BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer review

The sixth and seventh seats can be pulled up from the boot floor using one hand. Folding down and sliding forward an outside middle row seat creates good access to these rear chairs. However, as an adult, you won't want to be in them for long. Shoulder room is good, and the seat bases are individual but even for teenagers, head, leg and foot room is very tight indeed. 

That said, you can slide forward the middle row to free up kneeroom in the third row but as an adult, by the time you're happy, there's very little legroom left for the middle row passengers.

With the third row folded away flat there's a 560-litre boot benefiting from a wide opening, a low lip and a usefully square shape. The middle row seats can be folded 40/20/40 electronically using buttons on the boot walls. This is a standard feature and one that works well, increasing boot space to 1820 litres. The front passenger seat can also be folded flat to leave a 2.6m-long load bay.

For the driver there are the same large, split front pillars as in the Active Tourer, so forward visibility isn't great, but aside from some cheap-feeling switchgear - present in all BMWs - cabin quality is impressive.

BMW's 2.0-litre diesel engine has a job to do in this heaviest of Gran Tourers. It certainly doesn't feel as punchy as when screwed into a standard 2 Series. Even so, there's enough low-down torque to shift seven people, and over a wide enough band, to make it useful. 

Engine noise, accompanied by a slight buzz through the controls, gets steadily worse as the revs rise. Road noise isn't too bad but wind noise at speed is noticeable around the Gran Tourer's mirrors. The eight-speed automatic is slick between changes, though, and pulls from standstill more readily than a VAG-group DSG 'box. 

Being taller and heavier than an Active Tourer was never going to do wonders for the Gran Tourer's handling. The front-end urgency and steering precision is still there, but the larger body trailing behind isn't as happy to play ball when pushing hard. There's more body lean and more lateral effect on the front wheels as the rear ones swing into line.

Keep things sensible and the Gran Tourer will still be more entertaining along a winding road than the average seven-seat MPV, but there's less enjoyment to be had from exploring its limits than an Active Tourer. 

Our test car was fitted with optional adaptive dampers and selecting Sport to stiffen them does remove some of the body lean. Doing so also better ties down the body vertically, which has a tendency to bob about over undulating roads with changes of camber. Sharp imperfections and expansion joints are best dealt with in Comfort, however.