A Short List of Cars the X6M Beat at the Nurburgring

"BrtStlnd" (BrtStlnd)
07/16/2015 at 11:08 • Filed to: An Inconvenient Truth

Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

BMW E46 M3

M Coupe

Lotus Exige S

Audi RS4

Porsche Cayman S

Lancer Evos VI & VII

993 911

Acura NSX

DISCUSSION (58)

Milky > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:11

Yes. Having double the horsepower makes something fast. Still rather have everything you listed over the X6M.

BrtStlnd > Milky
07/16/2015 at 11:13

Clearly though, it isn’t just fast. It has fantastic handling and braking.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:14

What about the Suzuki Every Joy Pop Turbo?

Milky > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:16

Meaning wide sticky tires, stiff suspension and huge brakes. Which could also be read as “now sucks at being an SUV”.

EDIT: Well this explains a lot - “ Standard 21-inch wheels wear 285/35 front and 325/30 rear rubber.” Mafuck better grip.

505 - morphine not found > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:16

I have driven one, on track and a driver training course not long ago. It’s much more capable than we like to give it credit for. Blisteringly fast in a straight line (of course), and bend-the-laws-of-physics agile in the corners too (surprisingly).

Kinja'd!!!

Not fun to drive at all though.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
07/16/2015 at 11:17

You get a star just for mentioning that gloriously name vehicle.

kanadanmajava1 > Milky
07/16/2015 at 11:19

No amount of power isn’t going to make me interested about it (well maybe over 9000 would be enough). But an X6M could give pretty interesting engine for some other car.

BrtStlnd > 505 - morphine not found
07/16/2015 at 11:19

Ah yes the “it’s not fun to drive” bullshit argument

BrtStlnd > Milky
07/16/2015 at 11:21

Yes, the X5M & X6M have huge tires.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
07/16/2015 at 11:22

It's adorable. But I don't think it's built for hot laps

jjhats > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:23

half those cars are 10-20 years old. why is this impressive? the x6m isn't an suv you can for all intensive purposes consider it a car so why are you surprised when it performs as such?

505 - morphine not found > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:26

So should i have wrote “I didn’t like it” instead? Because it boils down to that, personal preference regarding the concept of fun.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
07/16/2015 at 11:28

I don’t need it.

I always push that car, because it’s best car!

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
07/16/2015 at 11:28

YES IT IS!

Milky > kanadanmajava1
07/16/2015 at 11:29

I can think of a great “other car”

Kinja'd!!!

BrtStlnd > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 11:32

I’ve heard people on here make a zillion irrational excuses as to why this is the worst car BMW ever made... I disagree and I like to remind folks of that fact occasionally. If you don’t think it’s impressive that a 5300 lb SUV beat these cars in a lap designed to test handling, then that’s fine. You should be impressed though.

BrtStlnd > 505 - morphine not found
07/16/2015 at 11:34

I shouldn’t have been so snippy, sorry. How is something that is “Blisteringly fast in a straight line” and “and bend-the-laws-of-physics agile in the corners too” not fun to drive? I feel like the truth is that it’s actually a ton of fun to drive but you just don’t like the X6M so you say it isn’t fun.. because that’s impossible for someone to refute.

Is that accurate?

Milky > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:36

The Autoblog writer I know said the same thing. He said something along the lines of it always seemed confused.

georgechristensen > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:37

I’d rather have any of the cars listed than an X6M

BrtStlnd > georgechristensen
07/16/2015 at 11:39

I probably would too, but that isn’t the point I’m making.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
07/16/2015 at 11:41

I want a video of that adorable little van on the track.

Margin Of Error > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:41

NO SOUL, NO THANKS.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Milky
07/16/2015 at 11:41

I do agree with you, but I’ve alway wondered why wheni comes to handling and lap times, a car having wide, sticky tires is almost looked at like cheating. It was the same with the Z/28 Camaro.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
07/16/2015 at 11:42

You and I both

BrtStlnd > Margin Of Error
07/16/2015 at 11:43

lol

brian1321 > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:43

PROVE TO ME THAT YOUR OPINION IS VALID

jjhats > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:45

it is the worst car bmw has made and it is not an SUV. This car is a parts bin special. bmw is becoming amg they just pick the big v8 TT the other m cars have, throw in the same 8 speed zf as the other cars, throw on the big wheels a body kit and call it a day. this car was not designed from the ground up like a 3.0 csl or e30 m3. it has no heritage no pedigree or racing qualifications. it is made to make money because rich people want to say I bought the most expensive x6 they had just look at my m badge. The fact that this car exists and a new clownshoe or manual wagon or actual proper sports car doesnt exist is why bmw sucks ass these days.

