[matt_320d]

So..435d GC vs 640d GC...

Let's say the two are about the same price for a similar spec, brand new (because they are, due to the currently insane discounts on the 6 series)

Why would you choose one over the other?

Positives of the 435d for me:
quicker
Hatchback boot - more convinent
more practical for parking etc
4 wheel drive
Cheaper service and insurance

Positives for the 640d GC:
Kudos because it's a 6 and looks cool.

Errr....

Seems a pretty short list for the 640d?

What am I missing? Why is the 6 series ostensibly "worth" more than the 4 series?

I feel sort of drawn to the 6 because, somehow the enormous discount feels like you're getting better "value"...but are you really?

[N0Chill 335i]

6 series has much higher interior build quality and is more "unique" than a 4 series. MSRP was probably double when new.

[SkyJawa]

6 is a land yacht.

However it is screwed together and much more quality than the 4.

[teaston]

2

[creepy coupe]

Ride, refinement quality of interior in the 6 series. Possibly standard kit?

[pmgreenwood]

This ultimately is the same question as what makes a 5 series better than a 3 series.

Ultimately greater refinement but usually achieved at loss of responsiveness in handling

[OneExtra]

As has been said the 4 series is cheaper inside and the general build, refinement and finish is poor when compared to a 6 series

Just sit in a 6 series and you will have your answer.

[Torque of the Devil]

The 6 has an infinitely better interior than a 3/4 series which to be fair does look a bit low rent for the marque. Noise insulation would be a lot better in the 6 too, plus it's a far prettier car size aside. The 6 is a better quality product, hence the price normally.

[TouringPleb]

When you park at Tesco chances are there will be another 3-5 4 series in the car park. Pretty much guaranteed to be the only 6GC.

[rickyjones1209]

The ability to sync temperature settings!

[ZeroFx]

Better depreciation.

I mean you will lose double the 4 in half the time!

[NotGotABimmer23]

RWD and proper m sport suspension in the 6 as well.

[MashinBenzin]

Interior quality much better in the 6. 4GC looks a lot better though.

Get a 440i if you'd like some extra refinement

If I was in your position I would test drive both, ensuring both town driving and a decent stretch of motorway. For the same price, I think i would take a 640d over a 435d. Overall, it's a much higher standard, I am sure.

moff can give you the perspective of moving from 6 to 4

[matt_320d]

Interesting - In what sense is the quality better?

Just looking at pictures, to be fair, it looks like there is a LOT of commonality of parts? All the switch gear looks identical between the two etc...

I guess I'll need to sit in one and really give it a good try out to see.

[BMWILUVU]

You are trading off more luxury in the 6 for a better ride in the 4.

[matt_320d]

Incidentally, it always annoys me that there is a built in assumption in the car industry that if you want a smaller car, you don't care about build quality etc.

It's just nonsense. I just don't understand the logic at all of connecting car size with "quality".

[Russbmw]

I can give my view having gone from the 435 sport to the 640 sport if it helps, and having niggles with the 4 that I was conscious of.

435 was part exchanged with 22k on the clock against the 640 with 29k on the clock as an AUC.

Interior feels much, much nicer - despite the 640 being a 2014 whilst my 435 (bought from new) was a 2015. Seats don't have the inflatable bolsters, but I don't care as I never frequently adjusted them anyway. The 6 seats look nicer and are very comfortable too - look better put together and less likely to wear/crease as well.

iDrive screen is bigger

My 640 has the digital dash which is cool, which the 435 didn't have and wasn't available at the time either.

Much more leather everywhere inside the 6, which is all plastic in the 4.

My 6 windscreen has significantly fewer stone chips given it's done more mileage than the 4 had. Like, significantly less...the 4 series looked like it had been shot blasted when you got direct sunlight on it. Fucking shitty screen in the 4 (which I've ranted about loads on here, as have others). Maybe the 6 screen is thicker, as weight saving wasn't really a prime concern when the car's lugging round a herd of cows worth of leather anyway.

Generally speaking, the 6 series feels like a damn expensive, luxury, flagship model car (namely because it is). Made my well spec'd 4 series seem cheap by comparison.

The 4 series is lighter, obviously. Feels it too - and that wasn't always in a good way. The 4 did handle well, but sometimes felt a little unnerving as it start skittering around, mainly due to uneven roads and rock hard run flats tyres.

The 6 series doesn't feel lardy though, but when you really start to push on, particularly on the (still) shitty run flat tyres, you can feel and see the cars electronics struggling to keep things under control due to the extra weight being thrown around.

Much quieter drive on the 6 series, hardly any road noise at all - again, quieter than the 4 series.

The doors area heavier on the 6, sound nicer when closing. The 4 series were lighter, and sounded it.

Same with the bootlid. The 4 series was always disappointing that the bootlid felt so light and tinny.

Sports steering wheel is still the same, wank leather as on the 4 series that goes shiny after time regardless of how you clean it.

Rear seating has slightly more space than the 4 series had. I'm 6'2" and so getting 4 people in my 4 if I was to drive was a real squeeze. Haven't tried it in the 6 yet, but doesn't look quite as bad - but to be fair, both are pretty crap in that respect. the 530GT (based on the 7 series chassis) trumps both on that front.

Can't comment on diesel engines, but given the 6 and the 4 I had have the same petrol engine, it's nice it still sounds the same. The 4 sounded lovely, it had a better exhaust note than the 6 does generally, although when putting the boot down, the 6 still sounds good. Obviously it's aimed at a different market, so having a little less tunes from the exhaust is to be expected.

