BMW M8 Coupe Spied Testing at the Nurburgring

BMWs of late haven't sounded as good as they should, probably as an encouragement to buy an optional exhaust. But the M850i has great V8 tones and so does the M8. It too will be powered by a 4.4-liter engine, but everything from the turbochargers to the cylinders will be different.

The rumored output is 650 HP, 50 more than the M5. That's like two M135i hatchbacks or four Fiat 500 Abarths. With a ton of torque and AWD, this coupe should be as fast as some supercars.

An eight-speed automatic gearbox and an xDrive AWD system, shared with the M5 sedan, should mean 0 to 100 km/h takes 3 seconds. Of course, this won't a light sports car, with an estimated curb weight of around 1.9 tons. But that's entirely normal for the segment, and an array of clever systems will make it drive like it's smaller.

We're referring to torque vectoring, adaptive dampers, electromechanical anti-roll bars and rear-wheel steering, all of which should be standard for the M8. Of course, an even more hardcore version is possible, something along the lines of the competition package, which just added 25 HP to the M5.

As far as we know, the M8 will be served in three flavors: 2-door coupe and cabriolet, plus the gran coupe. The latter has already been previewed by a concept. If you want to get an idea of what's under the camouflage, you should check that out.

Interestingly, even as we're watching this prototype strutting its hot stuff around the Nurburgring, we keep hearing that the 8er hasn't completely replaced the 6 Series. While BMW isn't refreshing the nameplate, for now, it plans to have a nimble Porsche 911 fighter added later on.