Dynamic drive effectually flattens out curves, adjusting to road surface imperfections before the actual bumps and dips occur. The 645 Ci's ride is not only smoother than competitors' sport coupe's, but its handling is also much improved.
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| The 645 Ci's ride is not only smoother than competitors' sport coupe's, but its handling is also much improved. (Photo: BMW AG) |
If the serpentine roadway to Coin had stayed near perfect, all would have been bliss. But all of a sudden the road surface changed from sticky to slippy, from new pavement to very old tarmac resembling nothing more than smooth pebbles pounded into tar. The resulting adhesion was anything but, causing the traction and yaw control system to work overtime in an attempt to keep the relatively lightweight but nevertheless substantial 1,690 kg coupe between the narrow lines. It did just that, occasionally pushing the 6 over the inside line on extremely tight corners if driven beyond its means. The fact that oncoming traffic was in the habit of using this portion of the lane simultaneously caused me to slow down measurably, just to be safe.
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| The 6-speed automatic was easily as smooth to operate as the manual, offering shift-it-yourself sequential actuation via the console mounted lever. (Photo: BMW AG) |
Fortunately the roads dried out in the afternoon, making my return journey from the olive treed hills to the palms of the seashore speedier. The 6-speed automatic was easily as smooth to operate as the manual, offering shift-it-yourself sequential actuation via the console mounted lever. Unlike the 7-Series, no steering wheel buttons allow thumb operation, but then again neither a conventional manual nor a paddle-shift SMG gearbox is offered in the big flagship sedan.
After lunch I stole off with BMW's head of Canadian PR, Kevin Marcotte, in a different direction, paddle shifters at the tips of my fingers. The 645's SMG actuators are different than those in the beloved M3, as is the entire transmission that is developed by BMW in-house, rather than at the automaker's renowned M facility. What's the difference? Well, there's no Drivelogic controller, the device that allows a driver to choose the transmission's shift speed. In M cars the SMG gearbox can either shift slowly or quickly, by choosing one through five predetermined shift interval speeds. In the SMG equipped 6, only two shift speeds are available. The first, a default setting, works wonderfully, with less hesitation between shifts than the M3's lowest speed. The second, a quicker setting that comes on automatically after pressing the console mounted 'Sport' button, offers seamless shifts at a very rapid rate.