Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's X6 is a stunning rebuke to anyone who thinks a big sport-utility vehicle has to be homely.
Many SUVs are, more or less, big shoe boxes on wheels -- overhanging fronts and rears with vast swathes of sheet metal, all in the service of maximizing cargo capacity.
Cargo space⢠I'll get to that.
BMW corrects any reference to the X6 as an SUV. Rather, insists the company's Munich-based marketing staff, it is an SAV, or sports-activity vehicle like the X3 and X5 before it. You might quibble with BMW on this name as it applies to those other models. They do look like SUVs.
The X6, for better and worse, is another story.
During a test drive of several days along highways and back roads of southeast Michigan, I noticed many second looks, more than a few longing stares and one or two obvious frowns of distaste.
BMW's engineering wizards have created a plus-size car that handles almost like a sports coupe by virtue of "dynamic performance control." That's marketing jargon for a computer-controlled differential, or gearbox, in the rear of vehicle that adjusts power from the engine between the rear wheels. The X6 is the first BMW with this feature.
Instead of distributing power equally to each rear wheel, BMW's differential senses when one or the other needs extra power -- torque -- to prevent the back end of the car from sliding or pulling in the opposite direction of a turn, an undesirable handling characteristic of large SUVs known as understeer.
To the driver, BMW has created the sensation of a car set on rails that tracks through a tight curve with little or no sensation of leaning, slipping or wobbling off course.
X6's designer, Pierre LeClercq, 36, created the X5, which is somewhat homely but much more utilitarian than the X6.
Both vehicles, as well as the smaller X3, are built in BMW's Spartanburg, S.C., plant, which helps the German automaker neutralize the profit-killing impact of the rising euro.
The xDrive30i variant of the X6, with a 3-liter, 300-horsepower engine, feels more than adequate to all styles of driving, from sedate to aggressive. It goes on sale at BMW showrooms today.
This summer the X6's fire-breathing xDrive50i version arrives with a 4.4-liter V8, packing 400 horsepower. The less powerful one starts at $53,275; nicely equipped, it will run between $60,000 and $65,000.
The xDrive50i, with the more powerful engine, starts at $63,000.
In truth, X6 owners won't be able to haul too much in the way of children, pets or recreation equipment in their vehicles, because the cabin is designed and appointed for the sake of style rather than utility.
As for cargo space, you knew there are to be a tradeoff for that sloping roof and compact behind.
Doron Levin is a Bloomberg News columnist