Porsche builds cayennes, panameras, and macans so they can afford to make unprofitable cars like the cayman gt4 just for the enthusiasts. bmw doesn’t do this. they care about profits and that’s it. they don’t make a single car under 3000 lbs. not one. they don’t care about enthusiasts they care about making profits. they do this by creating niche crossover categories to fill every possible market hole while completely disregarding the small unprofitable holes we need like real sports cars real sports coupes and weird shit like manual wagons. The new m cars don’t have the feel of the old cars. the sound is fake the cars are boats and the tech overrides the driver experience. They promised to never make FWD and awd M cars and have broken those promises. They promised to save the stick shift, but why should i believe them? they sure as hell dont buy enough as the delaer never has a standard when i visit. they have completely abandoned ship if you ask me and one great car(m235i) is not enough for me to give them my business.

brian1321 > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 11:47

How intense are these purposes that they made you wrote that huge block of text?

For Sweden > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:47

Never apologize for being snippy

functionoverfashion > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:48

Can you even get snow tires - or any reasonable all-season - in a 325 width? TireRack says no, only Pirelli PZero Max Performance Summer. Those would be pretty terrible in the snow, especially with all that power. I mean, fun. But useless. Then all (most of?) the other cars on that list would literally run circles around this thing.

Margin Of Error > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 11:48

YES, THIS.

BMW must go back to its roots and build lightweight homologation specials.

jjhats > brian1321
07/16/2015 at 11:48

im really fucking fed up with bmw and I take every opportunity to let others know that. when I did the bmw ultimate driving experience I let the driver know I think its bullshit they had the x4 for the autocross track and he agreed. he was an old skool racing instructor and has an e30 m3 at home.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
07/16/2015 at 11:49

Solid life goal. I want to do this.

brian1321 > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 11:51

I am enthusiastic about cars. They bring me great enthusiasm. Why does BMW not care about how enthusiastic I am? If they do not make a car under 3000lbs I will continue to be unenthusiastic about BMW and will not buy one. If enough enthusiastic people stop being enthusiastic about BMW, they will have to listen to enthusiasts or they will not make money. That is the problem with modern automakers. They like being in business too much to listen to people who are enthusiastic about cars. If they listened to the <10% of people who are enthusiastic about cars, they would be much better car makers. I know that R&D, production line assembly, building of robot builders and all that is super expensive, but if the companys ignore those costs and make a car that 100 enthusiastic people will buy then the world will be a better place.

Enthusiast.

brian1321 > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 11:53

OH so you meant intents and purposes, as in the intent of their actions or the purpose for which they work towards a goal. Got it, thanks.

BrtStlnd > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 11:55

I love when people make the argument “they only made this car to make money.” As if that isn’t the motivation for all automakers.

BrtStlnd > brian1321
07/16/2015 at 11:58

I hear that if you rub the shifter of an e30 M3 you have a mind-blowing, explosive enthusiasm.

brian1321 > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 12:00

What if I removed the shifter to lower my weight

Milky > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
07/16/2015 at 12:00

I found this on the inter webs:

Pros:Much better traction, more stable, generally better tire wear because you’ll build up less temperature, looks better, much better in the rain, better braking action

Cons:Slightly worse mileage (probably so little you won’t notice), potentially worse on the snow depending on tread pattern, potentially louder, particularly wide tires can sometimes “follow” ruts and creases on the highway

I’ve noticed my car with 255 and even more so with 275’s “follows ruts and creases on the highway” more. IMO the z28 is a track car so its fine, but 325’s on a DD?

505 - morphine not found > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 12:01

Let put this out of the way: yes I do in fact hate the X6, and as the X6 M is the purest expression of the type, i positively loathe it.

With that said (and i too should have been more elaborate on this), it proved to be extremely capable. Much more capable than most of us would have thought before driving one. At this particular event we drove quite a few other BMW M cars, all of them less powerful of course, but also all of them lighter and with a lower center of gravity. So they should have felt much faster, but didn’t: the X6 M isn’t only powerful (and therefore fast in straights), it’s also very agile, especially for it’s size.

