The guys from French publication Motorsport Magazine have been on a sort of a roll lately, publishing very interesting videos of high-performance vehicles going round the Magny-Cours track. The latest to join the cast is the BMW M850i xDrive, a car some wouldn’t include in the ‘high-performance’ category simply out of spite. If one would take a look at its specs though, it would be pretty obvious that the M Performance 8er is nothing to scoff at.
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The track in France has provided plenty of baseline readings so far, with some results being more impressive than others. The BMW M2 Competition did great as did the F90 M5, beating some serious competitors in the process. Unlike these two BMWs, the M850i is not a full-on M car but occupies a sort of middle ground if you will, being positioned between the ‘regular’ 8 Series models and the upcoming big dog, the BMW M8.
Still, under its hood beats a new 4.4-liter V8 with two turbochargers, delivering 530 HP and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque. The power is then distributed to the four corners of the car via the xDrive all-wheel drive system which comes as standard, turning this near 2-ton car into a land rocket. It will do 62 mph from standstill in 3.7 seconds and then go on up to a limited top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h) even though independent tests showed it’s ever faster than that.
The lap time the guys managed to get on the Magny-Cours track was of 1:23.68 which makes this car faster that the current Audi RS4 and the current 510 HP, Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe. The M850i also turned out to be marginally slower than the Jaguar F-Type SVR, Alfa Romeo Giulia QV and the F90 M5, but not by much. That’s might encouraging for the upcoming M8 which is bound to get more power and bit less weight thrown on it.
Faster than RS4 LOL
Would have been nice to see the lap from outside also.
Faster than some full blown AMG S models… not bad. I wish they would release the M8 Competition at the same time as the regular M8. Settling some scores from the get go. Either way, both versions should be really quick.
Are these selling? I think our dealer sold 1, the second one we got has been sitting in the showroom for a month now. Doesn’t look like we’re ordering a bunch of them. M5s and even M760s moved faster early after launching.
BMW & Toyota have both started issuing Launch Editions, for marketing purposes until production & volume get up to steam, I guess. Haven’t seen one for 8 Series (except for single edition meteor roof), but it’s a limited production 6 figure vehicle, don’t dealers keep a demo. on sight for a debut? 8 will have a long rollout, multiple body styles, drivetrains. Still a new car, sales may be more dependent on availability than demand.
My speculation is that the six-figure price point for the 8 Series really pushes it into a category cross-shopped with Porsche 911s. When clientele of GT cars aren’t purely comparing performance, things like cabriolet, luxury and emotional design end up driving sales.
As an enthusiast, I would simply not consider spending marginally less for the M850i (despite noteworthy performance) when the M8 or M8 Competition is right around the corner. But this is synonymous with purchasing the G30 M550 instead of the F90 (i.e. short time gap before availability of both).
Personally I hope the upcoming M8 tops the sales numbers for the entire series. This would cement the notion that M GmBH is on the right track by giving customers true sports car performance along with traditional Gran Tourer attributes.
meh…..
For a 2 ton car with “only” 530 hp the result is very very good. The M8 shall be extreme track beast because I think it will be more related to M8 GTE rather than M850i .We will see soon .