I started my New Years resolution to trim down my automotive photos early and I landed upon some footage I shot in Australia while driving the BMW X6 M50d this August. Sounds like a good reason to put it together and see what comes of it. So as soon as I started on this resolution, I am off on a tangent and diving headlong into iMovie. Suddenly I am reliving one of the best BMW’s I’ve ever been handed the key fob to and to make it even better, the drive was on the 151 mile Great Ocean Road south of Melbourne along the Southern Ocean, arguably one of the best roads in the world. I love distractions!
Though the X6 has been around since 2009, the new BMW X6 M50d is one in a new line up of BMW M Performance vehicles for 2012 and slips just below the full on M series. The M Performance vehicles are powered by a new 3.0 liter Tri-Turbo diesel motor producing an incredible 381 hp and 546 ft/lbs of torque.
The engineers at BMW M tweaked the suspension and handling to benefit from this new powerful motor. The overall package is as I am sure BMW intended 9/10ths of an M. In my opinion, a great target in a sport ute. I had plenty of performance to play with on my drive and love feeling all four wheels clawing at the rain soaked Australian roads and feeling the Dynamic Performance Control diff helping power out of tight wet corners.
The overall result is truly a great dynamic package with moves that belie its 4700lb curb weight. The M touches around the cabin and even the instrument cluster add a sporty feel and in combination with a well executed cabin replete with BMW’s iDrive make a great place to spend a day diving one of the greatest roads in the world to contemplate why BMW keeps such incredible gems from the US. Strange, huh?
Day dream with me for a moment if you will. In Australia, the BMW X6M cost $190,900, the X6 M50d $157,000 and the X6 xDrive50i $150,400. If BMW of North America would bring this to the U.S. and price it in similar relative position, my fuzzy math tells me it would have a U.S. MSRP of $76,400. So that small bump in price compared to the X6 50i, you get an X6 that’s been tweaked by M gurus, does 0-62 mph faster and yet yields 38% fuel better fuel economy.
What better argument can there be than that for it to come to our shores in this time of Efficient Dynamics?
