1/14/20 UPDATE: This review has been updated with test results.
When the BMW X6 arrived in 2009, most armchair experts gave the X5 with the funky roof the life expectancy of a Hollywood A-lister’s marriage. But BMWs product planners turned out to be right about the hunchback of Munich. Now in its third generation, the redesigned 2020 BMW X6 joins a world filled with mid-size luxury SUVs that look like the X6. Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche all followed the BMW into an X6-shaped rabbit hole.
Although its shape remains much the same as its predecessor, the latest X6 is all new, from its angrier front end to its tall tail. As before, it remains a less practical take on the familiar BMW X5. It has grown larger, an inch more in length, a half-inch wider, and there’s an additional 1.6 inches in its wheelbase. The giant kidney grille is one piece (it also can be illuminated, as on our test car, for an additional $500). There’s serious aggression in its furrowed brow and broadened taillights. Adorned with nonfunctioning vents at all four corners and oddly shaped rear wheel wells, the X6 is simultaneously imposing and funky.
Performance with Grace
BMW sells about 6000 X6s a year in the United States, with high-performance M-badged models (there are now a few of them) making up about a quarter of the mix. There’s the 600-hp X6 M, an X6 that gets the full-M treatment and the 617-hp X6 M Competition. Both use the twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 from the corresponding models of the M5 sedan. But the top-seller among the X6s with M badging is likely to be the new-for-2020 523-hp M50i. It’s not a full-on M version like the X6 M, so the chassis isn’t quite as aggressively tuned and it has a different version of the twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 under the hood. “M models are very extreme,” says Mike Baxley, BMW’s X6 product specialist. “We don’t require everyone to get the rigid suspension. The X6 M50i is more comfortable for everyday use.”
The X6 M50i, much like its mechanical twin, the X5 M50i, often feels like a pure M machine from behind the wheel. A sort of taller, heavier M550i sedan, which has the same boosted V-8 and eight-speed automatic transmission. Its suspension is firm, but the ride isn’t overly harsh or bouncy, even with the optional 21- or 22-inch wheels and summer tires (20-inchers with all-season rubber are standard, our tester wore the optional 22s.) You feel the road in the X6, but its adaptive dampers round the edges off most bumps as long as you leave it in Comfort mode. Select Sport mode, however, and the ride tightens up considerably. The steering also goes from just this side of heavy to the other.
Hustle the X6 down a curve-filled road and it proves more than willing to put on a display of speed. The electrically assisted, variable-ratio steering is quick in action if a bit distant in feel. BMW’s optional Active Roll Stabilization system takes the roll out of this breadroll, and the larger M Sport brakes felt impervious to our M50i test vehicle’s hefty 5255 pounds. The optional $2600 Dynamic Handling package also adds Integral Active Steering, which steers the rear wheels to improve handling and to make parking easier.
Part of the M attitude comes from the huge 22-inch Pirelli P Zero PZ4 summer tires—sized 275/35R-22 in front and 315/30R-22 out back—our example orbited the skidpad with a sports-sedan-like 0.91 g of lateral grip and posted a trim, 153-foot stop from 70 mph. Both measurements are roughly the same as those of a similarly equipped X5 M50i SUV.
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Still, this big grand tourer of an SUV is better suited to late-night, hammer-down highway runs than it is to high-g antics in the hills. The X6 M50i’s cabin is quiet at speed, registering a hushed 67 decibels of noise at 70 mph, and it does relaxed motoring pretty darn well. BMW’s front seats are wide and soft but supportive, hitting a sweet spot between full-sport Recaros and a La-Z-Boy. They’re also heated, 20-way power adjustable, and the Luxury Seating package adds massage and ventilation functions. The interior design is nearly identical to that of the X5, same quality and look. There are two large 12.3-inch display screens, one for instrumentation and one for the central iDrive infotainment system. The fast-roofed X6’s rear seat is just a couple of inches of head- and legroom shy of the X5’s accommodations, yet still surprisingly spacious with four aboard.
A Heart of Gold
This BMW’s greatest feature, however, is its powertrain. The twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 is essentially the same unit found in the M5 and X6 M, just with less boost. It’s rated at 523 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 553 lb-ft of torque at a low 1,800 rpm. With its launch-control system activated, which allows you to rev the engine to 2800 rpm before releasing the brake, our test vehicle shot to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. That result may be a mere tenth of a second quicker than the X5 M50i’s, but it betters the X5 xDrive50i’s effort by 0.3 second and is 0.9 second quicker than the last X5 xDrive40i we tested. Our X6 M50i blitzed the quarter-mile in 12.3 seconds at 113 mph, slightly beating its X5 counterpart’s time and trap speed and essentially matching the straight-line performance of the previous-gen, 567-hp X6 M up to about 120 mph.
The top speed of non-performance-tire wearing X6 M50i’s is capped at 130, per BMW. We ran out of room to confirm it, but we suspect higher top speed, as fitted to our car with the optional summer performance tires, is governed at 160 mph. BMW’s V-8 is wonderfully smooth, even when pulling hard to its 6500-rpm rev limiter, and the authoritative V-8 rumble emitted by the standard M Sport active exhaust system provides a rumbly soundtrack. Similarly, the ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic is tuned to perfection, with smooth but snappy gear changes that always seem to have the X6 in the right ratio. Fuel-economy, however, is not this V-8 BMW’s strong suit, with our test vehicle averaging a meager 12 mpg—a whopping 6 mpg less than its EPA combined estimate. In our steady 75-mph highway fuel-economy test it returned 20 mpg, or 2 mpg below its EPA-highway rating.
Prices for the 2020 BMW X6 M50i start at $86,945, or almost $20K more than the xDrive40i model. Our well-equipped example, including $3350 worth of black merino leather and several other option packages, cost $99,945. An X5 M50i performs the same, costs about $3000 less to start, and it’s straighter roofline yields 40 cubic feet of cargo space behind its rear seat to the X6’s 27. The X5’s more conventional design also features a lower liftover height for the cargo area, a larger back seat, and we’re suckers for its cool hatch-tailgate combo. As impressive as the X6 is, we’re still not sure why anyone would want an X5 with less usability. Baxley is quick with the answer. “The X6 in general is more extroverted,” he says. “It’s for someone who’s showier, someone who’s a little bit more aggressive.” Judging by the ample competitive set that the new X6 now faces off against, that seems as good a reason as any.
Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com
