By Sky Motoring
13 November 2007
The BMW X6 is nothing less than a whole new genre of car. The German car-maker refers to it as a Sports Activity Coupe, or SAC, attempting to blend the inherent sportiness of an upmarket coupe with the go-anywhere ability and toughened styling of a luxury four-wheel drive. The result is a car quite unlike anything else on the road today. Luckily, we’re first to drive the X6 (well, one of the final prototypes) on Michelin’s test track in South Carolina ahead of its launch late next year.
On the outside
It’s difficult describing the way this car looks to those who’ve never seen it in the metal. Imagine the arched roofline of a 6-series sat on the high-sided body of an X5 and you’ll begin to get some idea of what BMW has created here. It likes to refer to the car as a coupe, but with four doors and a huge one-piece bootlid. It’s a coupe unlike any other you’ve seen.
The production version of the X6 is little changed to the concept revealed at the Frankfurt motor show back in September. The basic styling, with its taut surfacing and heavy creases, is highly reminiscent of the X5, although BMW says each body panel is unique. As with its more practical sibling, the body is a combination of steel, aluminium and plastic.
It’s based on the same four-wheel drive underpinnings as the X5, though the X6 has a wider rear track, less ground clearance and a lower centre of gravity. It also receives DPC (Dynamic Performance Control), which can apportion drive not only between the front and rear axles dependant upon grip, but also between the individual rear wheels.
On the inside
Practicality has clearly been a secondary consideration, with entry to the rear severely restricted by the intrusion of the large rear wheel arches into the door apertures, and rear seat headroom compromised by the heavy curvature of the roof. In an odd move, BMW has also decided to equip it with just four seats – a move that’s clearly aimed at separating it from the X5, which now comes with the option of a third seat row to boost its seat count to seven in total.
On the road
For a big and heavy SUV, the X6 possesses a healthy turn of speed and feels remarkably agile through a tricky combination of corners. Granted, we’ve only driven it on a circuit but there’s no getting away from the fact that the X6’s handling sets new, lofty standards for a car this size. It’s noticeably more agile than an X5. The effectiveness of DPC is immediately obvious too, seamless and fast-acting, helping the car corner in a more neutral fashion.
The prototypes we drove ran developments of BMW’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. For the moment, the German car-maker is remaining tight-lipped on the actual outputs of each unit, although it does hint that power will be extended beyond the 306bhp and 286bhp currently seen in other BMW models. A turbocharged version of BMW’s 4.8-litre V8 is also planned, producing around 410bhp.
The new eight-speed automatic gearbox can be operated via paddles behind the steering wheel and provides a wide spread of ratios that help make the most of the engine’s strong torque characteristics. Unfortunately, it can sometimes prove indecisive between shifts when you’re really hauling along.
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