New BMW is all about looks

The thinking is that the Coupe deserves a special place and, certainly from a styling point of view, it does stand in a league of its own. The 4 Series Coupe is wider and has a longer wheelbase than the outgoing BMW 3 Series Coupe, and has a number of unique characteristics that earn its own numerical niche.

The more sporting interpretation that is now the BMW 4 Series Coupe sport, for example, air breathers positioned rearwards of the front wheel arches to reduce drag in this area. The rear seats feature recessed head restraints and broad, continuously moulded side supports to give the rear bench the appearance of two individual seats and emphasising the 2+2 aspirations of the coupe.

Customers can choose from three equipment combinations, and an M Sport package as alternatives to standard specification. The Sport Line, Modern Line and Luxury Line packages allow visible individualisation of the car’s exterior and interior appearance.

Of course, the M4 will be the ultimate 4-series and should make its appearance next year.

The new BMW 4 Series Coupe has a longer wheelbase, wider track and lower ride height than the BMW 3 Series Coupe it replaces. Its lower suspension brings the car’s centre of gravity down to below 500 millimetres, giving it the lowest centre of gravity of any car in the BMW model line-up.

The sporting two-door model will be available from launch powered by the following engines – the six-cylinder in-line petrol engine in the BMW 435i Coupe, the four-cylinder petrol unit for the BMW 428i Coupe. All the engines work using the latest BMW TwinPower Turbo technology and cover an output spectrum stretching from 180 kW to 225 kW.

A 420i will join the line-up ‘soon’ as the entry level derivative and, a bit later, will in all likelihood be joined by a 420-diesel.

The power from the BMW 428i is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox as standard. BMW will also fit all the engine variants – as an option – with an eight-speed Sports automatic gearbox (standard on the BMW 435i), which allows the driver to change gear manually as well as using shift paddles on the steering wheel.

This gearbox is quite extraordinarily good and the lightning fast changes defy belief for a torque converter based gearbox. As with all BMWs prices on the range vary considerably depending on what you choose over and above the very basic spec.

The range starts at R448 000 for the 420i and extends to R703 800 for the top end 435i when fitted with the 8-speed Sports Automatic Transmission Steptronic and wearing an M-Sport package.