Vanity Fair UK – September 2019

(Kiana) #1
Like the old friend from the Nineties
that it is, the BMW 8-Series has
returned, alongside memories of
cruising London for playmates, short
breaks in the country, and En Vogue
playing too loudly. Possibly just me,
but my goodness, everyone loved this
car first time round, and here it is
again, like all of us 20 years on and
since the advent of spin classes, a tad
grey round the temples, but fitter and
more powerful.
The 8-Series Convertible is the ideal
blend of grand-tourer space and
supercar power. In M850i guise, you get
BMW’s delectable 4.4-litre twin-turbo
V8 engine which is butter-smooth and
scorchingly fast ( 530 horsepower, feels
like more). Four seats mean you can
now take the kids on that rural

This is the Marlboro Red of the car
world. An unfiltered, uncensored,
old-fashionista, the last of a dying
breed, a guilty pleasure. It has a
massive, un-PC, naturally aspirated
V10 engine sitting in the middle of the
car for fantastic balance. Everyone else
has downsized and plonked a couple of
turbos by the engine, to make it sip fuel
a bit slower. Not so Audi. “Sod it” is the
engineering approach in a nutshell.
And God bless them for that. This is a
wonderful, free-revving Tom Petty of a
supercar. It glides, it growls, and it
vanishes at warp speed down the road.
But better than all that: it is docile
enough at low speeds to use as your
daily commuter. I know; I did just that

mini-break, and they’ll love playing
with BMW’s latest tech which
includes gesture control—circle your
finger clockwise in the air in front of
the touchscreen and the volume will
go up, for example. If one must.
Gizmos aside, this is a very
stylish flagship car from BMW,
which retains the marque’s serious
motorsport DNA in its hard steering
and swift gear changes, but blends
it with a cut-glass gear knob, a
heads-up display which projects
satnav on your windscreen, adaptive
suspension to smooth out bumps,
and BMW’s xDrive badge, which
means four-wheel drive so you
don’t need to freak out if it’s wet
or slippery outside.
Truly, this could be the best
automotive blend yet of beauty,
performance and space. Price: £104,500

for the week, plus the school run and
the supermarket. It’s a little pussycat,
with the skin of an Avenger. No one
needs to know that it acts like its distant
cousin, the Audi A3, round town: just
show them the artwork, and give them
some noise.
Inside, there is plenty of leg and
shoulder room for two large adults in
the wide seats, and Audi’s flawless
infotainment system married to a
superb Bang and Olufsen audio system.
Four-wheel drive will help you use the

620 horsepower and keep you sunny-
side-up, and on a day of blue skies and
washing-fresh air, get that roof down
and away you go. Easily the easiest
supercar of them all. Price: £149,890

This is a wonderful,
free-rev ving Tom
Petty of a supercar

G U I LT Y P L E A S U R E


The superb
free-revving new
Audi R8 is an
intoxicatingly fast,
yet docile drive

FEMININE WHEELS


Gizmos on the BMW
8-Series Convertible
include a cut-glass gear
knob (above right)

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VANITY FAIR EN ROUTE SEPTEMBER 2019


Test i ng
By Er in Baker

Audi
R 8 V 10 SPYDER

BMW


8 -SERIES CONVERTIBLE


09-19Testing.indd 32 02/07/2019 17:14


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