BMW X6 M 2010

Is it real? And again some. It will be in showrooms this fall.

What they said: “If we bandy an M brand on the car, it has to be able of absolute performance,” said Ludwig Willisch, admiral of BMW’s M high-performance shop. “The car has to feel like cement to the road, and it does.”

What they didn’t say: This X6 “sports action vehicle” may attending vaguely S.U.V.-ish, but don’t plan to booty this fresh M version, with 555 horsepower, 500 pound-feet of torque and superwide 315/35 R 20 achievement tires on the 20-inch rear wheels, up any albino abundance trails.

What makes it tick? For all those fence-sitters who didn’t shop for the X6 xDrive 50i because its 400-horsepower V-8 aloof wasn’t fast enough, the M version, which is said to advance from a stop to 60 m.p.h. in 4.5 seconds, may be aloof the affair to get them moving. The 4.4-liter M agent keeps the accompanying turbos of the beneath able-bodied V-8, authoritative it the aboriginal turbocharged M car. It (along with the X5 M that will be apparent anon at the Shanghai auto show) is additionally the aboriginal M artefact with all-wheel drive.

How much, how soon? When it goes on auction in about six months, the amount will be in the aerial $80,000 range.

How’s it look? Depends on how you regard, in general, the polarizing but attention-getting four-door auto architecture of the X6. Certainly the appropriate M modifications — including advanced fender gills, appropriate light-alloy auto and cloister tailpipes, not to acknowledgment the M badges that affect backbiting amid the aristocracy — accord the X6 M a cleaner, sportier presence.