BMW 4 Series 2026 review | A brilliant all-rounder – if you don’t mind the looks

What is the BMW 4 Series

Although it is based on similar underpinnings and employs many of the same powertrains as the four-door BMW 3 Series saloon, the 4 Series is a true stand-alone model. It's aimed towards drivers who don't need quite as much practicality as they'd get in the 3 Series, and instead prize a sharper driving experience and sleeker styling.

To that end, there's a good deal more than a big grille, a sloping roofline (in Coupe form at least) and few slinky body panels differentiating it from its sibling. The 4 Series features a lower ride height, a wider rear axle, and a more direct steering tune.

Despite this, there's still enough room in the Coupe and Convertible models for four adults to travel in relative comfort. And if you go for the Gran Coupe, not only do you get two extra doors to aid with loading and unloading the rear seats, but you also get a wide-opening hatchback boot lid. Which is why a 4 Series - and especially the Gran Coupe - will appeal to buyers who need roomy rear seats and a decent amount of boot space, but don't want to sacrifice style or driving excitement.

How practical is it?

Few - if any - manufacturers make better quality interiors than BMW, and the 4 Series is pretty practical, too, with a fair bit of legroom for the rear seats and a decent-sized boot for very presentable practicality. Of course, the Convertible sacrifices a little of both to make room for the hood, but it’s still pretty spacious by the standards of its rivals.

For those who need a bit more space, there’s also the Gran Coupe, which offers much the same trim and engine options as the two-door version, but adds in a great deal of extra practicality in the form of rear doors and a hatchback tailgate, making the 4 Series into pretty much as practical a family car proposition as a 3 Series saloon.

In terms of numbers, the boot of the regular 4 Series Coupe offers 440 litres of luggage capacity, while the more accommodating Gran Coupe's hatchback delivers 470 litres of space – almost estate car levels of room.

Even the Convertible offers a decent amount of luggage space – while it’s less roomy than the coupe, 385 litres is pretty good going for a drop-top, and more than you’ll get in a Volkswagen Golf hatchback.

What’s it like to drive?

The Coupe is quite a bit stiffer than the 3 Series saloon, thanks to its two-door body shell and additional bracing in key areas. Fundamentally, it is this rigidity that provides the 4 Series with exceptional driving talents, enabling it to ride, change direction and suppress undesirable harshness and vibrations in impeccable fashion.

In Convertible form, the 4 Series loses some of that stiffness along with its roof. It feels less taut than the hard-top, and there’s a little more vibration through the steering column over bumps. To help mitigate this, BMW’s beefed up the strength of the sills, but this has also added weight, and as a result the Convertible is just a touch less crisp to drive. That said, it’s still one of the best-handling four-seat convertibles around.

Despite riding on relatively thin side-walled tyres, road noise is impressively isolated, while those frameless windows and large A-pillar mounted rearview mirrors generate minimal additional wind noise. The Convertible model is notable for having a fabric roof – its predecessor had a folding metal item instead – but while this results in a touch more wind noise than the Coupe, it never becomes intrusive.

The engine line-up ranges from smooth-and-efficient to hang-on-to-your-hat-quick. All engines come attached to a slick-shifting eight-speed automatic gearbox and even the entry-level 420i is fitted with a punchy 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine offering more than enough performance to satisfy most folk.

Move up the range and the 430i is powered, not by a six-cylinder engine as many might expect, but by a highly-tuned 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit boasting a scenery-blurring 249hp.

The M440i comes with an engine configuration straight out of BMW’s hall of fame. This is the legendary 3.0-litre straight six-cylinder engine and in this current guise, it is tuned to produce so much power that it's only available with xDrive all-wheel drive.

Almost as celebrated is the 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine that appears in the 420d. This latest version uses twin-turbocharging and mild hybrid technology to produce a hugely impressive combination of power and economy. Sadly, falling sales meant that the 420d was axed from the range in 2023 – so if you want a diesel 4 Series, you’ll have to try and find one on the second-hand market.

For those seeking additional poor weather traction benefits, this engine can also be specified with xDrive four-wheel drive.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

While the dashboard is punctuated by sharp-looking instrumentation, piano-black highlights, silvered air-vent controls and precision banks of programmable favourites buttons, these treats are complemented by judicious applications of soft-touch leather trim and subtle use of M Sport tricolour stitching.

