There I was at my desk, in front of my laptop waiting for the weekend to begin, and an action packed one it was supposed to be. Formula 1, T20 finals and Moto GP all at once. What more could I ask for? But then it got better with a call from BMW asking me if wanted to drive the new BMW X6 M Sport over the weekend. That was like a cherry on the cake. And so, popped up an impromptu trip to the Sula Vinyards in Nasik, and what better road then National Highway 3 to know this Bavarian beast better. Read on.
When the BMW X6 was launched in 2008, it was the only one of its kind on the road. The concept of an SUV coupe was unknown back then and the X6 never had any rival all these years until now when the boys at Stuttgart have come up with something of their own. The BMW X6 however, is now in its second generation and landed on Indian shores last year. The Munich car maker offers the X6 in India in two variants, a diesel in M Sport trim and a range topping V8 petrol powered X6 M. Our weekend car was the X6 xDrive40d M Sport diesel. A pitstop en route to Nasik gave us time to check out the X6 in detail over a cup of tea. The X6 is based on BMW’s X5 SUV, and while the design does seem odd at first, a “What were they thinking? ’soon turns into ‘ Hmm this is interesting’. Look at the X6 up close and its size is nothing short of intimidating. It gets BMW’s new design language with the wide kidney grille and larger and sleeker looking headlamps. There is new bonnet with cuts and creases giving it a very muscular styling. The M Sport monicker gives the X6 sporty front and rear bumpers along with side skirts. The front bumper has larger air intakes and also houses the round fog lamps. There are air intake fins on the front fenders as well as an M badge. The boot lid is high as seen in the earlier car. There are new LED tail lamps that are wider than before. The rear bumper contains the dual exhausts along with black inserts. 19 inch M alloy wheels are standard along with a staggered tyre setup but the test car came shod with 20 inch wheels with the rear tyre sporting a supercar rivalling 315 profile.
The interior is what you would expect from a BMW and the cabin feels very airy and has a sense of space. The large dashboard gets piano black finish on the centre console and wood panels on the door pads and the upper side of the dashboard. There is a virtual instrument cluster that changes its appearance according to the driving mode that you choose. The three spoke M steering wheel looks great and adds spunk to the interior. The paddles mounted on the steering are superbly finished as well. A 10.25 inch free standing display screen shows information from the latest version of the iDrive infotainment system that the X6 comes with. The four zone climate control kept us cool in the sweltering Nasik. We actually realised how effective it was once we got out of the car. The Navigation works like a charm and the direction arrows also appear on the Heads Up display on the front windshield. While a 16 speaker Harman Kardon system is standard, the test car came with the awesome Bang & Olufsen surround sound system that you can order as an option. It sounds fantastic to the ears and definitely what you should tick off on the options list. Ambient lighting comes standard and looks quite cool in the dark. The X6 also gets a sunroof but a panoramic roof would have been better in our opinion.
The front seats are large and very comfortable. They come with electric adjust and travel range is good especially for height adjust. There is lots of space at the back too and the good part is the sloping roofline doesn’t compromise on the headroom. There is good under thigh support at the rear, and though the floor is flat, the rear centre console doesn’t leave enough space for a third passenger. The X6 has standard boot space of 580 litres that goes up to 1,525 litres with the rear seats folded flat. And yes, you now get a spare wheel too that is tucked away in the wheel well. Good on BMW to provide that now.
The 3.0 litre twin turbo six cylinder diesel motor that powers the X6 makes 313 horsepower at 4400 rpm with a whopping 630 Nm of torque that comes from 1500 rpm. It goes from 0 to 100 in a claimed 5.8 seconds. The motor isn’t the most refined unit around, but at higher rpms it does have a sweet sounding exhaust note. The 8 speed Steptronic automatic gearbox is fantastic with quick gear shifts. And you always shift manually using the paddle shifters. There are four driving models available: ECO PRO, COMFORT, SPORT AND SPORT+.
The BMW X6 gets an electric power steering. While the light characteristics of the steering are good in city driving, feedback could have been better. Still the X6 is fun to drive as a BMW should be. The adaptive suspension with damper control that comes with the M package makes the X6 handle like a sports sedan. Engage SPORT or SPORT+ and it darts in and out of corners with lot of enthusiasm. Body roll is also well controlled. The permanent all wheel drive and those massive tyres that we mentioned earlier offer superior levels of grip. Braking is top notch. The X6 made short work of the Kasara Ghat en route to and from Nasik. The ride quality was surprisingly compliant considering the 20 inch alloys and runflat rubber. The X6 took most of the regular road undulations in its stride. The extremely rough patches did however make their presence felt. The view through the rear windshield is poor and the standard rear view camera helps a great deal when reversing. BMW also offers a surround view camera as an optional extra that gives you a 360 degree of what is happening around the car.
Safety features on the BMW X6 include dual front airbags, front and rear head airbags, side airbags front driver and front passenger, ABS with Brake Assist, Cornering Brake Control, Dynamic Stability Control, side impact protection, ISOFIX mountings for child seat and three point seat belts with belt tensioners and belt force limiters at the front.
The new BMW X6 is a much improved car over its predecessor. It not only looks better, but drives superbly well too. The fact that it comes with the M Sport package as standard, means that you get loads of equipment and some nice optional features to choose from as well. If you talk about street presence, the X6 has oodles of it and more. With a new car, comes a new price, and the X6 at Rs. 1.17 crore ex-showroom Mumbai, its way more expensive than the previous gen model. That said, if you are the type who doesn’t want a conventional SUV, the BMW X6 will fit your bill perfectly. But the X6 is no longer the lone ranger in the SUV Coupe space in India. That story though, is for another day.
BMW X6 xDrive40d M-Sport photo gallery:
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