BMW's top-of-the-line coupe has always been among the firm’s most highly desirable cars. However, things kind of went downhill after the first 6-series, the E24. The 1990s saw the excess of the 8-series, which launched with a V-12—and the accompanying astronomical price—and therefore walked away from much of the 6-series customer base. Then came the E63 6-series, which virtually defined the “Bangle Butt,” perhaps the industry's most obnoxious posterior.

That's history now. Longer, lower, and wider than its predecessor, the new 6-series is sleek and beautiful in a timeless way. From the aggressive shark nose down the sculpted body sides, past the Hofmeister-kinked C-pillar and all the way to the wide, low rear, the 6 boasts near-perfect proportions. It is finally a worthy aesthetic successor of the first-generation 6. Inside, it features a beautifully sculpted dashboard and center console, a tremendous departure from the strange mixture of baroque proportions and sober surface treatments that defined its predecessor's interior.