New BMW 6 Series Grand Turismo ousts the 5 Series GT – Costs from £46,810

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The BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo arrives as a bigger, more luxurious replacement for the 5 Series Gran Turismo. Costs from £46,810 in the UK.

The BMW 5 Series GT has always been a bit of an oddity with its ungainly styling, but has become a bit of a secondhand bargain in the process. But it’s now being consigned to BMW’s history bin to be replaced by this – the new BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo.

Dues to make its public debut in Frankfurt in September, the 6 Series GT is a prettified 5 Series GT with better looks, more space and more luxury. It looks like a 5 Series GT after a week in boot camp.

Aimed at the Audi A7, it now looks like the idea that the 6 Series range would become hardcore competition for cars like the Porsche 911 once the new 8 Series arrives was wrong, and this liftback luxury is the future of the 6 Series. A little odd.

Effectively just another 5/7 Series under the skin, the new 6 Series GT has the same wheelbase as the 5 Series GT but sits lower – helping it look less odd – and is a bit longer too and has a bigger boot.

Surprisingly, considering it’s bigger, the 6 Series GT is over 100kg lighter thanks to increased use of aluminium, comes with a lighter chassis and improved suspension – including standard rear air suspension – and a much improved drag coefficient.

Engine options for the new 6 Series GT start with the 2.0 litre four-cylinder petrol 630i (£46,810) with 258bhp and rear-wheel drive, there’s a 340bhp 640i petrol in-line six xDrive (£53,970) and just a single diesel in the 640d with 265bhp and rear wheel drive (£50,865) or xDrive (£52,705).

The new BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo debuts at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September with a market launch scheduled for 11 November 2017.