Road test: BMW X6 XDrive M50d

By Jonathan Crouch

May 28 2014, 8:00 am

BMW’s X6 has been mildly revised but the most important news is the addition of the triple-turbo XDrive M50d diesel model on test here. It’s a luxury SUV like no other.

At the top of the X6 diesel range sits the car on test here, the astonishingly rapid triple-turbo xDrive M50d, with 546lb/ft of torque and 381 braked horses that’ll demolish 62mph in just 5.3s and power you on to 155mph, at which point the car has to be restrained by an artificial limiter.

As with all X6 models, this one features four-wheel drive and an innovative Dynamic Performance Control set-up.

This is one of the only stability control systems in the world able to provide a stabilising effect when you get out of shape in a corner, whether or not you have your foot on the throttle.

Let me explain. Go into a corner too fast and in most quality cars, there’s a stability programme that uses braking on the inner wheels to ‘pull’ your car back into shape.

Dynamic Performance Control is different. Rather than using braking, it instead sends additional wheel speed to an outer rear wheel to ‘push’ you around the corner. The effect is a smoother, quicker and less obtrusive way of exiting a bend.

The styling’s been tweaked in the facelifted first generation X6 model we’re looking at here – but not so’s you’d really notice.

A broader front kidney grille and repositioned foglights both attempt to further accentuate the prodigious width and there’s the option of incorporating the LED technology into a set of adaptive front headlamps that glow with a cool white light.

The xDrive M50d diesel that we’ve been testing here requires a budget of around £63,000 – around £15,000 more than an entry-level diesel X6.

As with all models in the line-up, this one comes with a healthy list of standard equipment that includes 19in alloy wheels, xenon headlamps, metallic paint, chromed exhaust pipes, leather trim, two-zone climate control, part electric seat adjustment, cruise control, auto headlamps and wipers, a six-speaker stereo system and a 6.5in colour display screen with iDrive controller.

BMW has forged a reputation for being amongst the leading lights when it comes to engine efficiency and the X6 is a key beneficiary, with all three diesel models – including this M50d – managing around 37mpg on the combined cycle.

A lot of that comes courtesy of BMW’s EfficientDynamics technology which features across the range. This is BMW’s suite of energy saving technologies that includes Brake Energy Recirculation, which recycles lost energy to the alternator, improving fuel economy. Reduced rolling resistance tyres, low friction transmission fluids and a high-tech absorbent glass mat battery are also key aspects of EfficientDynamics.

Whatever you think about the style of this X6, you can’t deny that there’s substance behind it too. No large SUV handles better and few are more efficient to run.

The mid-term model updates have built upon these virtues without diluting the ‘love-it-or-hate-it’ appeal that makes this car so unique. And the addition of the triple-turbo M50d we’ve been looking at here really does make this BMW very desirable indeed.

Of course, you’ll still need to be a very individual kind of buyer to want one. This car is an opinion-divider – and probably always will be.

But that won’t worry BMW who didn’t so much as fill a niche with the X6 as invent one that could only be properly filled by their own product. It’s an audacious approach, but a very clever one if you think about it.

True, the motoring press may have been dismissive, but more importantly, the motoring public seem to love the ‘Sports Activity Coupe’ concept. Proving of course that nothing succeeds like excess.