A few select, and very lucky journalists, recently had the chance to drive pre-production BMW M850i test mules on some stunning roads in Wales. Unfortunately, we weren’t among them, so we had to get our information about the drive from other journalists, just like all of you did. Thankfully, what we’ve heard is very promising and it’s only increased speed on the already out-of-control hype train for the 8 Series. If that wasn’t enough for you and you need more 8 Series in your life, this new spy video from Automotive Mike will help.
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Caught doing some testing on the famed Nurburgring, the BMW M850i gets sideways quite a bit. This shows that BMW is keen on testing the 8 Series’ chassis balance and hooligan-like behavior, which is encouraging. Regardless of body style or vehicle type, a proper BMW needs to be able to do skids on command. And it seems that BMW is making sure the 8 Series can do just that.
In this video, we see the BMW M850i get sideways over and over again, with the driver intentionally provoking it to do so. What’s interesting is that the M850i is all-wheel drive as standard and, not being a proper M Division product, lacks the ability to switch its front axle off. So that means it’s able to do these skids with xDrive all-wheel drive working. You can see that it pushes a little bit at first, as the front wheels are trying to keep things pointing forward, but the driver is still able to push the ass end out when desired. So it might not want to slide initially but it will if asked nicely enough.
What’s more is that the M850i sounds great. BMW has given the M850i a new twin-turbo V8, a heavily revised version of the one used in the M550i, and a new exhaust noise. It sounds far better than what we’ve heard from its 5 Series counterpart, with a deep, burbly, almost AMG-like noise. We’re really digging the new sound and it’s far more characterful than any other BMW V8 on the market, F90 M5 included.
The hype train for the BMW 8 Series is already out of control and this video isn’t helping.
I feel like I’ve seen all possible angles of the camouflaged 8er. Can the next article posted about the 8 series be the premier of the car?
We’re waiting on BMW just like you are for that :)
Someone needs to leak the high quality photos already.
In June
Just one more month to go. The suspense and anticipation is driving me crazy.
The sound of expensive high tech rubber compounds being vaporized.
That M850i did not look that much slower than the AMG GTR with the prototype nose. I wish those two were caught a little longer.
The car looks heavy. I know having a TT V8 mated to an auto transmission with AWD means it wasn’t exaclty gonna be the lighest car out there to begin with, but i was still hoping for BMW to do some effort to contain the weight especially if they ruled out the V12 for driving dynamics. Seems that it’s not really the case, or at least not as much as most people would like. It does look fast though
Maybe they’re keeping the weight-saving goodies for the M8 😉
The new 8 increasingly looks to be a facelift 6 series. How disappointing.
They’re going to charge a lot more money for it though. Eight is a bigger number than six after all.
The race car is stunning & he hasn’t seen the production vehicle. BMW filling gaps as they ascend to Rolls Royce ceiling, 8er makes perfect sense.
It definitely does. 100%.