BMW X6 M Review

There's also another side to the clinical way in which the X6 M delivers its performance, so while the driver may be found looking for more thrills than just sheer needle travel, albeit an explosive one, the passengers will be happy to have chosen to fly with the X6 M.

The front seats come with a high-comfort license and even though the slopping roofline of the X6 affects rear headroom, our test car did treat the people in the back with an optional third seat instead of the center console we were used to.

If we add the hefty soundproofing to this, we get a vehicle in which you can spend hours and hours before your body starts asking your mind to initiate the procedure for a break.

You'd expect a road connection setup that includes a lowering suspension and 23-inch rims to result in a disastrous ride, but you'd be wrong. Despite the Hamann wheels and lowering springs, which brought the car's ride height from 206 mm (8.11 inches) to 166 mm (6.53 inches), the adaptive dampers used by BMW manages to offer the car a decent level of comfort.

One factor that also brought a strong contribution to the well-being of those inside the car is the multitude of toys our car had been gifted with also helped it keep its passengers happy and we're inviting you to check out the "Gadgets" chapter for this side of the story.

One might check out the tech data of the X6 M and notice that, despite the 555 hp coming at 6,000 rpm and the 680 Nm (500 lb-ft) arriving at 1,500 rpm, the engine under the bonnet uses a setup that seems familiar.

By that we mean eight cylinders that have to split 4,395 cubic centimeters and benefit from a twin-turbo setup. Of course this seems familiar, the models that top BMW's normal range, such as the 650i xDrive we drove last year, also use a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8, but that only delivers a tad over 400 hp. So where do the rest of the horses come from?

Well, the ECU has been remapped and the cylinder heads are made of the material used for BMW's diesel powerplants. Of course the ECU has been remapped, since it had to manage the new intake manifold, crossover exhaust manifold that connects the two cylinder banks, new twin-scroll turbochargers, which force feed the air via new camshafts into combustion chambers that use new pistons, with all the goodies being kept working by a redesigned cooling system.

We'll mention that crossover exhaust manifold one more time as it does need some explaining. The two twin-scroll turbocharges are housed in between the cylinder banks, sharing the space with the catalytic converters. This offers a special position to the intake and exhaust ducts, one that cuts the length and allows a larger cross-section, all with the aim of minimizing pressure losses.

We have a common manifold system that connects two cylinders at a time (this links cylinders on opposite sides of the engine), resulting in a joint effort from the exhaust gas to spin the turbines.

It's now time to exit the laboratory and place the car on the street, where all the aforementioned technical assets translate into reduced turbo lag and a truly linear power delivery. The only downside of the new layout is that nobody took care of the aural side, which means that the X6 M, in factory stock condition, is as quiet as a bird watcher.

There's also another downside here, as the mutant engine has to make due with the six-speed automatic, a tweaked version of the ZF gearbox found on civilian X6 versions. You don't get the new eight-speed fitted to the non-M 4.4-liter V8 models and, when you're reaching for the limits, be it of acceleration or comfort, you do feel a bit of a difference. We're not saying that the six-speed auto on the X6 M doesn't change smoothly or quick, it's just not as versatile as the eight-speed transmission BMW has shown us. In the end, this is the quickest-shifting automatic in BMW's history: in the Manual mode, ignition and fuel supply to individual cylinders are suppressed in order to offer a blitz-like torque reduction, which allows the gears to be shifted quicker.

We also have to tip our hat to the suspension. Not only do the active stabilizer bars work together with the active dampers to keep the meaty 2,380 kg (5,247 lbs) of the car on track while the 555 hp horses are flowing through all four wheels, but the setup even manages to be comfortable when the Electronic Damping Control little button close to the gearshift joystick is pressed to engage the firmer setting.

The standard X6' xDrive system includes a torque vectoring system that goes by the name of Dynamic Performance Control (DPC), which has been adapted for M use. This makes sure that each of the rear wheels gets the amount of power it deserves at a certain time. It works brilliant and it not only feeds the inside wheel when the back steps out or spoil the outside wheel when understeer appears, but it's so good that you can't even feel it doing its job.

The DPC is also a good asset when you need a lot of grunt on the rear wheels, like, for example, when you're in the mood for straight line acceleration. The X6 M even offers a special iDrive feature that allows you to see the torque being transferred between the wheels live. You can ty reading this out for the driver, who has to keep his eyes on the road - you'll probably make one funny co-driver.

