BMW M6 2006

If you do decide to thrash it, the performance is mind-boggling with 60 mph arriving in just 4.5 seconds from rest and a top speed well beyond the governed 155 mph. Thanks to the variable cam timing and individual throttles, it generates a more-than-adequate 383 lb-ft of torque at 6100 rpm and with seven paddle-selected gears to choose, it's unlikely you'll ever be caught out wanting for power. The transmission is also carried directly over from the M5, so you get the same superb high-speed changes but the same cumbersome low-speed operation and annoying tendency to roll back at idle.

Thankfully, there's a six-speed manual in the works for the M5 and M6, so I won't dwell on the transmission too long. Like the M5, for those dreary commutes in stop-go traffic you can take it out of "M-Drive" mode and amble around with a piddling 400 hp, which, in anything other than ideal conditions, is more than enough I think.


The M6 also borrows the M5's active-ride suspension system, which is pleasantly firm in normal mode though calling the softest setting Comfort is a bit of a stretch. In Sport mode it stiffens up considerably, more so than in the M5 it seems, and while I appreciate that the M6 is supposed to more hardcore than the M5, I do think they've made it a bit too stiff for anywhere other than the racetrack. The phenomenal brakes also come right out of the BMW M5, with 14.7-inch front and 14.6-inch rear cross-drilled rotors constructed from fade-free, compound materials and clamped by massive dual-piston calipers all around.

Scary M-over

Hit the steering-mounted M-Drive button, and in addition to the extra horsepower and sport suspension, you get a sharper throttle, meatier steering and faster gear-shifts, the overall effect of which is to turn the M6 into a super-focused uber-coupe. It grips like a racecar and turns in with staggering ferocity; but because it's such a big, heavy car with a slightly mute steering, it doesn't have enough intimacy to have quite that level of performance. Whereas the M5 is engaging, the M6 scares the bejesus out of me and because it's lost almost four inches of wheelbase and yet only weighs about 100 pounds less, it's less forgiving of mistakes and feels more twitchy and nervous by comparison. The driving instructors at the Road America racetrack loved it, and I'm sure if I had their level of skill and a racetrack to play on every day I'd enjoy it too, but out there in the real world the M6 is a scary proposition.I drove it for a while without the stability control in the rain and the car was all but undrivable, snapping this way and that without me really asking or expecting it to hang its back end out. And it's not like I'm inexperienced with cars of this power and performance, having piloted Vipers and Ford GTs in the past without complaint. There's a dark side to the BMW M6 that makes me very uncomfortable behind the wheel, which makes it disturbingly different in character to the amazing competence of the M5 or even the relative delicacy of a 911 Turbo. Quite why it costs fifteen grand more than the M5 I cannot fathom, especially when you consider that it's no faster, not anything as good to look at, has almost no versatility and it isn't nearly as much fun to drive.

2006 BMW M6
Base price: $96,795 (plus $3000 gas-guzzler tax)

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Engine: 5.0-liter V-10, 500 hp/383 lb-ft
Transmission: Seven-speed sequential manual, rear-wheel drive
Length x width x height: 191.8 x 73.0 x 54.0 in
Wheelbase: 109.5 in
Curb weight: 3909 lb
Fuel economy (EPA city/hwy): 12/18 mpg
Safety equipment: Dual front airbags; side and curtain airbags; anti-lock brakes;

stability control, active damping, tire pressure monitor
Major standard equipment: Automatic climate control, satellite navigation, six-CD

audio system; Bluetooth phone system; 19-inch alloy wheels
Warranty: Four years/50,000 miles