The 630 is not a car for the person who wants to disappear into the crowd. With its bright white paint work and 20in M double spoke alloys, it certainly makes a statement. That statement is “look at me”.

Walking up to the BMW, the first thing that strikes you is the sheer size of it – this is a big car. It shares the wheelbase of the already big 5 Series but has much larger overhangs at each end. The styling of the big coupé can be described as sleek with its sweeping lines running from nose to tail. It is a beautiful big car with lots of nice touches, including the addition of little M badges to let you know that this car is a little special.

As special as it is from the outside, it is when you climb in that you see the real luxury that the big price tag gets you. This car has been festooned with nearly all of the possible extras on the BMW bits list.

The seats have been upgraded to black Nappa leather and this along with the ability to move the seat in a multitude of directions to make it fit you makes it a really comfortable place to sit. If you happen to have a slight ache or pain, the seat can also give you a gentle vibrating message.

Once settled into the captain’s chair, with the steering wheel electrically adjusted to just the right spot, it is time to fire up the brilliant three-litre, six-cylinder engine and all the technology that comes with it.

On the road

The 6 Series comes with an eight-speed automatic gearbox which – in all of its three modes: ECO, Normal and Sport – does a great job of having the correct gear selected for the situation at hand.

Once on the move, the BMW has lots of driver aids, including the now nearly normal adaptive cruise control and lane assist. The big difference is that these systems in the BMW really inspire confidence and are actually good enough that you can trust them to help. Obviously as the driver you are still in control but the ability of this car to keep itself between the line and not crash into the car in front is mind-blowing.

The infotainment system is the usual BMW fare – not that this is a bad thing. In fact, it is probably the best on the market at the minute. With its gesture control, you can turn up and down the volume with just a wave of your hand, even with your fellow road users looking at you in a funny way it is very handy.

Even if you want to use an old-fashioned button to control any of the system, there is a really good twisty knob behind the gear lever that controls everything from the satnav to the in-car temperature.

When using this knob to get a contact from your phone book, it is possible to trace the letter on top of the knob with your finger and it will search for that letter. I found that even a close approximation of a letter’s shape would get the job done.

Once you have stopped playing with all the technology, the real joy of the big BMW is in the driving. As you would expect, the GT eats up motorway kilometres with amazing ease. Having travelled well over 1,000km in the week I had the car, I found it made the long journey a pleasure.

Once off the main road, you would expect the physical size of the BMW to make it a handful but once the correct sport buttons are pressed, the 6 Series is very capable of getting along the byways of Ireland in a swift and enjoyable way.

But this car is not about speed, it is 100% a grand tourer. This can be seen when you climb into the back and are faced with screens on the back of the seats which give the rear seat passengers the ability to view either videos from a device or any of the free-to-air Irish television stations, including handily RTÉ Junior.

While on the practicalities, the boot space of the 630d is cavernous, with enough room for everything that comes with the RTÉ Junior viewer in the back and more. ?