Four months with the 616bhp BMW X6 M Competition doesn't make it any less confusing
The evo Fast Fleet's 616bhp super-SUV continues to be an enigma...
Four months in with the BMW X6 M Competition and it remains a car that’s hard to understand. Blisteringly fast it may be – does anyone seriously need to reach 60mph in under four seconds in a car that barely fits in a UK parking space? – but this comes at the cost of everything that has been mentioned in previous reports, which, in summary, reads like this: harsh and unforgiving ride, heavy and inert, one-dimensional in its approach, and utterly unfathomable that it came from the same people who gave us the M5 CS. Although that’s only according to the badge.
That straight-line performance, and the car’s ability when the mild-hybrid twin-turbocharged V8 powertrain is fired up to match the Tornado Red paintwork, are one side of things, but true M cars have a broad breadth of capability and useability that’s missing from this one.
> BMW M5 review – it’s more powerful but is the extra weight a problem?
It can feel quite clumsy when all you want to do is get from A to B, the gearbox kicking down for reasons unknown to me, and lower gears held just long enough that you need to step in and pull the paddle to force an upshift. Even the brake-by-wire braking system feels a little clumsy, with a sensation that’s somewhere between the anti-lock kicking in and the tyres over-rotating as they fight to find purchase. Very odd, and more than a little unnerving.
Endlessly criticising a car you’ve been asked to assess over a period of time at no cost to you other than fuel (at 22mpg, rather a lot of fuel) comes across as churlish, I know. But the X6 M Competition remains a mystery.
| Total mileage | 11,526 |
| Mileage this month | 1074 |
| Costs this month | £0 |
| mpg this month | 22.2 |
This story was first featured in evo issue 328.
