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Part four-door estate, part SUV and part sports coupe - that is the concept behind the latest car to come out of the BMW stables, the 5 Series Gran Turismo.
Designed for extremely comfortable long distance driving, the Gran Turismo is said to offer the best of all worlds.
Ever so often, it's possible to observe a general trend in car design happening among automobile manufacturers. It usually starts with one company coming up with something unique, and if it works, other companies follow suit soon enough.
Similarly, the modern trend of four door GT cars (or Grand Tourers) started with the Maserati Quattroporte, and now nearly every big car company is eyeing a piece of the pie.
Porsche introduced the Panamera, Aston Martin is about to launch the Rapide and even Lamborghini showed off its gorgeous Estoque concept four door GT.
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So of course BMW isn't one to be left behind and has gone ahead and launched its own unique take on the four-door Grand Tourer. The car in question first made its premier as a concept at this year's Geneva Motor Show in February and now BMW has officially launched the production version. Enter the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo.
BMW already had an estate version of its venerable 5 Series since the last generation of the car, called the Touring. While conceptually, there are many similarities in the old Touring and the new Gran Turismo, stylistically they are worlds apart. The boxy rump of the Touring has been replaced with a wonderfully flowing fast back style rear, which along with the flared wheel arches and muscular bits, makes the new Gran Turismo look like a hunkered down version of the brawny X6... which is nothing to complain about really. In sheer external dimensions though, it's longer than the X6, and almost matches the company's flagship 7 Series on that front. This translates to superior interior space as compared to the 5 Series, and with the rear seats folded flat, the Gran Turismo offers 1,700 litres of boot space, which astoundingly is even more than that in the gargantuan X5 SUV.
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And speaking of the boot, the Gran Turismo has a boot which can be opened in two different ways depending on what size objects need to stowed in it. The lid itself is double-jointed, meaning that it can be opened from the end of the rear windshield onwards, for shoving in and taking out smaller objects, thereby solving the problem of how to access the rear hatch in tight spaces. And when it comes to moving the larger stuff, the tailgate along with the entire glass section can be lifted to access the cavernous boot. But practicality apart, the 5 Series Gran Turismo has some seriously sporty credentials with the familiar BMW kidney grilles, large air intakes and frameless doors which compliment that sloping roofline to give it a real coupe-like feel.
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