However, there’s a catch: because you sit (relatively) high in a plush, insulated cabin in huge captain chairs, and very limited visibility of your immediate surroundings - you just don’t really get a kick out of all this. There are forces at play of course, so it’s not exactly like a simulator, but on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is your chair at home with a force feedback wheel and 10 is the Ariel Atom, I would put this to around 3, maybe 4. The M6 would be 7, and the M3/4 gets an 8, BTW.

You do it, but don’t really feel like doing it. It’s fast like a rocket, but the M6 is actually faster in a straight: on a given length of road we hit higher speeds in that than in the X6 M. And when it comes to navigating corners, well, the car can do it, but it’s just not it’s natural habitat, and you have to think for yourself: there are better tools for this particular job, ain’t there?

It’s like an elephant. I respect it. I marvel at what it can do. It’s a true triumph of engineering. But I don’t want it in my life.

GhostZ > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 12:04

God I love that the R32 is still so high up there. Isn’t it the one (and even more so, the R33) that started the whole trend?

I imagine that the X6M would rollover on any non-professional driver run.

Coty > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 12:15

NURBURGRING TIMES ARE EVERYTHING I DRIVE EVERYWHERE ON THE NURBURGRING I DON’T DRIVE ANY OTHER ROADS.

BrtStlnd > Coty
07/16/2015 at 12:15

That is a really unique driving situation you are in!

Sir Halffast > For Sweden
07/16/2015 at 12:16

But that’s not what you said after the vasectomy went wrong...

Richtofen, Baron von Pickup > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 12:20

I want one because it IS the answer to a question nobody asked. It’s a city-friendly SUV with excellent power and handling.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 12:26

*intents and purposes. Intensive purposes makes no sense

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 12:28

I don’t care what anyone says I’ll always love the x6m

BrtStlnd > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
07/16/2015 at 12:29

Me too.

pauljones > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 12:46

It’s astounding what automakers can do these days.

I’m not completely surprised that it beat out the R32, the 993, NSX, M Coupe, and older Evos - those are all at least ten years old, if not older. Automotive technology has made quite a bit of progress in that time. The surprise comes when you realize it beat a Cayman S and and Exige S - two of the most bona-fide sports cars in the books.

I will never be a fan of the beast anymore than I’ll ever be a fan of the GT-R, but I sure as hell have to give credit where credit is due. That’s some impressive speed and handling prowess.

BrtStlnd > pauljones
07/16/2015 at 12:49

A REASONABLE AND NUANCED HOT TAKE

jjhats > BrtStlnd
07/16/2015 at 13:26

I clearly explained that Porsche isn’t that way. obviously every business is in the habit of making money but some devote customer satisfaction higher than profits

ShiroZ31 > brian1321
07/16/2015 at 13:27

They care from the minute your check clears until the second your warranty expires.

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 13:40

Oh no! A car company is building and selling a vehicle and wants to make money off of it! How can we let this stand?! We must demand that they make a cheap, super niche vehicle that only a handful of people will buy and that they’ll lose money on, just to satisfy a few people who comment on the internet and say bad things about that company.

jjhats > Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy
07/16/2015 at 13:47

well they aren't getting my business and once they axe the stick they will lose jalops. idk how you can think this is ok? do you not see the value in companies making risky awesome products like gt86 st twins gt350R cts v wagon and gt4? like how are you gonna visit this site and say its ok for companies to be boring?

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 14:22

Because I’m never going to buy a new BMW. I know it’s not something I could ever afford (along with most people on this site), so why worry about it? If I want a fun BMW, I’ll go out and get a used E36 or E46.

Car companies can’t satisfy the wants and needs of every single person in the world (which is why the aftermarket exists). They satisfy the needs of the majority of their customer base. And with BMW, the majority of their customer base are older rich people who want something fancy, comfortable, easy to drive, but still fast. So that’s what they build. If the majority of their customer base were younger enthusiasts who wanted something loud and abrasive and focused on performance instead of comfort, then I’m sure they would build it. But that’s not the case. They gave us the 1M. They’ve given us the M235i and are bringing out the M2. Don’t like those? Then find something else. Plain and simple.

BrtStlnd > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 14:32

So you think that Porsche doesn’t make any money on the GT cars? I assure you they do, and it’s a much larger margin than on the Cayenne.

samssun > jjhats
07/16/2015 at 21:16

*intents and porpoises

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > jjhats
08/20/2015 at 18:13

Holy grammatical errors, Batman!