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Não sei se já apareceram, mas...
Here it is. The first understandable Bangle-era BMW. Next to the 7-Series and later 5-Series, the new 6-Series coupe looks almost conventional. I say as much to Bangle himself, and he's outraged.
"Let me ask you a question," he flames. "Do you remember the Z9 concept car? This is that car with normal doors and a higher rear deck. You think this is understandable now, but the Z9... hey!"
His point is that the world went mad at the Z9, wringing its hands at BMW's design derailment, but it was just a softening-up exercise for the strange saloons that followed. Now we think the 6-Series restrained, relatable-to; Bangle has moulded us. You have to admire the way he's dug BMW out of its design rut.
Maybe you don't like the 6-Series, launched initially as the 645 Ci. I love it, but it helps to have driven it because that is a very fine experience. Here is a car at once a boulevard cruiser in the SL vein and a magnified M3, a car with the perceived virtues of the old M635 CSi but brought right up to date. An 8-Series replacement it isn't.
There's a lot of technology in this car. The important thing is not to let it get in the way of the drive, the human interface. Here are some samples. The bonnet, the doors, a chunk of the frontal structure and most of the suspension are of aluminium. The front wings are flexible plastic (like a Rolls-Royce Phantom's or a Renault Clio's) to save weight and make it possible to mould in the feature lines that go with the indicator repeaters. The boot lid is of sheet-moulded plastic composite (think Corvette, old Espace, pieces of Carrera GT).
And then there's the moving stuff. Active Steering, as launched on the 5-Series to mixed reviews (favourable, in my case), which speeds up the steering ratio as the car slows down. Dynamic Drive, with an active anti-roll function; both these systems are optional, and fitted to the cars we're about to drive. SMG sequential transmission, our first experience of it outside an M3: how will it fare with 328bhp of lazier, longer-legged V8? It, too, is an option, as is the regular automatic that most people will buy. Pity these people. They will never experience the depth of bond the 645 can bring.
While the bond is still shallow, we'll take in 645 Ci as sculptural object. The nose looks a little doleful and bleary-eyed, but keeps a BMW look without sinking into the retro morass. From the side, its tail would be a fastback if it didn't have this boot perched on top of it - yet here, unlike in the radical saloons, it actually works as a visual device. And see how the creased shutline between bonnet and front wing becomes the shoulder-line, and how the plastic sill covers are slightly tapered to reduce the slabbiness. See, too, how the panel gaps aren't tight for all their consistency. There's another false idol smashed by the Bangle-god.
At the back, a lip moulded into the boot lid - why not celebrate the plastic of which it is made? - improves airflow and reduces the visual height. Little bumps on the tail-lights deflect air currents and keep the lenses clean. Now look in through the rear window at Bangle's favourite view. We're looking along the centre tunnel, at the way the feature lines cross over - like, says Bangle, the legs of a pretty woman in a short dress. Make of that what you will.
The cabin is delicious, actually. Soft, padded surfaces everywhere. A dashboard that doesn't shout design dogma at you, just eases your eyes with two cowls and gentle curves. A strip in seat colour runs along the windscreen's base and flows into the tops of the door trims, then expands downwards to return in a door-pocket curve. Cocoonment. Lovely.
You can even squeeze a couple of lithe and compact grown-ups in the back. And get this: when you open the door, the BMW script on the sill scuff-plates lights up in red.
Oh yes, and there's an iDrive. BMW boss Helmut Panke is pleased to announce an extra feature here, a separate 'menu' button for instant return to the beginning. But what if you've almost iDriven to your electronic function destination before taking a wrong turning? Too bad; you've got to return to go.
This must not turn into an iDrive rant, because the 645 Ci rises far above that. We're heading along the Malaga motorway, destination the fast, winding Ronda road and the hills beyond, and empathy is building fast. The engine is smouldering nicely; it sounds like a smooth six-pot when ambling, but builds to a distant beat as the work-rate rises. From the outside, there's a crackle to that beat and it sounds a fully paid-up potent V8, but you need the windows down to share in the pleasure.
What a lot of torque, though. You can be wafting up a hill at 1200rpm in fourth gear, and acceleration is yours for the asking. Yet the engine will also fling itself up to 6800rpm and throttle-blip like an M3. You choose.
Now we're on that Ronda road, the trucks behind us, a clear stretch ahead. There's a sport throttle button, but I'm not using it because there's no need for such right-pedal hyperactivity. It's plenty crisp enough without it. We're braking down from big speed to a tight turn, and - wow - didn't we turn in quickly? Too quickly; as the speed drops, my perceptions don't keep up with those of Active Steering and I apply a bigger input than is needed at the lower speed. I need to get used to this.
I do, quickly, and soon the feel and the resultant agility become natural and expected. You just need to recalibrate yourself to take advantage. This is a better Active Steering installation than that of the 5-series, because there's more road feel and none of the self-servoing feeling of directional instability at high speeds.
Once past that shifting-ground interface, how does the 645 Ci handle? Beautifully, feeling all the better for its lovely thick steering wheel. It flicks like a car two-thirds its weight, it resists understeer even when you push hard into a bend, it balances out and lets you indulge in a little tail-flick if you switch off the traction control. You can kill the entire DSC, too, but there's no need on a dry road because its intervention is minimal. And, as I discovered when rounding a fast bend to discover a truck in the middle of the road, there are times when you'll thank it.
The ride is controlled and absorbent (surprisingly so), the brakes are tireless, the manual transmission smooth in its shift if sometimes slack in the driveline. Why, then, would you want an SMG unless it's to indulge some F1 fantasy? It works quite neatly, with speed and not much surge, but it takes away an analogue layer of fine control and replaces it with a kind of digital on-offness. Thus are the sensual pleasures of the 6-Series lost. Buy the manual, and love it.
In Evo.
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