WATCH  New 2017BMW X6  Review
Channel: Auto Today
Date: 10/01/2017

Okay, we’ve been banging on about the strangeness of the BMW X6—a fastbacked, hatch-havin’ four-door “coupe” version of the X5 “Sports Activity Vehicle”—since it arrived as a 2008 model. Seven years of Backfires comments comparing it to everything from the Pontiac Aztek to the 1980s AMC Eagle Spirit suggest readers agree with us that it’s one odd automotive platypus.

Yet more than 250,000 buyers worldwide heard the X6’s siren call and took one home. Sort of in the same way some people walk right past Golden Labs to adopt Chinese Crested dogs. And in the way that patent-leather work boots are a thing. That’s just how the free-market capitalist economy works. A quarter-million isn’t a huge number in the greater scheme of things, but it represents enough profit that BMW introduced the second-generation X6 for 2015. More than that, it has extended the idea downmarket to the X4 and is even prepping an X2 for 2017.

So all that’s left to do is regard the X6 as part of the new normal. For us, that means taking it to the track for some numbers and then driving it around for subjective evaluation. Hey, it’s at least as good a time as judging whether the new whiskey-and-haggis potato chips are as good as the chicken-and-waffles variety.

The More Things Change

Like the third-gen BMW X5 introduced for 2014, the new X6 rides the same 115.5-inch wheelbase as before. The fastback design has been updated with exterior character lines forecast by last year’s X4, but these look better-proportioned when stretched over the longer X6, which has gained 1.8 inches in overall length. The redesigned interior departs more dramatically from the past but not at all from recent BMW practice, with a prominent 10.2-inch screen taking center stage on the dash. It’s coupled to the latest version of iDrive, which has evolved from its initial status as a horrific burden right on through manageable to a genuinely useful system. This example was graced with a $1950 “Cognac Interior Design” package that blended brownish-red accents, black leather, and “Fineline Striped” wood trim into a plush cabin ambience. It was a little more old-school than some of our drivers might prefer, but as with most BMWs, there are many other choices (such as metal rather than wood trim). Remember when the cabin of a BMW was always a black hole with big daylight openings? That’s the old normal.

Reinvention for its own sake is not always fruitful, though. We still aren’t big fans of BMW’s latest thinking on the electronic automatic shift lever, with its side release button and complex array of choices that never seem to come naturally, but at least the X6 comes with paddles to manage manual gear selection.

The rear seat now has a seatbelt for a center occupant where the previous model was strictly a four-seater. BMW correctly calls this 4+1 seating, the center being uncomfortable for anyone but small children, who ought to be in a safety seat anyway. This back seat (the roofline precludes the cramped third row offered in the X5) folds in a 40/20/40 configuration, useful when cargo needs exceed the 26.6 cubic feet of space accessed through the hatch, which is now power-operated.

Not compromised by the styling is the towing capacity of 6000 pounds (48 pounds more than the X5 for unknown reasons), and BMW fan-site message boards suggest that many owners actually use their X6s to pull a boat, camper, ATVs, or a trailer full of racing or collector cars. Maybe some of these folks are like us after all—if you don’t need the enormous capacity of modern pickups or full-size SUVs, the experience of driving an X6 is a far more entertaining way to spend your non-towing road miles. That it will tow, at least, is some justification for choosing an X6 rather than a more conventional vehicle.

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