The BMW X6 M, as well as the X5 M, come to the world using the Spartanburg hive, together with the rest of the X6 and X5 range. Our test car told the worker bees that the usual array of gadgets is not dignifying enough for somebody that wears an M badge and demanded an immediate reassessment of the situation. Thus, it benefited from the Queen's full attention and was gifted with a comprehensive range of assets.

Open the door and the light that enters the cabin allows you to see an unusual reflection... what could that be? It's the Black Carbon-structure leather trim, to use BMW language. This is a nice option for certain tastes, but the material seems vulnerable to wear and tear, so we'd advise you to leave its box unchecked when ordering the vehicle.

Our favorite toy was definitely the Launch Control feature. At first, the little boy inside of you is thrilled thanks to the fact that a checkered flag appears on the Head-Up Display, which, by the way, can be fully configured in a motorsport-inspired way while the car is in the M mode, with the result being visible in the image above.

However, once you wrestle the throttle, pin it to the floor and take your foot off the pedal on the left, the car treats the tarmac underneath as if it was the main course of an eating contest, which makes the man inside you extremely happy.

But you can't just drive the car like you stole it, you have to know where you're going and to do this, you can rely on the navigation system, which uses a HDD. For the times when you want to enjoy yourself without guzzling gas in order to do this, you can turn to a set of features that includes BMW's Apps, which means that you'll be able to receive RSS feeds, post on Facebook and listen to online radio or use the BMW Live feature that, for example, brings you the news and weather information. You really wouldn't want the snow to catch you with the DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) off, would you?

Since we mentioned the DSC, we have to tell you that the M badge has brought an incredibly fun toy to the X6. The driver no longer has to choose between the "DSC On" and the "DSC Off" settings, also being able to use the "I wanna play" setting. Of course, the aforementioned designation wasn't exactly appropriate, so they called it MDM - M Dynamic Mode.

Using this mode, which can be activated from the MDrive menu, will convince the DSC to activate independent braking on the wheels and gagging the throttle later, while also playing with the xDrive and the DPC (Dynamic Performance Control), the feature that splits the traction between the rear wheels, in a way that brings the vehicle's handling closer to that of a RWD car.

But enough about the person behind the wheel. You don't have to wear a philanthropist coat to know that you car must also cater to the needs of the other people, those who don't have steering wheels in their hands and the vehicle we drove excelled when it came to this.

Let's take the rear passengers, for example. The rear bench allowed three people to use - the standard feature is a two-seat one, but, more importantly, the occupants could enjoy a DVD entertainment system. This can also be used to plug in your iPad, for example and offers wireless headphones.

Speaking of headphones, the driver of an X6 M would probably want to use the aforementioned system to listen to a BMW M engine sound, as the factory stock setup of the car brings no aural pleasure inside the cabin.

This is probably why our test car decided it had to pay a visit to a special flower once it left the hive. It flew from America straight to Germany, to a little town called Laupheim. But little did it know that the flower it was aiming for, namely Hamann Motorsport, was a carnivorous one.

The second it put its foot on Hamann's petal, the tuner grabbed it and covered it in an enzime that made its rear mufflers dissapear, replacing these with its own. The engine now has a new voice, but unfortunately this only becomes music when you're using quite a lot of the throttle pedal's travel, so the problem has only partially been solved. The generously-sized tips of the exhaust are housed by a carbon fiber-look Hamann rear diffuser.

Consequently, it was time for the wheels to be traded with a set of Hamann Unique Forged Anodized rims, which use a sporty multi-spoke design and come with a deep concave profile. While their styling is definitely a piece of eye candy, the fact that the lips literally stand out means that you simply can't drive the car over bumps or park it without risking to damage the rims.

Further up the road connection chain, we find BMW's adaptive dampers working with a set of Hamann lowering springs, which reduce the ride height by 40 mm (1.57 inches). While the setup does bring the ride height to a rather frustrating 166 mm (6.53) it doesn't turn the ride against your internal organs - the result is a pretty comfortable one, considering the car's dynamic abilities.

When you overtake someone, one of the things that will catch his eye will be a spoiler that sits on the lower area of the tailgate, with this using a black finish which matches that of the wheels, as well as that of the diffuser, as well as generating a strong contrast with the white non-color of the car. The spoiler, which "ends" both the car and this chapter, belongs to the range of BMW Performance parts.

