BMW X6 M Sport Review: 2015 xDrive50i – Brawn, With More Brawn
What’s Hot: Exceptional performance, V8 engine is a pearler, not all that that impractical.
What’s Not: Price gap between X5 and X6, choppy ride.
X-FACTOR: As brawny as a heavyweight boxer, but far more agile than its muscled-up flanks suggest.
Vehicle Style: Large SUV
Price: $151,600 (plus on-roads), $160,400 as-tested
Engine/trans: 330kW/650Nm 4.4 turbo petrol 8cyl | 8sp auto
Fuel Economy claimed: 9.7 l/100km | tested: 12.9 l/100km
OVERVIEW
If you’re the kind of guy (and odds are, you’re definitely a guy) who likes your car to project an image that’s loud and in-your-face, consider the X6 xDrive50i.
Until the X6 M arrives next month, the 50i is the fastest model in the X6 range, blasting from zero to 100km/h in just 4.8 seconds. That’s just 0.2 seconds slower than the X6 M, but at a far more-sizeable $43,100 price advantage.
There’s more to the X6 50i than mere straight-line speed and aggressive styling though. It is, upon closer inspection, less compromised than you might have expected.
Indeed, if you don’t need the sheer room or seven-seat capability of the X5, the X6 would arguably serve you just as well. We spent a week behind the wheel to test it out.
THE INTERIOR | RATING: 4/5
Well this is awkward. Right now there are no direct competitors for the X6, though Audi’s Q8 is nearing production and the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe is shaping up to go on sale locally in the latter part of this year. For now though, BMW has the fast-backed luxury SUV niche all to itself. HOW IT COMPARES
TMR VERDICT | OVERALL RATING: 3.5/5
Don’t dismiss the X6 as just another SUV with sporty pretensions. Its ability to go, handle and stop is sportscar-like, and the level of grip it can achieve is an affront to the laws of physics.
It’s a true heavyweight with brawny styling to match, and that’s a combination that moneyed-up buyers will find appealing.
But you’ll pay dearly for that image. There’s a $17,670 price gap between the X5 xDrive 50i and the X6 xDrive50i.
Part of that is explained by the X6’s higher level of standard equipment, but rational thinkers - not quite so driven by the heart - will perhaps see the X5 as better value given they share the same basic mechanical package.
But cars like the BMW X6 xDrive50i aren’t for rational thinkers. They’re for those who want to deviate from the norm - and can afford to do so.
MORE News & Reviews: BMW X6 | BMW SUVs | ALL SUV
Pricing (excludes on-road costs)
2015 BMW X6
- xDrive30d - $115,400
- xDrive50i - $151,600
- M50d - $157,900
- xDrive35i - arriving 2015
- xDrive40d - arriving 2015