BMW X6 M: The Easiest SUV?

The BMW X6 M is the type of SUV that didn't need to exist in the first place. It's a vehicle with a reputation that accompanies it wherever it goes, and for some reason, even before the driver has stepped out the SUV's door, it provokes judgements from the folks behind the wheel.

But, at the end of the day, it's just a performance-tuned version of a sort of crossover that some say shouldn't exist, making it one of the few vehicles that everyone despises.

First and foremost, some background information about the X6. The X6 was little more than a design study before it became the automobile that everyone loves to loathe. BMW engineers experimented with combining the sloping, low-profile lines of a coupe with the underpinnings of a full-size SUV to see what would happen.

BMW engineer Peter Tuennermann was in charge of the project. The legendary E70 BMW X5, another automobile with a reputation in some quarters for being driven by less than savory persons, was also in development at the time, but with a two-year head start.

By 2005, prototypes for this innovative "Sports Activity Vehicle" were trundling over highways across Western Europe, from Germany to the United Kingdom, attracting the attention of both the press and critics.

The X6 was most famously featured on the final episode of BBC's Top Gear series ten, in which petrolhead messiah Jeremy Clarkson travels around the world to explain why it was a silly vehicle designed for an exclusive, mega-affluent, upper-middle-class that no longer existed by the time it was launched in late 2007.

It was a car disliked all the more because of some of the worst timing in automotive history, with a debut price of £40,000 ($61,600) in 2008, or about £56,860 ($69,738) in today's money for the non M-derived variant. All owing to a worldwide recession that, according to some, we have yet to fully recover from.

It was too heavy to be a sports car, too tight in the rear to be a long-distance family transporter, and it wasn't very excellent off-road. According to all accounts, it's essentially useless as a new automobile in any form. However, the major focus of our inquiry today is to see if any of this can be saved by using a well-known M-badge.

Starting with the 2009 model year, the first for the then-new BMW X6 M, BMW attempted to address the question. The first-generation X6 M had more horsepower than other supercars of the time, thanks to a specially tuned 547 horsepower edition of the S63 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. To put things in perspective, the V8 engine in a 2009 Ferrari F430 Spyder had roughly 60 horsepower less.

These two SUVs, along with the corresponding X5 M, were the first M cars to include BMW's own in-house designed xDrive all-wheel-drive system, which was a direct reaction to Mercedes-4-Matic Benz's system.

Depending on their driving style, the six-speed racing style semi-automatic gearbox on tap no sure dazzled as many people as it repelled like the wrong end of a magnet. Combine it with a sport suspension that made potholes seem like craters and 20-inch alloy wheels with run-flat tires, and you've got a formula for a vehicle that's tight in the back seat, bad on gas mileage, but undeniably the M car it purports to be.

As a result, it's fantastic for the guy driving it but a terrible pain for everyone else. The same can be said with the X6 M's second generation. This second generation had revised appearance, more intuitive iDrive infotainment/navigation, and xDrive all-wheel drive, and was powered by the same V8 as the original X6 Ms.

Striking black kidney grilles, lightweight carbon fiber gear selector paddles, a sport steering wheel, carbon fiber-trimmed mirrors, carbon fiber trim elements around the bodywork, and a carbon fiber fuel filler cap identify M versions of the second-generation X6.

Late in 2019, the third-generation X6's performance variants, the X6 M and X6 M Competition, were introduced. Under the hood, a twin-turbo version of the 4.4 L S63 V8 produces upwards of 617 horsepower and accelerates from zero to 60 kilometers per hour in a hardly believable 3.7 seconds.

With a starting price of roughly $133,000 for a brand new X6 M Competition, it may make even less sense now than it did during the financial crisis of the late 2000s. Its similar model BMW X6 Price 2022 is RM 729,800. For those wishing to save money, a secondhand first or second-generation X6 M may be had for between $45,000 and $80,000.

Still not a good deal, but you'll save at least $50,000 that you can spend on feeding these creatures. It's no surprise that some individuals look down on others who choose to drive. That said, it has to be a lot of fun to do so.