2023 BMW X6 M

Like most of its competitors, the new BMW X6 M SUV remains an automotive oddity, but one people don't seem to mind paying well over $100,000 for. First of all, its coupe-like sloping roofline robs rear headroom and cargo space compared to the X5 M it's based on. On top of that, it has been developed to go extremely fast in a straight line and around corners, not something an SUV is typically meant to do. It's also more expensive than an X5 M. But the existence of the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S Coupe, Audi RS Q8, and Porsche Cayenne Coupe Turbo means that there are plenty of people willing to put down a lot of money for one of these specialist performance crossovers - because what these are not, are true SUVs with a soft ride and off-road ability. The X6 M packs up to 617 horsepower with the Competition Package added and has a single-minded purpose - to harry sports cars down a mountain pass. This does, of course, come at a cost. And besides the asking price, we can add heavy fuel consumption and a hard ride to the list of tradeoffs.

There is no budget-friendly base model here, and with only one trim, the cost of the BMW X6 M is a simple affair. The BMW X6 M's price starts at an MSRP of $113,700. That cost excludes tax, registration, and a destination/handling fee of $995. New owners will surely head towards the options list for some extra special configurations, and depending on how much you want to spend, the price can climb to over $130k quickly. But the BMW is not the most expensive car in this segment, as the Audi RS Q8 begins at $125,800.

The X6 M's performance credentials read like a supercar's resume and include xDrive AWD, adaptive M Suspension Professional with roll stabilization and rear-axle air suspension, and M-tuned everything, all crammed into a high-riding coupe-styled SUV body. Add to that a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 with 600 hp and 553 lb-ft (617 hp with the Competition package), firing all that power to all four wheels via an M-tuned eight-speed automatic transmission, and you have the recipe for a 5,375-pound cannonball. Stopping and steering such a behemoth takes some doing, and here, the M engineers have excelled by tuning all the hardware in a way that keeps the X6 M nailed to the blacktop at eye-widening speeds. There isn't a lot of steering feedback, but the brute can be placed precisely nonetheless, and it can be flung around curves at scarcely believable speeds, cornering flatly and bleeding off momentum efficiently via the adjustable-feedback brakes. The price you pay is that the X6 M is only comfortable on billiard-smooth roads and the hard ride soon becomes tiring on uneven roads. Given all the suspension tech, it's a shame the M division has not provided a more comfortable setting.

If your main purpose is to go around a track as fast as possible, the X6 M is a brilliant SUV. It's in the league of other devastatingly fast rivals such as the Cayenne Turbo Coupe, GLE 63 S Coupe, and RS Q8, but it's cheaper than all of them, so we actually find ourselves declaring that $114,000 is good value. Even with the full Competition package fitted, it's still $15k cheaper than the Cayenne Turbo. That being said, fuel economy is truly terrible and a quick review of the BMW X6 M's rivals reveals that its EPA figures are the worst of the lot, adding more inconvenience to those road trips due to frequent fill-ups. For normal SUV duties, which has to include the odd foray onto a rough road, its hard ride soon becomes unbearable too and here, the far more compliant X6 M50i makes a lot more sense. You get the same style and nearly the same performance, but you can live with the ride, while saving $25k at the time of purchase.

There's only one trim level to choose from here, but that doesn't spell disaster: the X6 M comes packed with premium luxury features from the factory, and the options list makes this car a true full-house performance machine. If we were the ones buying one of these beauties, it would definitely include the Competition Package, which adds features such as M Star-spoke bi-color wheels, an M sports exhaust system, extended Shadowline trim with high-gloss black elements for the exterior trim, and M seatbelts. Power is also increased by 17 hp, and the zero to sixty time drops down to 3.7 seconds.