The norm in this industry is for a journalist to be given the keys to a vehicle for testing purposes and about a week later, give or take, the car goes back with the journalist having had enough time to experience the car in a multitude of different scenarios. A bit of rush hour traffic, a bit of highway driving, some twisty roads. You know, to try to mimic an overall ownership experience and form an informed opinion about the vehicle.
On the odd occasion one is afforded less time with the vehicle – normally the very special cars that would, in real life, only enjoy limited use. Like a Porsche GT2 RS, for example.Â
I would not classify a BMW X6M as such a vehicle. This is one that a person buys to use every day. I mean it’s an SUV after all, just a very fast one. More on my gripes with that here.
Anyway, the point is that BMW only afforded me 24 hours with the X6M. And since I also have to cram in time to write these words, and slept for 8 hours overnight, I can hardly tell you I mimicked any real world kind of ownership experience.
I have to fall back on my initial impressions from the launch of the X6M, which were that it was needlessly heavy, needlessly powerful and pretty uncomfortable. I’ll go back on my point around comfort. It’s not too bad. What I did notice this time – that wasn’t apparent on the launch – is that with adaptive cruise control activated, the car automatically engages lane-keep assist (a sort of semi-autonomous mode) to stop you straying out of your lane on the highway.
The system is so sensitive that, despite best efforts, I couldn’t stop the car pin-balling between the white lines – almost as though it was tram-lining. Rather annoying.Â
It has all the bells and whistles – so many that it would probably take me 24 hours just to get through all the menus in the iDrive system to get the car setup to my liking. I suppose that’s what everyone wants these days, especially when the asking price is R2 882 320.Â
Lastly, the seats were red and unfortunately that’s about all I can tell you.
Fast Facts:
BMW X6M CompetitionÂ
Price: R2,882,320
Power:Â 460 kW/750 Nm
Fuel consumption:Â 12.5 litres/ 100 km (claimed)
Top speed: 290 km/h
Rivals: Maserati Levante GTS, Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S Coupé 4Matic+
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