It's not slow, but is definitely geared differently to the 4. The 4 series acceleration was good. The 6 is good, but not quite as quick. However, motorway cruising, the 6 pulls better when you're going...erm....faster, shall we say. Again, to be expected as that's more what it's for.

The 4 series headlights used to fog up in cold/damp weather. 6 doesn't.

4 series rear lights needed to be replaced under warranty as there was moisture build up. Still started doing again about 8 months after replacement. 6 series lights look original and don't do this.

I think the 6 on sport suspension and the 20" rims looks sleeker and lower than the 4 series did - pretty sure it is lower, as I nicked the exhaust slightly (no damage, thankfully!) going over a speedbump into a site that I've never had any issues with in the 4 series.

6 has the electric handbrake, which is to be expected - but I hate it. Just waiting for it to fail and cost me a grand, like it did on the X5!

Lots of people get hung up on the fact it's a bit longer than the 4 series for some reason, but it's not massively different. Width there isn't much in it at all though. Can't recall dimensions exactly, but I did check it'd fit on the drive where the 4 series used to fit, and it does so easily.

Goes without saying, you should check the standard specs but I think there's more included standard on the 6.

Generally speaking, you feel like you're driving something a bit special with the 6 series - as you would expect, as the list price originally is likely to be £70k upwards.

I think depreciation on both is dire from new. The 6 because diesel future is shady and it's a big engine, in a big car - which always seem to loose their money quicker - but plateau out at a higher value used than a 4 series will, as they are extremely common now, and are set to get even moreso since BMW have been offering 0% on them for a few months.

My 435 as spec'd was £49k list, 1 month under 3 years old and BMW say it's worth £21k.

The 640 list price was £75k, I picked it up for £28k (which was cheap as most others were around £30k, but I got lucky as it had been in stock for a while and managed to get a bit off anyway).

Everything seems just that bit better quality in the 6 than the 4. Not to say the 4 is bad by any means, but you just see and feel the difference between them. Thought the same when we picked up my wife's 530dGT, made my 4 series feel a bit cheap.

If I can offer one bit of advice, don't for God's sake get the standard audio in the 6 series, because it is absolute shit. You have to have the HK at the very least.

It's whatever floats your boat really. I loved my 435, but equally, I love the 640 for different reasons....one of which is, as I said, it feels like you're driving something a bit special. You won't see at least 5 others on the same car-park floor, is another reason I like it.

Several years ago, I had an e39 528 individual that I loved. Kept that car for 7 years or so. Hence for me, the 6 series ticks all the same boxes that I can't put my finger on, but clearly there's something my brain likes about a big, quick, luxury car more than a slightly quicker, nice, smaller car.

Just a thought though.....you're looking at the 4GC and the 6GC, so is it reasonable to assume 4 doors is a requirement? Personally, if the money side of things is equal, I'd go the 6 all day long, as if balls out performance, handling, etc was what you were aiming for, you'd be looking at a coupe of some description surely? It's highly unlikely IMO that you're going to loose more money in depreciation on the 6 over the 4, if they're the same value to start with. If you were saying a coupe vs the 6 series, that's a different discussion with different rationale behind it.

[JustChris]

Everything.

Except weight.

And Rear Leg Room.

And Cost.

And Length of the Car.

but that's my £0.02 worth.

[pdk42]

I had a 5 and "downgraded" to a 3. Much prefer the dynamics and feel of the 3, but the "refinement" of the 5 was better. However, I think the refinement actually boils down to sound insulation. I think the older 3 series were actually better than the F3x series in this respect. I hope that BMW fix this in the new G model. As Matt points out above, it's silly to think that smaller car should mean noisier/lower quality.

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by TouringPleb

When you park at Tesco chances are there will be another 3-5 4 series in the car park. Pretty much guaranteed to be the only 6GC.

If one has a 6GC, one does not visit Tesco. One shops at Waitrose (and is pretty much guaranteed to acquire many new door dents on account of one's car's width)

[Russbmw]

Originally Posted by matt_320d

Interesting - In what sense is the quality better?

Just looking at pictures, to be fair, it looks like there is a LOT of commonality of parts? All the switch gear looks identical between the two etc...

I guess I'll need to sit in one and really give it a good try out to see.

The way things open and close - feel and sound

The feel of the materials, feel of the controls (yes, they are different even if they look the same)

Yes you do need to sit in one. Absolutely.

You can look at the pictures of a Hyundai inside and they'll make it look nice.

[Russbmw]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

If one has a 6GC, one does not visit Tesco. One shops at Waitrose (and is pretty much guaranteed to acquire many new door dents on account of one's car's width)

Ain't that the truth!!

Have that dilemma near me.

There's the biggest tesco for miles around sharing the same site as the biggest M&S for miles around. Constantly faced with the decision of do I park in the farthest point away from the entrance to both in the Tesco car park, in the hope no-one else can be arsed to walk that far; or do I park in the M&S car car, which is a bit smaller, but has the same problem Waitrose does (......and I'm not stereotyping anyone here, this is just the observations from the actual cars that frequent the one I go to.....) in a much as i either take my chances with my car mixing it up with 15 year old cars that look like they've been used on a gun run across Baghdad, so the owners clearly don't care about them - or do I go out west in the M&S where the carpark is littered with Honda Jazz, or nice mercs and things, but the owners obviously don't give a shit about them (or anyone elses) cars either because they're far to senile or inconsiderate.