2020 BMW X6 M50i - Show and Go
2020 BMW X6 M50i - Show and Go
Words and pictures by Lane Skelton
2020 BMW X6 M50i
MSRP - $85,650 (starting price) $97,450 (as tested)
Horsepower - 523 / Torque - 553
MPG - 16 city / 22 highway (18 combined)
I still remember the first X6 that I ever saw. A friend of mine bought one of the first cars available on the west coast in 2008. He was exporting high-end SUVs to Eastern Europe at the time and always had the latest and greatest SUVs of the day. Flash forward to 2020, and the new BMW X6 is just a polarizing as that X6 was 12 years ago.
BMW started this trend of coupe-like SUVs and others have followed suit, so there must be a good business case for them, even if BMW only sold 6,800 in 2019 compared to 41,000 X5s in the same year. The only reason to buy the X6 over the X5 is if you prefer the looks and aren’t bothered by the compromises made for that sloped roofline. What are these compromises, you ask? Rear-seat headroom and cargo space are the main offenders, but it also costs a few grand more than the X5 and the fuel economy is exactly the same.
In short, I would rather have an X5 over an X6 and if I was in the market for a mid-sized SUV, I wouldn’t be shopping for a top of the line model. I don’t see the need for a 523 horsepower SUV, but I’m not mad that it exists.
The Road To RADwood SoCal:
Warren and I needed a comfortable vehicle for the drive from Santa Cruz to Orange County for RADwood SoCal, and the X6 ended up doing a great job. It fit our luggage with ease and it proved to be very comfortable on our 10-hour drive. The Dynamic Handling package does an excellent job of soaking up bumps and keeping the body controlled in turns, and the dynamic cruise control is a life changer. Over the years, I-Drive has become really good and I like that BMW has left hard buttons for most features that you need on a day to day basis. I really dislike auto start/stop and the nannies can get annoying at times, but they can all be turned off. Heading into Malibu on HWY 1 with Dynamic Cruise Control activated, I came upon a bicyclist and the car freaked out. It slammed the brakes and swerved to the left, even though I was in the center of the southbound lane and the bicyclist was 3 feet out of the lane. This maneuver felt very unsafe and I’m glad there wasn’t a car on our tail at the time.
While the styling is subjective, there is no denying that this SUV is fast, handles well and has a great ride and has a decent amount of luggage space. It ended up being the perfect vehicle for our trip to SoCal and did everything we asked of it. On the trip back to Santa Cruz, we needed to haul two ‘Fresh Ramps’ skateboard quarter pipe ramps and two 6 foot grind rails, and the it did an admirable job.
-Lane Skelton
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