BMW 4 Series: The end of the 3 Series coupé and convertible
Scotland is cold, windy and where rain is made. It's also breathtakingly beautiful, offering vistas, hills and sights that only a lucky few will get to truly appreciate.
Scotland is also going to vote as to whether it gets to be its own country in 2014. Some of its residents want to live in an entity separate to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and are making quite a fuss about it. If you saw Andy Murray win Wimbledon this year, you may have seen a largeish man, resembling a cartoon, waving a Scottish flag in the crowds while the nation celebrated as one big happy UK. That man was Alex Salmond and he wants to live in his own domain and keep his views and his rain to himself, rather than share it with the rest of the UK. And he's allowed to want that. But some with he'd just let it lie and pitch in with the rest of us, rather than push to leave like a petulant 16 year old wanting to leave the family home because "I'm old enough to make my own choices".
The desire for independence is in all of us - we all want to be our own entity, our own 'thing' and do whatever we damn well please. But sometimes your actions have odd side effects - pissing people off for example.
What better place to shoot the new BMW 4 Series, then, than Scotland. It is, without doubt, a brilliant car. It's fast, fun efficient and very good looking indeed. However, much like Mr Salmond, its makers decided to make a fuss over what it is.
In the days of yore the BMW 3 Series had four faces - saloon, touring (estate to you and me), convertible and coupé - they all filled and niche and were perfectly happy to be what they were. The 3 Series has always been an attainable dream; it's always been a car that you could be proud of in any of its forms (though the E90 convertible did look awkward).
For the new generation BMW decided to tear the 3 Series line up apart. There will no longer be 3 Series coupé or convertible. No, instead a whole new car was introduced to be the 'cool' one, the 4 Series. Why this decision was made is beyond me. It wasn't 'broke' so why did it need fixing? It has the knock on effect of ensuring the 'best' M3, the coupé, will never happen again.
BMW will, when the 'cool' versions of the 1 Series turn in to the 2 Series have a car for every number up to 8, though there isn't (to my knowledge) a 'proper' 8 Series in the pipeline, but the hybrid eco sports car i8 doodad will do just fine for now.
The 4 Series is a very good car indeed. That's no surprise as it's based on the multi award winning evergreen 3 Series. However, it has been fiddled with. Its wheelbase is longer, it's got a wider track front and rear, it's a big bigger. It's also incredibly pretty.
From just about every angle it looks good, though that's no surprise as the car it's based on is also rather fine.
Its drive is as good as you'd expect, too. Utterly sublime. The 435i I was driving was quiet where it needed to be, noisy when I wanted it to be, fun where you'd expect it to be and sensible where the Police want it to be.
Everything about it screams excellence. But I don't get why a 3 Series, a car with an illustrious heritage, had that job taken from it, it makes no actually sense. Am I alone in thinking that?
| Engine | 3.0-litre twin turbo six-cylinder |
| Power | 302 bhp |
| Torque | 295 lb. ft. |
| 0-62 mph | 5.4 seconds (manual) |
| Top speed   | 155 mph |
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