Is the BMW X6 M60i jack of all trades in the performance-luxe SUV space?

The anatomy of a car is incredibly complex. Size, engine format, bodystyle, seating layout, drivetrain orientation… I could go on and on. This anatomy decides what it does. What it is good at. Who its customer is. And it dictates, above all, its purpose. Think about it – your two-seat, open-top roadster is never going to be a primary car. It’s a toy, and that is its primary purpose. Sure a hot-blooded youngster might choose to daily it, and it will comply, but there’s usually a second, more practical car waiting in the wings. No car can really do it all. They all occupy their own specific niches, replete with their respective strengths and compromises. After all, every car must have a compromise, right? In waltzes the BMW X6 M60i, and it begs to differ, despite its coupe SUV bodystyle which doesn’t exactly cater to the preferences of the masses.

I mean, it has a V8

Bam. Let off the brakes with launch control engaged, and all four wheels scrabble for traction on the dusty, monsoon-starved tarmac. The car surges forward. Bam. It slams into second, with a violence I didn’t expect. Short gearing means it’s quick, but only doing 80kmph when… Bam. Third gear. Still pulling like a freight train. The V8 sounds gloriously devious, roaring with fury through the quad pipes. For reasons of keeping my driving licence valid and intact, I am now going to tell you how I lifted off 120kmph and absolutely did not accelerate all the way up to 200kmph. Launch control is the perfect alternative to a hot cuppa early in the morning. Caffeine has all sorts of ill effects and you shouldn’t indulge. Adrenaline? Nearly the same – faster heartbeat, tremors, anxiety. Perfect alternative, like I said. Especially when you’ve got a romping 4.4-litre V8 delivering the hit. The numbers are solid. 523bhp and 750Nm. A 48V mild-hybrid system filling in torque before the turbos spool up. And you can feel all of it. Despite the X6 being pudgy, it moves with real intent. I love these BMW V8s – they’re smooth, but they love to rev hard and deliver stonking performance. This may not be the full-fat X6 M, but it's got enough muscle and you really don’t need more. You want performance? Check.

Look at it!

You can launch it all morning but at some point, you’ve got to step out and look at it. It’s got… presence. It's hard to call beautiful, but that's just me – Zubbin who is on support car duty at the shoot seems to be fully in love with it. The SUV-coupe was controversial when it first reared its head (or arse?), and time hasn’t done it any favours – it is still polarising. That said, it does look better resolved. This X6 is massive. It's wide, tall, and long. You’ve got those angry (blacked-out) nostrils up front and a swooping derrière. It really looks like nothing else on the road. Zoom in, and there are some neat details. The 21-inch wheels are cool, I like the M style mirrors and the bootlip spoiler just adds a sprinkle of sportiness. It's got muscle and heft – like a body builder that let himself go in the last few years, a dad bod with proper muscle underneath. Today, people gravitate to SUVs for their presence. To be noticed. The X6 M60i delivers that experience, and then some.

Is it luxury?

Depends what you define luxury as. It is a BMW – so you’ve got the brand prestige. The interiors are suitably appointed. You’ve got the twin curved screens, lovely maroon leather, backlit elements in the dash and Harman Kardon audio. You’ve also got really good seats up front, featuring heating, cooling and massage. It checks the traditional definition of “luxury” with great materials and a great interior. However, with a car, luxury goes hand-in-hand with good ride quality. What’s the point of all that plushness on the inside if the suspension is rock hard? This is where BMW’s brilliant chassis engineers come in. The X6 M60i, despite its size and sporty intentions, rides brilliantly. These half-M cars – X6 M60i, M340i – always seem to get it right. They manage to straddle the fine line of being daily useable despite featuring big, powerful engines. With the X6 M60i, you can most definitely drive it everywhere and use it every day. Sure, it still runs 21-inchers so there’s going to be a slight firmness to it, but for its size and performance, it is rather comfortable. There’s no air suspension, but it has dynamic dampers and that gives you some degree of attitude adjustability. It wafts along a good road nicely, and on a bad road, it does soak it all up very well. At no point while driving did I find myself grumbling about it being too firm for India. It isn’t. And that means if you want luxury? It’s another check.

And the backseat?

Do you really want to be chauffeur-driven in your SUV-coupe? Not ideal, but then again, this is supposed to be the one car to do it all. The backseat is comfortable – by no means comparable to something fully designed around the back seat experience – but it gets the job done. Kneeroom is acceptable, headroom is fine despite the roofline. The base of the seat is a little shorter than I would have wanted but that’s about it. There’s no Boss Function, but the chauffeur gets a neat little button that once pressed, converts the driver seat controls in to passenger seat controls. All it takes is one “Driverji, seat aage lelo” to get the front seat out of the way and you can stretch out in reasonable comfort.

Drive like a sportscar?

Well, it comes close! Of course, the laws of physics do draw a line somewhere but BMW has dialled this SUV in! Super quick steering makes the front reactive. Bump it up to Sport mode and the suspension tightens up. It is rear-biased AWD, and you’ve got an M Sport differential to put down power. Rear-wheel-steer helps. It is more than happy being hustled along, tucking its nose in and sniffing out apexes like a bloodhound. At the limit, it did understeer a little quicker than I expected it to. And that was accompanied with a lot of aural complaining from the tyres. I suspect a tyre swap – to something like Michelins – should work well and just give it a little more road-holding ability. However, the fundamentals are there. It feels dialled-in. It feels engaging. You may be sitting two feet higher than you would in an actual sports car, but it does deliver.

What else should your one-car-garage have?

Safety? Sorted. A pano sunroof because the kids think its cool? Check. Space for the family’s stuff? 580 litres, expandable up to 1580 litres. The ground clearance does deal with India? Plenty. The BMW X6 M60i does check every box. Compromises? Well, it seems to have just one. Fuel efficiency. It’s a V8. And it will guzzle fuel, if you drive it how it begs to be driven. But you knew that the second you found out it has a V8. This no-compromise performance SUV has been launched at ₹1.78 crore putting it smack in the crosshairs of the Audi SQ8. But, for that price you’re getting everything – performance, comfort, dynamics, luxury, presence – everything you could think of asking from your car. This really could be the one car to do it all…