2013 BMW M6 Reviews

We answer the big questions about the BMW M6 Gran Coupe, including the most important one -- would you buy one?

Tuned BMWs have moved closer to their Mercedes and Audi rivals. If time is the ultimate luxury, then performance cars are a paradox. Flat out, even cars with modest performance ambitions can hit 100km/h in six or seven seconds. That used to be the supercar zone. Now, the quickest Italian exotics can hit the legal limit in less than half that.When the Bugatti Veyron achieved a sub-three second sprint time almost a decade ago, it looked untouchable. Surprisingly quickly, its rivals have caught up.The paradox arises because if you want to enjoy that engine and decide to give the throttle pedal your undivided attention, then in a matter of moments you'll have to ease off. All the fun comes in one quick blat. Premature acceleration, if you like. Keep going and you may end up serving time measured in months rather than seconds.Of course, there's more to luxury and performance than outright pace. That's the province of muscle cars and Friday night drag racers.On price, the M6 Gran Coupe sits above the M6 coupe but below the convertible, at $299,500. Rivals include the Aston Martin Rapide, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes CLS 63 AMG, Porsche Panamera and upcoming Audi RS 7 and Jaguar XJR. Compared with other Gran Coupes, it's a $60k premium over the 650i with a lesser version of the same engine and $115k more than the 640i, which has a turbocharged inline six.If a car can handle its socks off and rewards a driver, then pace per se becomes secondary. An example is the upcoming McLaren P1, spiritual heir to the maker's landmark F1 supercar from the 1990s. It does not claim to be the quickest in a straight line but the fastest around a track. Any track.There's a trade-off here between the sorts of fittings you may expect in a car costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and handling. Luxury materials and gadgets add weight, the enemy of agility. The most extreme supercars are stripped of all that stuff to mimic, albeit in a more manicured way, the rawness of race cars.Another type of performance car, though, where everything from the splendid cabin to the equipment to the engine are maxed out. These are epitomised by the tuned versions of mainstream cars produced by AMG for Mercedes, M for BMW and Quattro for Audi.Here, the point is to give the ultimate luxury statement a fitting level of grunt, so that the big engine under the bonnet is an engineering match for the 20-speaker megawatt sound system.These cars are increasingly popular, especially in Australia, which buys more of them per capita than just about anywhere else. Their success has spurred proliferation, with nothing too absurd to pimp. It's why the Mercedes G-wagen, a hardcore military offroader, is offered with a 400kW+ V8 in the G 63.In that car, the engine is way out of kilter with the vehicle's dynamic ability. It's a case of having more because you can. To a lesser extent, though, that's true of all these cars. One example is BMW's 6 Series line-up, which has an M variant for each of the three body styles offered: coupe, cabriolet and sedan.The M sedan, called the M6 Gran Coupe, has just arrived. It's one of those low-slung sedans makers like to refer to as a “four-door coupe”, hence the name. It's longer than the real coupe by more than 100mm and all of that is between the wheels to provide adequate seating in the rear. Unlike the coupe/convertible, it can carry five and offers decent legroom all round. In effect it's a 7 Series limo in a wetsuit, with all the bulges compressed out.In other respects, it is virtually identical to the M6 coupe/convertible and the M5, with the same turbocharged 412kW 4.4-litre V8 and seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission driving the rear wheels. It weighs 25kg more than the coupe but can reach 100km/h in an identical 4.2 seconds.Compared with the standard Gran Coupe, apart from the engine and transmission, the M treatment includes a high-performance chassis with unique axles, active dampers and an M differential to help put power down. It also gets a superb interior, with contrasting leather and Alcantara, a huge control screen and all the toys you can think of, including BMW's excellent head-up display.The M6’s exceptional level of spec extends to front-side and curtain airbags, multi-stage stability and traction control, anti-lock brakes with six-piston front calipers, cruise control with braking function, active front head restraints, auto-dimming mirrors, several cameras, parking sensors, lane departure warning, tyre pressure monitoring, heads-up display and auto high-beam function. Carbon-ceramic brakes are also available for an extra $24,000.The latest M5 and the M6 trio mark a change in direction for BMW M cars compared with the ones that came before. Typically, the M treatment produced a more focused result than its rivals at Mercedes and Audi. They traced their lineage back to race cars. An M3, for example, felt more at home on a track than the equivalent Mercedes C 63.The price for that was commitment; driving on the daily commute did nothing to reveal its depth of ability and could be uninspiring. The C 63, by contrast, would snarl and rasp its way along at any speed. The latest M5/M6 change to fall into line with their rivals. The defining characteristic of these cars, unlike previous Ms, is an excess of power.The M6 Gran Coupe is the same; it spins its wheels, finds grip momentarily, then spins them again in the next gear. On the road, particularly the damp and twisting back roads between Healesville and Phillip Island on the test drive route, that meant delicate throttle applications. Even then, the traction control light blinked non-stop.The power itself is impressive. Once the engine reaches its torque peak, not far above idle, it just keeps going without respite. Some of it, thanks to the electronics, results in forward motion. It sounds snarly too, especially in low gears. However, it lacks the soaring character of the V10 unit in the previous M5/M6, which meant it had to be driven with the revs in mind. Here, power is on tap and delivers constant excess.The result is a car that lacks a distinctive point of difference. The Gran Coupe, thanks to its length, is less agile than the coupe/convertible but I'm not sure I could tell the difference blindfolded, so to speak. The body feels rigid and the suspension firm, but on our country roads all that stiffness can unsettle the car and the ride is unbearable in anything except comfort mode.On a track, by contrast, even in Sport+ mode you are aware of the weight transfer in directional changes and how much of the car's ability depends on super-wide rubber. When it comes to braking, even with huge stoppers you notice all two tonnes. After a couple of laps the brakes are smoking and starting to lose some of their force.There are other downsides for the driver. The angle of the A-pillars means vision is restricted through corners and the rear window is a narrow slit, with fixed headrests no help.The 640i was a car I enjoyed a lot when I drove it last year and I expected to like the M6 Gran Coupe more. But the 640i is a more balanced result.No question, as a luxury statement the M6 Gran Coupe is right up there and the engine does its bit. But it shows BMW's M cars have joined the pack. Now I'm worried about what they'll do to the next M3. 

