Market Watch BMW 640d Gran Coupè F06

Rapid, luxurious and economical, BMW’s F06 640d M Sport Gran Coupé is also great value.

Words: Guy Baker

Photography: Various

Sleek, elegant and purposeful, BMW’s F06 Gran Coupé looks expensive, but you can now buy a decent 640d M Sport from as little as £13,000. More balanced than the 6 Series Coupé, and much more fun than a 5 Series, the 640d is both fast and frugal. It also sounds great (for an oil burner) and handles sweetly for such a large car. And the cabin build quality feels mightily impressive. Perhaps most surprisingly the bigger Gran Coupé actually seems to handle slightly better than its F13 640d Coupé sibling, with less understeer. And in the rear of the cabin, the extra legroom, higher roof and revised seat design means you can actually carry four adults in comfort.

Originally launched in June 2012 at the Geneva International Motor Show, the Gran Coupé was designed to take on the Mercedes-Benz CLS, which had proved a big sales hit. But it took time for the new Gran Coupé design to grow on BMW buyers. And to this day some are still to be convinced.

Longer than the 6 Series Coupé, the 640d was the only diesel version – with a three-litre, six-cylinder turbodiesel producing 309hp at 4400rpm, and a maximum of 465lb ft of torque between 1500-2500 rpm. With this amount of torque on tap, acceleration is impressive in all eight gears and the benchmark 0-62mph dash takes just 5.4-seconds. However, restrained use of the loud pedal could see you approach the official 51.4mpg combined economy figure on longer motorway cruises.

The 640d’s factory M Sport specification is pretty luxurious, with Eco Pro, Comfort, and Sport driving modes, 60:40 split-folding rear seats, full M exterior and interior styling, LED fog lights, 19-inch alloy wheels, Sports seats, and an Alcantara interior. Many first owners fitted popular options like automatic parking and a Bang & Olufsen surround sound system. A 2015 LCI facelift saw slightly improved fuel economy and a raft of exterior styling changes, revised suspension settings, 20-inch alloys and some new exterior paint colours. 640d Gran Coupé production continued until late 2018, for the 2019 model year.

There are plenty of good examples advertised for sale at the moment, so despite elevated UK used car values, discounts are still possible. We’d recommend you avoid the less desirable SE model and buy the best equipped M Sport version you can afford – higher specced 640ds have better residuals.

Decent examples sell for anything from £13,000 to £27,000, depending on age, mileage and specification.

Early pre-facelift examples are especially affordable, with the 2013 13-plate Alpine White 640d M Sport Gran Coupé we found typical of what you could pick up. With full service history, black Dakota leather trim, dark grey poplar wood trim and a very reasonable 65,500-miles it was up for sale at £17,350, at the Stour Valley Motor Company Ltd (www. stourvalleymotorcompany.co.uk). The spec is impressive, with a number of optional extras fitted, like Exclusive Nappa Leather upholstery, 360-degree Reverse-Assist Camera Surround- View, Sports seats with three-stage heating, adaptive LED headlights, BMW internet connection and fully refurbished 20-inch M double-spoke alloy wheels.

Newer facelifted cars start at around £20,000, with a few grand more bagging a minter with a full BMW service history. We liked the look of the 2017 17-reg Space Grey Metallic 640d M Sport at German Motor Specialist Ltd (www.gmstrader.co.uk) in Croydon. Stickered at £24,139 it had covered just 58,000-miles and boasted Amaro Brown Individual leather and a long list of optional extras, including a Harman Kardon Surround Sound System, 20-inch style 373M double-spoke alloys, Fineline Cognac High-gloss interior trim, the M Sport Plus Package and a 10.2-inch high-res colour display.

High-mileage pre-facelifted cars are the cheapest though – the Black 114,000-mile 2014 640d M Sport Gran Coupé at A Motor Company Ltd (www.amotorcompany.co.uk) in Slough, for example, was for sale at just £14,591. It does have a full service history and comes with a plush specification including a 360-degree reversing camera, sat nav, Harmon Kardon sound system, Ivory Cream Dakota leather heated seats, soft close doors and 19- inch M-Sport alloys.

The 640d Gran Coupé is a complicated piece of kit though, so yours should boast a full uninterrupted service history, no more than three owners and all recalls (including the well-known EGR cooler) properly addressed. Watch for any signs of oil seepage from the automatic transmission and any indication that timing chain has stretched. Changing the timing chain (it’s due at 124k miles) is a difficult and expensive job. Located at the back of the engine, you’re looking at a minimum of 12-hours labour – but if you leave it and it breaks it’ll set you back £5,000 to put things right. Check all the electrical items work as they should, and we recommend you change the gearbox oil every 80,000-100,000-miles.

BMW Car retail price guide

Poor: Under £13,000Good: £13,000 to £27,000Excellent: £27,000+Special editions: None

Recent BMW 640d Gran Coupè F06 auction prices*

Model Transmission Reg/year Mileage Sale Price640d M Sport Auto 2013/13 68,870 £13,600640d M Sport Auto 2014/64 106,716 £13,350640d M Sport Auto 2015/65 38,276 £18,800640d M Sport Auto 2016/16 62,614 £18,400640d M Sport Auto 2017/17 49,349 £21,000640d M Sport Auto 2017/17 63,188 £18,500

*Sale prices of good-condition examples sold recently at British Car Auctions

WITH THANKS...

Grant Darling and Darren Parker at James Paul (www.jamespaul.co.uk), the BMW Car Club of Great Britain (www. bmwcarclubgb.uk), British Car Auctions (www.bca.com), Silverstone Auctions (www.silverstoneauctions.com), Bonhams (www.bonhams.com), Classic Car Auctions (www.classiccarauctions.co.uk), Glenmarch. com, www.bimmerforums.co.uk, Redish Motorsport (www.redish-motorsport.com) and Glass’s (www.glassbusiness.co.uk) their help with this feature.