BMW's CLS-fighter for 2009
The four-door coupe is a trend that only seems to be growing. Mercedes, of course, was the first (and remains the only) company to get one on the market with the CLS. Volkswagen and Audi are working on their own. Porsche's upcoming Panamera will take a similar approach. Aston Martin showed us its Rapide concept. Even Bugatti is rumored to be considering an exclusive four-door coupe as a follow-up to the Veyron. Now BMW is next in line.
BMW is said to have abandoned the idea of rear-hinged "suicide" doors in the back (like they put on the Rolls Royce Phantom) in favor of conventional doors. Previous reports speculated that, based on test mules seen running around the Nurburgring, BMW's new model would take more of a crossover/SUV shape, melding an M6 with an X5, though more recent reports suggest it will be more sedan/coupe-like.
Insiders predict the BMW four-door coupe will hit the market as a 2009 model.
[Source: The Car Connection]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hondafan 10:09AM (11/08/2006)
ummm, isn't that just a rebadged MERC CLS dressed up as a BMW?
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narcszm 10:11AM (11/08/2006)
They've been making four-door coupes since before we were born.
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Michael Karesh 10:23AM (11/08/2006)
Is there any niche these companies won't follow each other into? It'll be interesting when one of them comes out with something truly ridiculous, and we end up with four of them on the market.
As for this "photo," I also find it hard to believe that this isn't just a CLS with a Pontiac GTO front end and a few BMW cues shopped on.
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aaron 10:29AM (11/08/2006)
this photoshop rendering is horrible!!!
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JarryHames 10:55AM (11/08/2006)
Agree! It's some bad photochopping. It looks like a 3/5/6 combination.
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MrClever 10:38AM (11/08/2006)
I'd have really appreciate if they could just make a 4 door M6, make the chassis 12 inches longer and BANG(LE)
THERE YOU HAVE IT.
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fernan 10:43AM (11/08/2006)
pontiac GTO? what are you smoking?
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leo 10:57AM (11/08/2006)
this is why Mercededs is always on top, not matter what anyone says
M-B knows how to do it and they are allways followed. Sure they had those electrical issues back in the 2003 model year cars, but they were experimenting in new territory and everyone else waited for them to come out with it then they were followed by everyone else a few years later with improvements.
now M-B has returned back to the top and will remain there.
My cousin has a 1992 M-B with over 500k km on it(so ~320k miles) and he loves it. It rarely needs any extra maintenance adn that engine is as smooth as day one.
everyone hold back, cause M-B blows everything away.
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Cap'n Jack 10:58AM (11/08/2006)
As long as the B-piller is between the front and rear doors none of the posers are coupes.
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munich boy 11:02AM (11/08/2006)
I am sure that the location of this photo was used before... for another photoshopped "scoop".
Aslso the plate seems familiar I am sure there is a 6 series out there with the same reg... couldn't find the picture just now. I am sure it was on seriouswheels.com or leftlanenews.com as a wall paper.
Anyone agree or seen the image recently?
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villainy 11:22AM (11/08/2006)
I don't understand this whole 4-door coupe thing. What, as long as the rear seats are mostly useless its still a coupe? I always figured four doors, seats 4 or more = sedan. Not that I don't like the cars, they just seem confused.
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holmesmd 11:43AM (11/08/2006)
leo, you must be on crack. MB sucks! Who cares if they made a 4 door coupe! I am sure you don't own a Benz and are probably a "badge rider". I have driven and owned both MB and BMW and there is no comparison, period. I have an E39 M5 and a E63 M6 and there is no car produced by MB that delivers near the quality or driving experience. MB are for posers and grandpas. Wake up:)
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Dan 11:50AM (11/08/2006)
#11 4 door coupes make sense because they allow the engineers to move the center of mass closer to the center of the car. This is done by moving the engine behind the front axle, of course at the expense of rear seats and trunk space. These cars are true (front) mid-engine cars and handle much better than regular limousines (limousines are front heavy). It also allows dramatic yet classic styling with a long hood and a short rear. Case in point: CLS vs E-Classe. CLS is definitely an example worth following.
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MKULTRABLIZZARD 11:57AM (11/08/2006)
agree with #1.
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curtis 12:55PM (11/08/2006)
BMW has the ugliest tail lights ever.
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curtis 12:06PM (11/08/2006)
#11, I don't get it either, A Sedan can have 2 or 4 doors, but a Coupe is clearly only a 2 door car, I think these people are confused. Coupe's are shorter than Sedans, this car is not a Coupe, it is definately a Sedan, big/long with 4 doors.
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ZoomZoomin\' 12:09PM (11/08/2006)
Why won't the term "four dour coupe" die already?...that what I want to know.
While I'd never buy a sedan, the CLS is one of the designs I'd love to own if I did. However, they're not fooling me by simply slapping "coupe" in their description. They're sedans...they just happen to look good because the designs are inspired by coupes. However, I think they look slightly better than large coupes because the door and rear side glass doesn't look as large and out of proportion. So it's nice to see BMW coming out with something equivalent.
...and BMWs will (hopefully) forever drive far, far better than any equivalent Benz. Benz's are nice to cruise and be seen in, but not to drive. Everytime I drive a Benz, I feel like I've taken sedatives...I far prefer being a passenger. The E55 does have a hell of a lot of fun torque though...but I'd rather have a little more driving character/competence than that.
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thomas 12:20PM (11/08/2006)
wasn't the s60 considered a "four door coupe"?
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Chien-Ming Wang 12:44PM (11/08/2006)
I like the look of this new 4-door Solara!
Will it be manufactured in Kentucky?
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mk 3:20PM (11/08/2006)
Four Door Coupe is like a light-weight steam-roller.
An Oxy-moron.
"Coupe" is a word sourced from french, and means a carriage or motorized vehicle with two doors, and usually but not exclusively two seats.
I am sorry, but the CLS is not a coupe any more than an R-class, or an ML. It has four doors. (and I think the arched belt-line, and squinted rear end, and odd L-shaped headlights are ugly. I think an E-class is better looking.)
Now, I am a performance car kind of guy, and while sports cars and GT coupes are any performance car enthusiast's bread and butter, a well turned sport sedan is nothing to disparage, and I tend to like them.
This BMW might be good. The CLS might be decent to drive, if not to look at... I welcome anyone else into the market who want to make a practical performance car. But for pete's sake, THEY ARE NOT COUPES, and it is grating to hear people who supposedly "know" call them that.
I don't even think the RX8 is a coupe. maybe a pseudo-coupe. MAYBE. It defies current category as perhaps do the CLS and this new BMW, true, but that means they need a new name, not the corruption of an existing word with an established definition.
What is so bad about calling something like the CLS, or this proposed BMW, a sport sedan? does that really cause that much trouble when the M5 and E-class AMG, and others are also sport sedans? It is more apt than a four-door coupe oxy-moron.
Some of these are barely more than low-roof sedans, anyway.
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