2016 BMW M6 hits bull’s-eye
If you value time behind the wheel of an enjoyable car, look no further
One of the most memorable rides I have survived and lived to tell the tale was with a young side car cross racer and seven-time British Champion by the name of Terry Good. To say this man did not understand the meaning of fear is an understatement.
No, I was not foolish enough to take to his sidecar (many did and suffered an unscheduled bathroom break mid-lap), but I did score a ride in his then-new 635CSi. This thing had a 3.5-litre engine with 215 horsepower and a close-ratio five-speed manual gearbox. The combination was good enough to rip the CSi from rest to 100 kilometres an hour in 7.4 seconds. At the time that was truly motoring!
Sliding into the 2016 BMW M6 brought that fond memory back; I look at the M6 as the spiritual successor to that early hotrod.
As with the CSi, the M6’s allure is not difficult to grasp. It surfaces the very first time the gas pedal is mashed to the floor. Beneath the long hood sits a divine 4.4-L, twinturbocharged V8. With the two turbos force feeding the engine at full thrust and the Competition Package aboard, it produces 600 hp, 40 more hp than the normal M6.
The torque, however, is what really grabs the driver’s attention. With a tire-shredding 516 poundfeet available at 1,500 rpm, the M6 is like a panther ready to pounce. Prod it and — bam! — you’re gone.
The power is fired to the rear wheels and the Active M Differential (it controls the power split, left to right) through a slick sevenspeed twin-clutch transmission that bumps through its gears with silky precision.
There are three settings for the “D? and “S? modes — Efficient, Comfort and Sport. When in the sportiest mode, the shifts are like lightning, which, when using the paddles, allows the engine to be pushed to within redline before initiating the shift. On the way down the gearbox, it gives easy access to engine braking. The anomaly is that when leaving the car, you have to leave it in gear before turning it off. Only then does it pick Park and not roll away.
What I found interesting — and helpful — was the fact the gearbox taps into the navigation’s data stream, meaning it proactively downshifts ahead of a corner without driver intervention. Throw in launch control and you have missile-like takeoffs.
And so to the numbers: the run from rest to 100 km/h takes 3.9 seconds and it boasts a supremely quick 80-to-120 km/h passing time of three seconds. The problem (or delight, depending upon the circumstance) is the M6 keeps piling on the speed in such a rapid manner it gallops from 60 to 160 km/h in less time than many sports cars can accomplish the passing move. I found it exceptionally difficult to resist the speed rush at times.
Now all of the aforementioned would not be worth a hill of beans were it not for the suspension’s ability to deliver unerring road manners. The adaptive dampers do a wonderful job of limiting body roll to a couple of degrees, and this is in Comfort mode. Opting for Sport or Sport+ sees the damping and steering become crisper without killing the ride comfort. It comes together so well that keeping the M6 on my intended line was remarkably easy in spite of the monster cornering forces of the P265/35R20 front and P295/30R20 rear tires.
All of the systems can be customized through a series of buttons arranged around the shifter or through iDrive. Once the right setup has been established it can be stored in one of the two M buttons on the steering wheel. The default mode at start up puts the steering, suspension and drivetrain in comfort/efficiency mode. In an urban environment this is the right setting. Selecting Sport for each facet ramps up the response to driver input and firms the ride, so this became my M1 setting. The other M button I saved for playtime.
Slip behind the wheel and the cabin is as focused as the rest of the car. The materials ooze quality, the 10-way-adjustable M sports seats deliver superb support and make establishing the correct driving position a snap. The M6’s only real shortcoming is the back seat. The legroom starts off as marginal and shrinks quickly with a taller driver.
The final highlight — outright performance and tenacious handling aside — proved to be the Bang & Olufsen sound system that was part of the Ultimate Package. That package brings the aforementioned seats, along with a long list of other amenities (as it should, with a price tag of $25,000). When not listening to the bark and burble playing through the twin Titanium exhaust pipes, the sound system delivered distortion-free high-fidelity sound.
The M6 will not be everybody’s cup of tea because it has but two doors. That’s where the M6 Gran Coupe comes into its own. However, if you value alone time behind the wheel of a truly entertaining car, it hits the bull’s-eye — a selfish outlook, I know, but that defining trait made it a difficult car to part with at the end of the test.