The BMW M8 has a bit of identity crisis. BMW doesn’t seem to quite know what it’s supposed to be. It’s too heavy and luxurious to be a proper sports car and it’s too sporty to be a proper GT. That uncertainty means it’s not really great at anything. Especially when you look at its price bracket and the other cars that share it. In this new review from Road & Track, we get to see that, while very capable both on road and track, it’s not really right for either. Which poses the question: who really wants to buy the BMW M8 Coupe?
It’s a good question and one that’s seemingly been answered by the M8’s sales sheet — no one wants to buy the M8 Coupe. BMW can’t give the damn things away, which is why it’s taking a break from importing the M8 Coupe and Convertible for the 2021 model year. BMW will say that Covid is the reason why, and it’s likely played a factor, but all 8 Series models were struggling even before Covid. So the real reason isn’t Covid, it’s the very nature of the M8.
The BMW M8 Competition Coupe tested by R&T wore an as-tested sticker price of $175,000. Frankly, that’s obscene. In no world is the M8 Coupe worth that much money. Especially when you look around at the other cars playing in that price bracket. For that much money, you can get a Porsche 911 Turbo, Audi R8, Mercedes-AMG GT C, two Corvette Stingray Z51s, a BMW M5 and Porsche Cayman combination and you’re knocking on the door of an Aston Martin DB11 or Bentley Continental GT. So, with all of that considered, is there really any reason to buy the BMW M8 Coupe? Honestly, I’m struggling to come up with one and so too is R&D writer Kyle Kinard.
Admittedly, it does put down superb straight-line performance and it does look very, very good. But the same can be said about every one of its aforementioned competitors. So there doesn’t really seem to be a compelling case for the M8 Coupe. Check out this review from Road & Track because it really hits the nail on the head, when it comes to the BMW M8 Coupe. It’s an impressive car but trying to figure out who it’s for can be difficult.
[Source: Road & Track]