If an M5 sedan is too mainstream but four doors are a must for your driveway, then BMW's M-division has unleashed a new flagship that will fit your bill. BMW's latest M-monster is a four-door - the M6 Gran Coupe, a svelte and muscular coupe with easy rear seat access.Anything around $300,000 that doesn't have an ensuite and off-street parking is not really going to be considered value, but it depends on what price you put on stupendous speed or a features list that could take up the rest of this page. The exclusivity of just 20 cars being on the road might well be worth the extra $70,000 - that's a top-spec 1 Series or a mid-spec 3, remember - over an M5.The Gran Coupe gets quad-zone climate control system and roller sunblinds for the rear windscreen and rear side windows to set it apart from the coupe and add to the extensive features list: ventilated and heated leather seating, insulated windscreen, model-specific 20-inch M light-alloy wheels, alcantara rooflining with a leather trim centrepiece, adaptive LED headlights, full internet and sound system integration for smartphones and electric sunblinds for the rear windscreen and rear side windows.The BMW M6 Gran Coupe also brings with it a couple of sizeable options, among them a 12-speaker $14,000 Bang & Olufsen Surround Sound System, digital radio reception, a heated steering wheel and $4500 for BMW Night Vision with pedestrian recognition.Twin-scroll turbos - two of them - puffing away atop an already-potent V8 is recipe for rapidity, even in a two-tonne Teuton. The engine has variable valve timing and lift control on both sides, as well as direct injection, to generate 412kW and 680Nm (from just 1500rpm through to 5750rpm) to send through the rear wheels. On the other side of the powerplant equation is the fuel economy, which is a claimed 9.9 litres per 100km.New to the M6 range and arriving with the new coupe is the $12,000 Competition pack, available from July which adds 11kW, Competition wheels and gives more aggressivesuspension and power steering tune.The extra grunt takes the sprint to 100km/h down from the standard car's 4.2 second claim by 0.1 of second, or 0.2 quicker to 200km/h - given the "standard" car's gusto it wouldn't really seem worth the extra moolah.The drivetrain goodies also include the double-clutch seven-speed "auto" (with stop-start and launch control) and the active rear differential, which teams with the electronics to get the grunt to ground and distributed to whichever of the rear wheels can best use it.The trend of coupe-styled four-door machinery spawned the 6 Gran Coupe and the M version adds to the imposing presence of the mainstream car.  It has the visible carbon-fibre roof, aluminium door and bonnet panels and plastic front guards - all of which help the centre of gravity and keep weight to about 1.9 tonnes.The Gran Coupe gets a carbon-fibre reinforced plastic rear under-bumper diffuser that wraps around the four exhausts. The stance is low and muscled, with wider track, flared wheel arches and larger front air intakes, the brooding and imposing "coupe" sits just 110mm off the tarmac on 20 inch wheels wrapped in liquorice instead of tyres.Cabin space is for four (although there's a fifth seatbelt, the centre console is broad) and the four occupants are generally well accommodated.At 191cm I can sit behind my own driving position with only rear headroom being an issue, while cargo space is good - not grand - at 460 litres, with a split-fold rear seat function to increase that to 1265 litres should you need it.The full arsenal of safety features as you'd expect at this level - front, front-side and curtain airbags, multi-stage stability and traction control, anti-lock brakes with six-piston front calipers, cruise control with braking function, active front head restraints, auto-dimming mirrors, several cameras, parking sensors, lane departure warning, tyre pressure monitoring,head-up display and auto high-beam function. Or if you are hell-bent on slowing the earth's rotation, you can ante up $24,000 for carbon-ceramic stoppers.Sauntering out of the pit lane and the sense of quiet refinement, the comfort of a big lazy V8 and being snug down truly behind the wheel is a relaxed place to be.Lapping the Sepang track we're testing on doesn't give any sense of ride quality - for that we'll have to wait for local roads - but the clever steering and suspension systems do great things for the Gran Coupe's body control.The front can come under pressure if you're heavy on the brakes, and the rear can slip sideways under duress without too much provocation, but the extra bit of wheelbase and the active rear differential, which teams with the electronic nursemaids to varying degrees, makes it an easy catch with the hydraulic power steering.Some time on the wet skid-pan demonstrated the clever teamwork between the electronics and the clever rear diff, as well as the playful abilities and the immense outputs that can be employed when the restrictions are lifted.With 412kW and 650Nm on offer from the right foot it is an easy game to play, belying its size to some extent - it's no M3 in being nimble in the bends on change of direction, but the torque of the twin-turbo engine makes the M3 feel slow.The brutal straight-line force, which can be unleashed using launch control, slings the big coupe away from standstill to 100km/h in around four seconds, although BMW staffers say 3.9 in the right conditions is not impossible - I'd believe it.As a German ubercar for daily use, we'll wait for a taste of the ride on our roads, but its ability to play hard on a racetrack and obliterate tyres is not in any doubt. Lavish in cabin materials, with no shortage of gear, it's more sledgehammer than scalpel, but not often is blunt force trauma so entertaining.