2021 BMW X6 M Competition First Test Review: M2 CS Too Small? Buy This

“I like the X6 M because it’s so silly,” is how senior features editor Jonny Lieberman put it. “Nothing so large should be able to do what this thing does.” MotorTrend en Español managing editor Miguel Cortina summed his impression of the 2021 BMW X6 M Competition with, “The driving characteristics that it blends and delivers are ridiculous. It’s just pure fun.” Indeed, a luxury midsize fastback SUV weighing 5,200 pounds should not be able take a corner at nearly 1.00 g, run to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, or stop from 60 mph in 102 feet. Yet, here it is. With driver-selectable settings for engine, chassis, steering, brakes, and all-wheel drive, there may not be a paved road the X6 M Competition can’t bend to its formidable will.

Motor Is BMW’s Middle Name

The X6 M Competition’s 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8 is a monster of a motor that sounds absolutely wicked through the standard M sport exhaust. Although the BMW X6 M has barely increased in size or weight (28 pounds) since we first tested one in 2011, the latest Competition version has a whopping 62 additional horsepower and 53 lb-ft more torque than did that one—and you can feel all of it. The initial sensation is one of a vast supply of torque. From 1,800 rpm and up, the shove into the seat feels as if it will never end. As it clicks off upshifts like you’d snap your fingers, the world goes blurry. And at the top end, acceleration feels just as fierce, the X6 M Comp reaching nearly 120 mph in a quarter-mile that takes only 11.6 seconds to traverse. It’s deceptively and addictively quick.

M Brakes to Match the M Power

An SUV with such mass and accelerative ability should have equally outstanding brakes. Rest assured, the 15.6-inch front/15.0-inch rear vented and drilled discs might look small, but that’s because they’re surrounded by gargantuan 21- and 22-inch wheels. Combined with M compound pads and sporty Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, the X6 M Competition never runs out of whoa. The highly effective system takes some getting used to, however. There is not a lot of feel in the pedal for when the pads begin to bite, and the “jump in” is rather abrupt. On a blast of a twisting mountain road, we found ourselves applying the brakes too hard, too soon when approaching a corner. Features editor Scott Evans wrote that he’d “driven supercars that didn’t stop like this. The brakes on this thing are unreal. You can wait until the last second, then wait another second, then brake, and you’ll be fine.”

How Does the X6 M Competition Handle?

With BMW’s traditional front strut/rear multilink setup, the X6 M goes further with the addition of multimode adaptive dampers and active anti-roll bars, both making minute adjustments in milliseconds. Like the rest of the dazzling SUV, the M division’s tuning of the system is no less astounding. At the test track, we measured lateral acceleration at 0.97 g average on the skidpad. On the real-world loop, the confidence this number provides is extraordinary. Combined with intelligent all-wheel drive that can shuffle power fore/aft and side to side, you find yourself coming out of a bend saying, “I could’ve gone quicker through there. Let’s try another, only faster.” And it does it again, and again. Repeat. One caveat: On anything but the smoothest roads, the Sport Plus suspension setting produces far too much vertical body motion where the X6 M pogoes and rarely feels settled. Sport seems to be the sweet spot, as Comfort mode is also available.

Thankfully, BMW avoided the bad habit of loading up the X6 M’s chunky steering wheel with weight and resistance rather than delicacy and feel. With predictable and quick turn-in characteristics, the heavyweight again defies expectations. Even in its sportiest setting, the steering never feels artificially syrupy, or worse, digital.

BMW X6 M Competition Styling

The X6 M’s “Ametrin” purple metallic paint drew wide praise among the staff and public in general. The same could be said of the styling from the front (the grille size matches the vehicle), the front three-quarter and profile angles. The extended “shadowline” black trim works well. All good proportions with nice sculpting, the X6 M also nicely hunkers over its wheels—in fact, it might look silly if it were riding on anything other than its 21- and 22-inchers. When we get to the rear, however, things change. Where the rest of the X6 is somewhat organic and flowing, the rear looks busy and forced, as if someone stacked four or five dissimilar mattresses.

BMW X6 M Lives On

Many automakers are clamoring for legitimacy in the fastback SUV segment, but the one that started it all as a high-performance sport “activity” vehicle lives on and remains at the top of the list. Who would have ever imagined an SUV that could legitimately challenge, and in some cases shame, sports cars half its size. The BMW X6 M Competition is silly and it’s expensive, and it provides over-the-top performance where there doesn’t really need to be such talents. But these are strange times, and even if they’re sometimes nonsensical at heart, at least vehicles like the X6 M Competition still exist. We’ll keep celebrating it as proudly—rightly—earning its M badge.

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