• Lots of room up front
• Acceptable in the rear, too
• Smaller boot than rivals

How much space is there?

As you’d expect, the BMW 4 Series is pretty roomy for the driver and front-seat passenger. Even our tallest testers found enough head, leg and shoulder room though, in typical BMW style, the high centre console can make you feel a bit hemmed in.

The back seats have sufficient space for two sub-six-foot adults to be comfortable for a few hours, but it’s a scramble to get into them past the front seats. That’s the case for every two-door car, though. The Mercedes-Benz CLE is more accommodating in the back, but then it’s a bigger car overall. The now-departed Audi A5 Coupe beat the 4 Series, as well.

If you regularly carry more than one passenger, the five-door 4 Series Gran Coupe is the more practical option. And so, for that matter, is the 3 Series saloon.

Boot space and storage

The 4 Series’ boot space is reasonable enough in isolation, but it lags behind the old Audi A5 and the present Mercedes CLE. The load capacity of 440 litres is better than many hatchbacks can offer, but the saloon-style opening is quite narrow and we found that makes it tricky to load bulky items such as big suitcases. The floor is set low behind a high lip and there’s a risk of scratching the back bumper when you’re loading. It’s a (sometimes literal) pain to retrieve things from the back of the boot, as well.

Two levers near the top of the boot opening release the 40:20:40 folding back seats, but you have to move to the interior to actually fold them down. BMW doesn’t quote the seats-down capacity, but the facility is there more for long loads than bulky ones. Assuming you can thread them through that narrow opening.

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The optional Comfort Pack adds storage nets to the side of the boot, plus a powered boot lid that can be operated by the button above the number plate or from the key fob.

Is it easy to park?

At 4.7 metres long and 1.8 metres wide (not including the door mirrors), the 4 Series isn’t an especially big car. However, it’s low-set driving position and steeply sloping roof compromises visibility out of the back window and over your shoulder. Some of our shorter testers found they needed to raise the driver’s seat quite high up to get a decent view out of the front, as well.

Every 4 Series has front and rear parking sensors plus a rear-view camera, and they’re all very useful to have. You could also spec the optional Parking Assistant, which automatically steers the car into a space – we find setting it up a manoeuvre is too much of a palaver. More useful is the Technology Pack, which includes a 360-degree view of the car’s surroundings when parking.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP rating
• BMW Active Guard comes as standard
• Lots of features, with more optional

Car safety experts Euro NCAP gave the BMW 4 Series a full five-star safety rating, even though they haven’t actually assessed it. But the 3 Series was assessed in 2019 and NCAP reasoned that, since the 4 Series shares most of its body structure and all its safety features with the 3 Series, the ratings could be transferred over en masse.

The 4 Series should hold up extremely well in a crash and it’s stuffed with driver safety aids. They include autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning and speed limit warning. Two sets of Isofix child seat mounts are fitted in the back, though you’ll have job getting a seat in there.

Many more features are included in the optional Driving Assistance Professional pack, among them adaptive cruise control, front cross-traffic alert, automatic evasive steering and lane assist with side collision protection. Adaptive headlights are also on the options list.