BMW X5M and BMW X6M - SUVs With M Power? Surely Not!

At my visit to the last Frankfurt Motorshow, I was able to view the new X5M and X6M up close. The standard X5 and X6 are both stunning off-roaders but when BMW have worked their magic on them and produced an M version - they really are something special.

Some purists are asking why BMW have produced an M version of an SUV. Their opinion is that the M treatment should be used only to produce road going racers like the original E30 M3. Whilst there has been nothing quite like the E30 M3 since, all M models are spectacular cars in their own right.

For me personally, the X5M and X6M particularly catch my imagination as I like to see how the two very different concepts of an SUV and M power can be combined to produce something special. On reflection, maybe that should be three very different concepts as the X5 and X6 are already a combination of off-roader and luxury car.

Whilst the X5M and X6M are unlikely to be seen on the race track (possibly with the exception of Paris-Dakar), their performance would certainly be a match for many with 555BHP and 0-62MPH in 4.5 seconds from the V8 4.4 litre twin turbo engine and intelligent x-Drive system.

Sitting in the driving seat of both cars, they are unmistakably BMWs but the new style electronic auto gear knob bearing the M logo says that they are something special. Whilst on the subject of auto transmission, those same purists argue that no M car should be an auto. I beg to differ. If I won the lottery tomorrow and went out to buy one of these cars, I wouldn't be taking it on a race track so why would I need a manual gear box?

Away from the race track, the future is auto. Having to maneuver a metal rod into invisible channels to change gear while pushing an extra pedal is a thing of the past in my opinion. On the congested roads of modern times, an automatic is far more sensible.

There are still the age old arguments used by those who last drove an auto in the early 1970s or perhaps have never driven one at all. Rubbish such as an auto is dangerous because it could change up in mid corner or that they can drive faster with a manual transmission, is still waffled out even today.

I say that a modern electronically controlled auto transmission is far more capable than the gear changing skills of most of us on today's roads. As far as I am concerned, an M car with an auto makes perfect sense and when it is in an X5M or X6M then we are all one step closer to utopia.

Nigel Marston has been an independent BMW accessories and parts specialist for the past 20 years and a BMW enthusiast since the late 1980s. He has owned many BMWs and is well known for his knowledge and enthusiasm about BMW cars. To subscribe to Nigel's free BMW enthusiasts newsletter and read other BMW related articles he has written, visit his website http://www.nm-motorsport.com

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