One of the most anticipated cars in recent years for BMW is, without a doubt, the BMW 8 Series. Scheduled to make its world debut at the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race this weekend, this will mark the revival of a nameplate which has been gone for about 20 years or so. Not only that but the 6 Series will be reduced to only one model, basically putting it to the side for now, as BMW aims to offer more luxury in this segment.
Just as we are preparing for the unveiling, BMW is doing its final tests on the prototypes it has driving around Germany at the moment. The footage below will most likely be the last one showing the car under heavy camo, before we get to see the 8 Series in the metal this weekend. Judging by the looks of things, as far as I can make out, this seems to be the M850i model considering the quad tailpipes at the back and the beautiful sound the car makes on start-up and departure.
The M850i xDrive will be one of the initial models on sale in the 8 Series range. As BMW confirmed already, it will have 530 HP and 750 Nm (553 lb-ft) of torque at its disposal and that means it will be using a more powerful iteration of the 4.4-liter twin-turbo N63 V8 we’ve grown used to. That means we could see this model do the usual 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint in under 4 seconds, probably somewhere between that and 3.5 seconds.
Considering the BMW M550i xDrive does that exact sprint in 4 seconds flat and that the M850i will have 68 extra HP, chances are the M850i xDrive will be closer to 3.7 seconds which will be enough for most people until the M8 comes out. Speaking of launch models, the European customers will also get a diesel version, most likely an 840d coming with the usual 320 HP put out by the twin-turbo 3-liter straight six mill otherwise internally known by the B57 codename.
