pain. But not too bad in that 50-90k mile window.
Try to find one without the air ride if you can. When that system inevitably kerplodes it’s a particularly gnarly repair bill. But the B58/ZF8/xdrive powertrain combo is rock solid. It’s mainly electronic gremlins that you’ll have to deal with.
Oh one hundred percent. I haven’t looking into whether M-Sport can be had without it. It lowers the car a bit, and even though we’re in upstate NY, handling matters more to me than snow prowess.
My aging E91 expenses have all been electric gremlins of a rare phone option, as well as suspension refresh.
I have the 2021 540i which is the same..only no hatch back. That is the primary difference aside from the GT appearance package.
On a reliability scale, the reviews stated an average of $460/year for repairs. That is pretty much the average domestic vehicle cost.
These are no longer the trash cans they had a reputation for being with repairs.
I always liked the 6 GT. The 5 and the 3 weren’t good looking but the 6 had the right proportions. I always called it a wagette
Sorry, saw the pictures and mistook this for a Honda Crosstour. Which is also pretty rare here in America.
Rode in a Crosstour once, nice but I’d rather have the interior volume in my MDX taking the same fuel economy penalty.
Same.
Hi, I would like a Honda Crosstour with all that tasty German reliability.
— No one ever
There is no free lunch. A Honda FWD V6 is all kinds of wonderful, but a longitudinal B58 it ain’t.
Interesting, I still see them almost daily. They seem to have outlasted the Element, which was a lot more popular when new. Maybe there’s a huge subculture of Crosstour people…
Where I’m at, it’s the opposite. I see quite a few Elements, but very rarely a Crosstour.
They started out at about $45,000 and then I saw a bunch on the dealership lot for about $20,000 after the 3 year leases were over, but then they basically disappeared. I think I’ve maybe seen two in the last five years?
Elements on the other hand, I’ll see pretty much every time I go into town (population ~220,000).
Maybe they’re there and I just don’t notice. It is a very bland vehicle, especially compared to the Element.
I’ve always been outspoken about BMW’s rush to fill every possible niche over the past 20 years, but it’s even worse than I thought 🙂
Or better, depending on how you look at it.
I hated the GT models when they were new, but now I feel like looking for one. The Gran Coupes are just too tiny in the back, you might as well get a real coupe.
This looks like the best possible option if you can find it. TIL.
When you have modular platforms as they do, the marginal cost to spin off different variants is very low. This was *$13K* more than X5, and other than the difference in German vs. US labor cost, probably didn’t cost a red cent more to build. BMW was laughing all the way to the bank for every one they sold. Today, niches can be very profitable.
My only gripes with them is that I would rather have the proper 5-series wagon we are denied in the US – but I would certainly take one of these over a sedan. Useless, those. And I find the added ride and seating height pretty pointless. As nicely as these handle, being at the same height as the rest of the 6-series line would make them ride and handle *better*.