All I want for Christmas is the BMW M Sport Gran Coupé 640d

By Gerry Murphy

Dear Santa,

Please, please can you bring me the BMW M Sport Gran Coupé 640d for Christmas. I may not have been quite as good as I should have been, but I haven’t clocked up any penalty points this year and I promise to be really, really good in 2016.

I have cleared out the garage and put all my other toys away to make space for it.

The nice people in BMW Ireland gave me a test drive in one this week and I have fallen in love with it. It should last for many years to come so, you will not have to bring anything next year at all.

As you know Santa, this car is what BMW are all about. It has a glorious 3.0-litre, straight six diesel 313hp engine is so responsive and powerful that it would bring me to the North Pole in no time, comfortably achieving the 0-100km/h sprint in 5.5 seconds. With ECO, Comfort, Sport and Sport + driving settings available you can be as planet friendly or as outrageously fast as you choose.

It’s probably not as quick as Ruldolf but, with CO2 emissions as low as 139g/km on the 640d SE Coupé, the annual road tax bill will be just €280. I don’t mind paying that and the hefty insurance bill myself but at €117,800 including some extras, most drivers probably cannot afford the price of the car. I know the base price of just over €105,000 is still a lot but I do like the extras that BMW had fitted in the test car.

Now, while that sounds like a whole lot of dosh, it is really worth it for what you get. And, I know too that it is a four-door coupe that will only carry four people but it does have a surprisingly big boot for a coupe so that I can deliver presents to the whole family in one go. Oh, and the electric, heated seats are all wrapped in scrumptious leather and lumbar support and are very supportive for an old guy with a dodgy back.

You can have 18” alloys in the standard package but the test car was fitted with 20” M Double spoke style alloys and while they might be too harsh on the road for some drivers, they do add to the handling and others can stick with the smaller wheels if they like.

Santa, you also get a heads-up display, surround sound speaker system, a heated steering wheel to keep you hands warm on these cold mornings and heated rear seats for passengers. When summer comes around there is an electric, glass sunroof to let in the fresh air. BMW have added a reversing camera and 360 degree surround view as part of the optional package.

So Santa, I haven’t written to you since I was about 11 and that’s not today or yesterday. I hope that I might have enough credit built up since then. I know you are a very busy Santa and the car is very expensive but, I have yet to win the Lotto and this is the car that would be top of my list if I ever do. There’s an idea, bring me the winning Lotto numbers instead!