With tarmac under its wheels (trust us, this is the only state you’ll see this car in), the X6 M, despite its rear-biased xDrive all-wheel-drive system and the monumental output of its engine, is set-up in a way that favors light understeer when you just push it too hard into a corner, like an inexperienced driver willing to go fast would.

This all makes the car smooth and, together with the beefy steel brakes that provide sufficient stopping power and fade resistance for the road, mean that the scary numbers stay on paper, while the real-world driving experience is a safe one.

As far as the passive safety is concerned, BMW conducted its own crash tests in the US, which also included rollover episodes, but neither the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety (IIHS), nor the Euro NCAP slammed the car against an official barrier.

The X6 is loaded with both passive and active safety features and we’ll mention that it uses 10 airbags, crash-activated headrests, as well as goodies like the adaptive headlights.

In the end, the car is really making efforts to be as fast as a sports car but not as dangerous as one. From this point on, it's up to your right foot to keep it from touching the exterior world with anything else than its tires. If you do end up in this less than fortunate situation, you'll be able to use the BMW Assist feature, which relies on GSM technology to provide a list of services that goes beyond simple emergency assistance, ranging from remote unlocking to turn-by-turn directions.

Earlier this year, BMW introduced a new sub-brand, the M Performance cars, which are basically vehicles situated in between normal Bimmers and the automaker's M vehicles. This is a brilliant idea - by the way, Audi has been doing this for quite a while with its "S" models, which are slotted between standard Audis and RS models.

Well, carmaker should've done that before it released the X6 M, as this is a vehicle that would've been more suitable for the M Performance rather than for the M brand. It would've sat well next to the X6 M50d model.

Not, not because of the numbers, as these are difficult to compare: the X6 M delivers 555 hp and 680 Nm (501 lb-ft) of torque, while the oil-burning model comes with 381 hp & 740 Nm (546 lb-ft). The X6 M should've been an M Performance model due to the fact that its extreme grunt isn't matched by a pleasing level of emotions.

The best way to illustrate this is to talk about the exhaust. The new M5, which shares its engine with the X6 M and X5 M, at least received an artifical engine sound inside the cabin. Depending on the revs and engine load, a certain pre-recorded sound of the V8 unit is played through the car's audio system, with this backing the actual engine sound. While all this is not exactly what you wanted from your M vehicle, in the X6 M you don't even get the aforementioned setup and the result is a sound that just doesn't tell one anything about the performance hiding under the pedal on the right.

Performance? Yes! - You won't believe the speedometer needle in a straight line and through the bends you'll want to switch off the Head-Up Display thinking that it's got an error and that a car of this size can't go that fast through a corner. And that launch control, it literally makes you dizzy.

But this is it, this is the only thing at which the X6 M excels. If you don't drive this thing from 8 tenths upwards, you won't feel the extreme joy you were expecting from it. Can you drive it like that in the real world, do you want to? Nope, you're just going to sit there and treat the pedal as if it was the forbidden fruit. Still, we can't help but treat the insanity of the thing with quite a lot of respect. How else could you look at an SUV that's as fast as an M3?

On the other hand, the X6 is impractical vehicle for its class. Like its nonidentical twin brother, the X5, it can't go too far off the road, but, unlike the X5, it doesn't even offer a spacious interior. So, if you want to travel the world in a BMW SAV that's faster than you could immagine, go for the X5 M.

As for the Hamann bits and pieces our test car had been gifted with, these tried really hard to please us, but we would have taken them all off if we had had the chance to do so. It is now time to place the aftermarket part of the car on the scales. The lowered suspension gave the car a menacing appearance and this is nothing compared to how aggressive the wheels made it look. But this comes at the cost of... drivability.

The drawbacks bought by the lowering suspension and rims feel like they're being analyzed through a magnifying glass when you ride height is 164 mm (6.46 inches) instead of 204 mm (8 inches) and when the lips of your rims are so fat that you can't even park without feeling like you're wearing your heart up your wheel arch.

We'll move on to the rear silencers, which do remove the gag the factory ones place in the mouth of the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, but apart from the moments when you're flooring it, the eight cylinders just make a lot of disturbing noise.

The X6 M, the first turbocharged, four-wheel drive M car - it could've been a dream, but after you drive it, you'll tell people that you've had one of those nights when you did dream, but you can't remember anything too clear.