Over the last 10 or so years I have personally owned a pair of BMW X3s and currently own a 2018 X5 M Sport. In addition, I have driven the awesome X5M both on street and on track, the X1, and the ridiculously fast MX. However, until now I had not had any time behind the wheel of the more crossover focused X class BMW vehicles.
About 4 weeks ago BMW loaned me an X6 to drive for a week to get the idea of what the other X class vehicles are all about. During the week I took it on day-to-day errands and also on a drive up to Maine to spend time at the Maine Classic Car Museum, where I work as a consultant on their collection.
BMW calls the X6 a midsize coupe SUV. Though that name night seem strange first, it is an SUV and actually has 4 doors, it truly is more of a coupe when it comes to driving dynamics and looks.
The car I was loaned was an Aventurin Red Metallic 2024 model with an M Sport trim and just about every option available for the X6. Some of these options included Driving Assistance Pro, M Sport Pro, the executive package, Climate Comfort package, and the Climate and Parking Assistance Pro packages. This took the $73,900 price up to $87,545. It might seem a bit expensive, but I just built a 2024 Cadillac XT5 online which cost only $8k less than this BMW, but is half the quality of the X6 and offers considerably less performance and comfort.
Despite my reservations about the whole idea of a coupe SUV, I have to say that after spending a week with this X6 it truly is as described. The X6 drives like a high performance Grand Coupe, only with more storage space and the ability to go off road. The car is wonderful on the interstate, able to devour miles effortlessly and very quickly. Getting stuck in numerous traffic jams taught me to love the driving assistance, which combines lane assist with adaptive cruise control making the stress of stop and go traffic disappear.
On more challenging twisty roads the X6 is all but faultless, with true sports car like handling and the ability to pull itself out of corners at some truly remarkable speeds. It’s powered by BMW’s 3.0 liter turbocharged inline 6 with 335 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 330 lb-ft at 1500 rpm. This equates to a 0-60 time I personally did of 4.7 seconds, and 1/4 mile time of 13.4 seconds. If you think this is only “okay” performance consider this: that is stronger performance than a Porsche 996 or 997 era 911. As for the behind the wheel feel, the X6 is an engaging sports sedan that just happens to be packaged as an SUV.
The experience is different than the X5 due to the X6 being lower and giving a feeling of being much smaller. This made me want to attack those roads with considerably more speed and vigor than I tend to do in the X5.
Front seat comfort is excellent and ergonomics are also well attended to, though I still find myself wishing that the climate controls were not on the really nice 12.4″ wide TFT display and on buttons instead. This is the way I feel about just about every new car. Maybe I’m just old, but messing with the climate control is something I find myself doing a lot and having to dig into the I-Drive interface for some of those features is a bit annoying. That being said, the overall look and feel of the materials, especially the silver wood interior trim, work to make the X6 feel like a very special car.
Surprising for me was the back seat comfort. Looking at the car from the side, you would assume that the slope of the roof would make the X6 have less headroom. Well, I am 6’4″ tall and I can attest that I can fit in the back seat of the X6 fine, even when someone as tall as me is behind the wheel.
Call it contempt prior to investigation, but I did not expect to like the X6 at all. In fact I have often wondered what the point of BMW’s coupe/SUV was and have said so many times. After spending 1,000 miles behind the wheel of this one, I now get it. The styling also grew on me and by the end of the week I had grown to really like the look of it. The X6 is the perfect car for when you need the extra carrying capacity and off-road ability of an SUV, but you want something more sporty than a traditional SUV. This car answers those questions and delivers perfectly.
