Say guten tag to the F46 BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer, the German premium brand's first seven-seat MPV. Yup, BMW has gone ahead and built a people carrier – and a front-wheel drive one at that too!
The new 2 GT is based on the F45 2 Series Active Tourer unveiled a whole year ago (and is coming to Malaysia this April), but it's obviously larger than BMW's Merc B-Class fighter. This one measures 4,556 mm long and 1,608 mm high, 214 mm and 53 mm more than the 2 AT respectively.
Wheelbase has grown by a significant 110 mm too, now at a lengthy 2,780 mm to be able to fit in a third row of seats. The extra two seats are optional though, and are clearly meant for kids only. The big gain in space is best enjoyed from the middle row, which now offers the level of legroom "that is normally the preserve of luxury cars."
Boot space, as you'd expect, is huge. A minimum of 645 litres of loading area is available in the standard five-seat variant, which can be expanded to 805 litres by sliding the rear seats forward. Fold them down (40:20:40 split) and you get 1,905 litres of space.
Optioning the third-row seating cuts boot space down to 560 litres with the last row folded down flat to the floor, and 1,820 litres with the second row down too. In comparison, the shorter 2 AT offers only 468 litres with the seats up, and 1,510 litres with them down.
Interesting interior features include fold-out tables and iPad mounts for rear occupants. The latter can be hooked up to a new "myKIDIO" app (in Germany only for now) with which the driver or front passenger can control what's being displayed on the tablet through the front iDrive Controller.
Funnily enough, though, we can't seem to find any dedicated air-con vents for the rear passengers – a curious omission for a people carrier.
As with other BMW models, multiple exterior and interior dress-up packs are offered. On top of the bog standard version, there are four others to choose from: Advantage, Sport Line, Luxury Line and M Sport – each with its own unique touches.
The rest of the car – the front face, dashboard and mechanical options - is as per the F45 2 Series Active Tourer. Various turbocharged three- and four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines are offered, matched to either a six-speed manual 'box or automatic transmissions (six-speed for three-cylinder engines, eight-speed for four-cylinder options).
The 220i Gran Tourer, for instance, uses a 2.0 litre four-cylinder BMW TwinPower Turbo unit with 192 hp, and can get to 100 km/h in 7.7 seconds. Fuel economy can be as low as 3.9 litres per 100 km (25.6 km/l) in the 216d Gran Tourer. A 216i, 218i, 218d and 220d variants are also available in international markets.
BMW claims, of course, that the 2 Series Gran Tourer offers the brand's "typical driving dynamics." Are you convinced, though? Tell us below.
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