BMW X5M And X6M Review 2015: Something Wicked This Way Comes
What’s hot: Totally awesome power and performance, race-car grip, a technological tour-de-force.
What’s not: Tight rear seat in X6 M, drinks like a sailor if driven hard, no ‘city-stop’ function.
X-FACTOR: Bone crushing performance and the on-road presence of a bull - the X6 M and X5 M will be loved and loathed in equal measure.
Vehicle style: High-performance premium SUV
Price: X5 M - $185,900 | X6 M - $194,700
Engine/trans: 4.4 litre twin-turbo V8; 8-spd M Steptronic sports automatic
Power/torque: 423kW @ 6000rpm | 750Nm @ 2200-5000rpm
Fuel consumption claimed: 11.1 l/100km | tested: 19.1 l/100km
OVERVIEW
These twins, one whacked with a brick at birth, are packing the most powerful engine you will find in a series production BMW M car. A twin-turbo V8 marvel hammering our 750Nm and 423kW.
That’s more power and torque than you’ll find in the revered M5, and more, incidentally, than in any other SUV you can buy in this country.
As a point of reference, those power and torque figures are as near as damn to exactly the same as the first-gen V12 Lamborghini Murciélago.
Impressive? Surely.
But these are masterful cars, in every way. Each, X6 M or X5 M, is considerably more than just a muscular ‘powered-up’ SUV.
Driving them is like flying, a laser-guided bombing raid searing the tarmac, and changing direction as if the 2.3 tonne sitting over the wide, fat 21-inch alloys simply does not exist.
And like twins, though each is slightly different in character and personality, I can’t pick between them. The X6 M is supposed to “not make any sense”, but how can you not love a car that drives like this?
And the X5 M, a family bus with the performance of a supercar? It too is irresistible; with a race car dynamism that is nothing like an SUV, and an experience that can only be found at the wheel.
We hammered them both through Tasmania, top to bottom and in-between, two days of relentless pursuit.
If there are flaws in the way they drive or shortcomings in the way they pound those Newton metres to the road, we didn’t find them.
INTERIOR | RATING: 4/5
- Merino leather upholstery, carbon fibre highlights (or aluminium)
- Heated driver and passenger front seats with multi-function electric seat adjustment
- Automatic air-con with four-zone climate control
- Anthracite roof liner and leather instrument panel trim
- High-resolution 10.25-inch colour screen display
- Reversing camera, surround-view, park distance control
- DAB+ radio, USB audio interface, voice control system, smartphone connectivity
- Programmable head-up display (HUD)
- Premium HarmonKardon surround-sound system
- Cruise control, auto stop/start function, brake energy regeneration
- Standard premium satellite navigation with real-time traffic information
- Automatic tailgate, remote central locking
- Adaptive LED headlights, rain-sensing wipers, and a host of premium safety technologies
2015_bmw_x5_m_bmw_x6_m_australian_launch_review_15