Will there be a new 8?

I'm not too sure about this one, a good friend of mine who works at Mini at Oxford has said to me that they are in the R&D stage to see if it is actually worth them making a new one.

Personally I don't they'll bother, with such a high media hype of so called "climate change" people are being very put off with high "polluting" cars, if I remember correctly Land Rover have taken a massive hit over the last few months with sales of their Range Rover due to all the climate change spiel.

But one last thing, if they do decide to make one, they had best make sure it looks as stunning as the 8 did when it was launched.

Cheers.
Wayne.

http://www.autozeitung.de/online/render.php?render=0049861

nice wheels

Looks very similar to a CLS at first glance! A slightly shorter and better looking one, granted!

The only way BMW could work this would be if there was an Entry Model priced around 25 - 30K with engine/spec increments upto and including an M version. Otherwise the investment would not pay itself back.

The e31 'flopped' in comparison due to the extremely high starting price and limited spec options... ie Big engine and all the toys, or nothing.

But to call it an 8 Series would have to imply that it is better or more exclusive than the 7 Series, but the 7 is further up the ladder than the CLS which is essentially a tweaked E Class, and lower than the S Class / 7 Series......... yawn, thud....

Now what they should do is ..... dig all the old plant to build the e31, and kit it out with modern interior and gizmos (I Drive etc), and the new engines.....

I have a 650i coupe. I've said many times the 6 series is the replacement for the 8. It is the BMW flagship grand touring car. Things have changed since they launched the 8. Labelling the car as a 6 or an 8 is completely immaterial. BMW's grand touring car is currently labelled as a 6, and a derivative of the 5. This way, they can make the required return. Building a new platform would make the 6/8 too expensive and given the small volumes sold, unlikely to make the required return. That's why the 6 is primarily a derivative of the 5. This is likely to continue as the BMW strategy for their grand touring cars.

I think many folks here get very hung up on the labelling "8". It's just a label. The E63/E64 currently uses the 270kW V8 and the 373kW V10 as the top non-M and M line ups. (No V12 on weight issues and proximity to the V10). Therefore, as far as power is concerned, the 6 gets the best of BMW engines.

I think that whatever its number, the top BMW coupe needs a sporty character and the smaller, 5-series floor-pan allows that to be better achieved, together with all the aluminium, light-weight suspension parts from the 5. Also, this keeps the price range to a reasonable level.

When the new 6 was introduced here in the UK, the adverts said something like "...well, you've waited 30 years for it..." and basically it picks up from where the old 635 left off.

If BMW ever felt the need to produce a new 8, it would be more like the MB CL, which is a nice looking car, but too big in my opinion. The thing is also that cars have grown in size over the years, so the new 5-series and 6-series are about as big as the the old 7 and 8 series were. A new 8 would therefore have to be even bigger.

Although the fashion these days seems to be for higher bonnet-lines and waste-lines and smaller "glass-houses" part of this is driven by the newer engines being taller than the old ones, due to the valvtronic and other new gizmos. The old V12 in the 850 is actually a very compact and relatively light engine, and at over 280kW in S70 format has the same kW/cc as that in the 650i. Certainly, apart from weight, the latest V12 from the current 760i will phyically not fit into a 6, which is why the 650i is "only" an 8-cylinder. So any new, front-engined, cars are unlikely to have the sleek silouette of the e31.

Now, the 850CSi had an £80,000 price-tag some 15 years ago. The new M6 has the same nominal price, which in real terms is probably near half the cost of the CSi. Many electronic sytems that were pioneered on the e31 are now commom place and their cost of production must have come down by a huge amount, which will account for some cost difference, but when you park an 8-series next to a new 6, you can see that the attention to detail and many expensive-to-prodce features are not there on the new car. This was also a comment made to me by a colleague who drives a new M5.

Occasionally, BMW does produce limited-production cars, such as the Z8, but the way things are going with green issues, I would imagine that it would be hard to make a valid case for a new 8-series, but having said that, Mercedes does seem to be going ful steam ahead with ever bigger and more ludicrously powerful engines. Although I reckon that their CLS probably outsells the CL by quite a margin, because if you want a sporty car, you probably don't want it too big.

Only one 8

This question allways keeping popping up.

Even if there was a new 8 we all know in our hearts that there is only one ORIGINAL 8 series and thats the 1st design from concept to finished production the E31 8 series.

Doesnt matter how may more models or face lifts are planned for the future you can never capture the essence of the already E31 8 series.

Take the new M6 for instance............ it goes like hell and is advanced technology at its best but its not a six series........... there never really will be another six series like the old E24 six series. Its a marketing campaign for BMW to produce a new car that has no similarities at all and to sell it as THE NEW SIX Series.

If there was another car that was going to be based on the 8 series first of all it have to have atleast several similarities like the pop up head lamps. Can you imagine a next generation eight without them.

In my opinion BMW wil never ever produce another car with that design because its so 80's now.

There is only one eight. So whatever comes after this isnt an 8.
Its a brand new chasis a brand new engine brand new design a brand new chasis code E71 OR SOMETHING.

However it would be nice to repeat history like ford did with their GT40.

Same body shape same style concept but improved with the latest in engineering technology.

Imagine a new car thats almost 90% the same car but under skin 21st century technology. Now that would be special. Then I would be content.

I seem to be on par with everyone here. BMW will not make another attempt at the upper-echolon of supercars. The reintorduction of the 6 series was a long time comming because BM just never had a proper GT. The 8 was and will always be a unique combination of supercar+GT+high end coupe+a "convertable". The reason the 8 came about was because the day of age required massive investment in too numerious of new technologies....THAT is why she will always stand out across the years as a truly revolutionary car of its time.....

Honestly, I would not want BM to take another stab at the 8....frankly after owning mine, I truly can not see anything else that can dethrone our special & unique masterpieces..... right now I'm trying to locate a nice 850CSI that I will simply keep forever.

LONG LIVE the ORIGINAL 8.