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BMW X6 M: The Easiest SUV to Hate in the World, Or Are We Just Jealous?

The BMW X6 M is the kind of SUV that didn't really need to exist. It's a vehicle with a reputation that precedes itself wherever it goes, and for some reason it elicits judgments of the people driving them even before they've stepped out the SUV's door.
BMW X6 M 12 photos
Photo: BMW
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But at the end of the day, what it really is is a performance-tuned variant of a type of crossover that some argue shouldn't exist, thus making it one of the few vehicles out there everybody loves to hate.

First thing's first, a little backstory about the X6 itself. Before its status as a car everybody loves to hate, the X6 was nothing more than a design study. An exercise by BMW engineers to see what would happen when the sloped, low-profile lines of a coupe were merged with the underpinnings of a full-sized SUV.

It was a project headed by BMW engineer Peter Tuennermann. Also in development at the time, albeit with a two-year head start, was the famed E70 BMW X5, another car with a reputation in some circles for being driven by less than savory individuals.

By 2005, prototype models for this novel "Sports Activity Vehicle" were trundling across roads around Western Europe as far away from Germany as the United Kingdom, drawing attention from press and critics alike as it did so.

Most memorably, the X6 was featured on the final episode of series ten of Top Gear on BBC, in which petrolhead messiah Jeremy Clarkson proceeds to travel around the world to explain why it was a silly vehicle made for an exclusive, mega-affluent, upper-middle-class that barely existed anymore by the time it launched in late 2007.

BMW X6 M
Photo: BMW
With a launch price of £40,000 ($61,600) in 2008, or around £56,860 ($69,738) in today's money for the non M-derived model, it was a vehicle hated all the more because of some of the worst timing in automotive history. All thanks to a global recession some argue we never fully recovered from, even today.

It was a bit too heavy to be a sports-oriented machine, too cramped in the back to be a long-distance family hauler, and wasn't all that good off-road either. By all accounts, basically hopeless as a viable new car in any capacity. But, the main question of our investigation today is whether any of this can be salvaged by adding a famed M-badge

It was a question BMW tried to answer starting with the 2009 model year, the first for the then brand new BMW X6 M. Sporting a specially tuned 547 horsepower variant of the S63 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, the first-generation X6 M jetted more horsepower than some supercars of the day. A 2009 Ferrari F430 Spyder's V8 engine had nearly 60 horsepower less at its disposal, to give you some context.

Along with the equivalent X5 M, these two SUVs were the first M vehicles to come sporting BMW's own in-house developed xDrive all-wheel-drive system, a direct response to Mercedes-Benz's 4-Matic system.

BMW X6 M
Photo: BMW

The six-speed racing style semi-automatic transmission on tap no doubt impressed as many people as it repelled like the wrong end of a magnet depending on their driving style. Couple that with a sport suspension that made potholes feel like craters and 20-inch alloy wheels on run-flat tires, and you have a recipe for a vehicle that's cramped in the back seat, atrocious in fuel economy, but still no doubt every single bit the M car it claims to be.

So then, amazing for the person driving it and a complete nuisance to everyone else around them. The same is true of the second-generation X6 M. With a tuned version under the same V8 as the first X6 Ms, this second model featured refined styling, more intuitive iDrive infotainment/navigation, and xDrive all-wheel drive.

M variants of the second-gen X6 are distinguishable by striking black kidney grilles, lightweight carbon fiber gear selector paddles, a sport steering wheel, carbon fiber-trimmed mirrors, carbon fiber trim pieces throughout the exterior, and a carbon fiber fuel filler cap.

The X6 M and X6 M Competition performance models of the third-generation X6 were revealed in late 2019. A twin-turbo variant of the famed 4.4 L S63 V8 finds its way under its hood, good for upwards of 617 horsepower and zero to 60 miles per hour in a scarcely believable 3.7 seconds.

BMW X6 M
Photo: BMW
At a starting price of around $133,000 for a brand new X6 M Competition, it perhaps makes even less sense now than its ancestors did back in the days of the late 2000s financial crisis. For those looking to buy more sensibly, you can go for a used first or second-generation X6 M for anywhere between $45,000 and $80,000.

Still no bargain, but you'll save at least $50 grand you can put into fueling these beasts. No wonder some judge the people who choose to drive this. That said, it must be pretty gosh darn fun to do so.

Check back for more from BMW M Month here on autoevolution.
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