2016 BMW 4-Series vs. Its Competition

Bengt Halvorson Senior Editor

The 2016 BMW 4-Series includes essentially the best traits of the 3-Series sedans, packaged into a lower and sportier two-door body style.

It competes with a wide range of luxury coupes, as well as some more practical sports cars like the Porsche Boxster.

Here, we'll aim mainly toward those conventional luxury coupes and convertibles.

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe is the obvious alternative; it's offered with four-cylinder and six-cylinder options, as well as in a potent C63 AMG version, and across the C-Class lineup you'll now find a more flamboyant, expressive interior compared to the 4-Series' rather staid look.

The Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG is a different sort of pick, and one that might make sense for a performance buyer; it's priced just above the 4-Series, but with has far more power, standard all-wheel drive, and a four-door coupe profile.

We still think the Audi A5 is the prettiest of the bunch, especially in sporty S5 trim, but in all fairness it's been on the market for many years now and could appear quite conservative, to some eyes, on the outside.

It is, after all, a model that so much of the industry has worked to emulate.

Infiniti's Q60 (formerly known as the G37 Coupe) is a more affordable, more powerful option, though it still lacks some of the refinement exhibited in the Germans.

And the Lexus RC is a surprisingly strong contender; with its new RC 200t variant for 2016 it now offers an alternative to the base 428i Coupe, too.