As you’d expect, BMW’s iDrive system is central to the whole infotainment layout. Using a large central scrolling wheel, menus can be intuitively selected and clearly displayed on a centrally mounted high-definition screen.

This easy-to-use arrangement can be complemented by voice recognition, which is arguably a safer method of interaction, allowing you to change radio stations, adjust the cabin temperature, programme satnav instructions and make phone calls without taking your hands off the steering wheel.

If there’s a downside, it’s that BMW has removed all of the physical controls it used to include for the climate control, which means you now have to resort to prodding the touchscreen instead. This is fine if all you ever want to do is to adjust the temperature, as those controls remain on the screen all the time. But more complex adjustments than that often require a trip into the menus, which is longer-winded than simply pressing a button would have been.

BMW 4 Series running costs

Although some naysayers predict that the 4 Series' controversial styling is sure to have a negative effect on residual values, we can't see the logic in this. The previous 4 Series was a popular choice for fleets and business users, and the more people who drive the latest model and appreciate its exceptional talents, the more it will gain in desirability as a used buy. In terms of fuel economy, the rear-wheel-drive 2.0-litre diesel should return up to 61mpg according to the official WLTP figures, but if you spec the four-wheel-drive xDrive version, that figure will fall by around 4mpg.

Unlike some rivals, which start off life as front-wheel drive and offer four-wheel drive as an option, the 4 Series has its origins firmly in the rear-wheel-drive camp. So, although the additional mechanical components of the all-wheel-drive xDrive system add around 65kgs, they have zero impact on the fuel tank or boot size. At 59 litres (or just under 13 gallons in old money) the 2.0-litre diesel should easily manage 700 miles to a tankful. It will also return a healthy 10mpg more than the 2.0-litre petrol car, but you need to factor in the higher price of diesel fuel.

Up the ante from the 420i to the 430i, and your fuel consumption will increase by around 10mpg, while the full-fat 440i will see your returns hit by another 4mpg, giving you around 36mpg. Choosing a convertible will dent those figures due to that extra weight, but not by much, although driving around with the roof open will hamper fuel economy further still.

BMW’s intelligent maintenance system will notify you when your car is due a service service using the range of icons on the dashboard, or you can check by accessing the iDrive System. BMW offers a three-year fixed-price servicing plan on new cars to help buyers budget for their maintenance costs more effectively, and all parts used have a two-year guarantee.

This costs £24 per month for the 4 Series Coupe, and also includes one free MOT, a wash and vac, seasonal health checks, sat-nav map updates and free fluid top-ups. Normally a service will include an oil and oil filter change, renewal of your air-conditioning/climate control system’s micro filters, as well as an inspection of the electric and fluid systems. The extended inspection option includes spark plugs, fuel filter changes and air filter replacement. All work carried out during the inspection is logged and noted on your BMW service history.

BMW 4 Series reliability

The 4 Series is based on an all-new BMW platform that it shares with the latest 3 Series, and all of its engines are either new or heavily revised, so it is all but impossible to draw a comparison with previous BMW models in terms of reliability.

That said, it is possible to equate the 4 Series’s reliability outlook to that of the current 3 Series – and that’s good news, because the latest 3 Series is one of the most dependable executive cars on the market, with petrol models coming joint second in the latest What Car? Reliability Survey.

BMW’s reliability reputation has been steadily improving in recent years, to the point that it came 6th out of the 30 brands charted in the latest What Car? survey. To put that in context, that means BMW was the highest-ranked premium brand, finishing with a better score even than Lexus, whose products are usually the benchmark for reliability.

All of which suggests a 4 Series should be a dependable buy that shouldn’t hit you with any nasty, unexpected bills. But of course, if you’re buying second-hand, that doesn’t mean you should skimp out on any pre-sale inspections.

Things to watch out for include high oil consumption on 2.0-litre petrol turbo engines – if the oil level is low on the dipstick despite a recent service, for example, this could be a warning sign. And on both four- and six-cylinder engines, keep an eye out for signs of cooling system issues; watch the temperature gauge on the test drive and try to warm the car up fully to make sure it doesn’t overheat.