Short Take Road Test - Car and Driver (blog)
There are plenty of people, including us, who wonder why BMW is building an M version of the X6 . The answer seems to parallel the punch line of the joke about a canine licking himself: because he can. The Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG , the Porsche Cayenne , the Infiniti FX50 , and the Land Rover Range Rover Sport are all evidence that more than a few people want an SUV with a sporty on-road demeanor. This being BMW, the X6 M and its mechanically identical sibling, the X5 M, aim straight for the top of the muscle-SUV mountain. And just to throw more mud in Porsche’s eye, the X6 M base price of $89,725 undercuts the top Cayenne’s by $34,690. The highlight of the X6 M is the engine with its trick exhaust manifold. Based on the 4. 4-liter twin-turbo V-8 found in the X6 xDrive50i and 7-series, the M engine gets two twin-scroll Honeywell turbochargers fed by a newly patented exhaust manifold. The manifold’s tangle of piping in the valley of the V-8 routes to each scroll the exhaust from two specific cylinders. The X6 M also keeps the six-speed automatic transmission, although the M version uses an aluminum transmission-fluid pan with cooling fins in place of the plastic pan on the regular X6. To. Source: www.caranddriver.com
