2024 BMW X6 Review: Polarizing Style, Secretly Practical
- Solid performance
- Opulent interior
- Surprisingly usable
- Prohibitively expensive
- Less storage space than conventional SUVs
Before you can discuss anything involving its horsepower, price, comfort, performance, or any real metric, people are going to make judgments on the very shape of the 2024 BMW X6 xDrive40i. As an "SUV coupe," its silhouette is meant to invoke the shape of a two-door, despite the fact it has four doors (five if you count the lift-back) and thus defies the very definition of the word "coupe."
Nomenclature aside, the styling is divisive. Some people are going to buy the X6 based solely on the fact it looks unlike most other SUVs on the market (with the exception of BMW's own X4). In the same way, there's a portion of the BMW's potential buyer's pool that will take one look at the X6 and turn away in favor of a conventionally shaped X5 or X7.
The SUV coupe shape isn't unique to BMW, but it does seem to be specific to German automakers. Volkswagen Group has coupe versions of the Porsche Cayenne, VW Atlas, and others. Mercedes has a number of SUV coupes like versions of the GLC and GLE. It's clearly resonating with enough people to invent an entire segment within the past few years.
A statement piece
Coupe shaped or not, the X6 is at its heart a huge luxury SUV. You buy it as a statement piece, and to be as snug and cozy as possible when driving. The X6 certainly accomplishes both of those things. Although automotive performance acumen isn't always a selling point of SUVs, at least not until recently, the X6 is powered by the same engine that sits in the BMW Z4 M40i, a 3.0-liter twin turbo inline-six that gives out 375 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque, Despite being the base model, it's a spicy BMW-badged meatball.
BMW states that it has a 0-60 time of 5.2 seconds, which would make some actual sports cars experience heart palpitations. The 8-speed automatic gearbox and 48-volt mild hybrid system ensures that the drivers don't feel anything as ghastly as a noticeable gear change. You stomp on the pedal the second the light turns green and the X6 propels itself forward like a La-Z-Boy recliner strapped to a Saturn V rocket. You don't have to think about it too hard.
Somewhere between indulgent and thoughtful
A powerful drivetrain is all well and good for an expensive, opulent SUV, but the inside is where it really counts. The X6's features waffle between needlessly indulgent and incredibly thoughtful, and I'm not sure which side I liked more. I will say, right off the bat, that the X6 is one of the nicest riding vehicles I've ever driven for an extended period of time. It's like being inside of a very fast chrysalis of comfort, with seemingly infinite options to adjust the cabin to your liking.
The jury is still out on BMW's sometimes avant-garde styling choices, but no one can argue that BMW hasn't figured out how a luxurious interior works. From an auditory perspective, you hear exactly what BMW wants you to hear and nothing else, and that is engine noise, and your choice of audio entertainment. The BMW wants you to enjoy the ride regardless of whether or not you're sitting stationary in a parking lot or barreling down the highway while listening to the entirety of Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department."
Crystalline opulence
Heated, ventilated, and adjustable leather seats, a nice sound system, wood accents, huge touchscreens, and a panoramic sunroof are all luxury staples at this point. You already know the BMW has them. But here's where the X6 gets weird. The theme for the X6's interior seems to be "Staircase from the Titanic with a crystal motif." The gear selector is an asymmetrical crystal that you nudge in different directions to change from park to drive/neutral/reverse. The infotainment controller knob is similarly crystalline, as well as the HVAC vents.
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It sounds like I'm describing something from one of the "Avatar" movies more than a BMW SUV you can buy right now. It's not off-putting, and I don't think it's bad looking, but it got a number of perplexed glances from everyone I showed the interior to. The multicolor accent lighting only adds to the BMW's really odd vibe. It's definitely trying to be different for the sake of being different. As King Solomon said in his writings in the book of Ecclesiastes "vanity of vanities; all is vanity." Whether or not that's a bad thing is another conversation entirely, but it absolutely achieved its goal of being different, if a little vain.
Soccer mom missile with wide appeal
People really wanted to sit in the X6 whenever I was out and about with friends. There's always the novelty of big expensive SUVs, but the X6 attracted a lot of attention. An engineer friend whose car tastes lean more towards rational and sensible called it a "Soccer Mom Missile." Someone else, a nurse who drives a Tesla Model Y, thoroughly enjoyed the interior of the X6, noting that it was much better suited for taller people than a lot of other cars on the road.
My cousin, a diesel truck fan who would take a beefy, reliable Power Stroke-toting Ford over nearly every other car on the market, heaped praises on the X6. The goofy shape didn't deter most people I talked to. It, in fact, garnered nearly universal acclaim from anyone I would consider "normal." That's high praise for a car that I thought would be polarizing. In the end, it's a well executed luxury SUV, and that practically sells itself.
A few compromises
While all its oddness might lead you to expect otherwise, the X6 turns out to be an incredibly useful and practical vehicle. The fuel economy was pretty good, at around 25-26 miles per gallon. Normally, during the course of the week, I have to fill up a car's fuel tank twice: The X6 managed to handle gas well enough that I only needed one trip to the pump. It's surprisingly efficient, too: The rear-liftback hatch was easy and convenient to operate, and even with the dramatically slanted roofline, the storage space out back is downright cavernous.
You may sacrifice a little bit of capacity in opting for the coupe-shape, but practically, it isn't much. Numbers wise, the X6 has a maximum storage capacity of 59.6 cubic feet. Comparatively, the X5 has a maximum storage capacity of 72.3 cubic feet. Don't get me wrong. It makes some compromises for the sake of style, but not in a way that would negatively affect most people's well-being. It's not hostile design. It's just weird.
The price of weird
Now there's the moment everyone is dreading after I've talked up the X6 for several hundred words. That's the price of the SUV coupe. It isn't good. Just to illustrate that point before the full breakdown, let me mention the tires. The X6 I drove wore a set of Pirelli P-Zero tires on its optional 22-inch wheels. Nothing about that sentence is inexpensive. The 2024 BMW X6 xDrive40i starts at $73,900. Because it's a BMW and options are everything, that doesn't even get you close to the actual MSRP. The Carbon Black Metallic paint adds $650, BMW's driver assistance package adds $2,100. Hold tight, because we aren't even close to reaching the end.
Next, the M Sport Professional package–which includes a light-up BMW "kidney" grille–will set you back $1,650. The parking assistant adds $800. The "Executive Package"–which includes a heads-up display, the crystalized driver controls that BMW says are "diamond-cut glass trim elements," and the sunroof–throws in $3,450. The four-zone climate control package is $1,350. Those 22-inch wheels are $1,900, the "multi-contour" adjustable seats are $750. Add in a destination charge of $995 and you have the X6's final price of $87,545. Oh boy.
2024 BMW X6 Verdict
It's excessive, it's borderline crass, and it might even be unintentionally goofy, but you don't spend nearly $90,000 on a car just so you can get to work on time. You buy it to make a statement, and the X6 certainly fulfills that role nicely. I thought I would hate it, based on its shape alone, but once I got into the driver's seat and the X6's creature comforts soothed the savage beast of automotive design conventions within me, I grew to accept its weirdness.
BMW managed to make the shape work in its favor, and whether or not it's worth the price for you is not for me to decide. Sometimes the less conventional something is, the more positive attention it attracts. The X6 could be seen as a buck against the trends set by SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe or Ford Expedition. SUVs can be "sporty" too. Am I reading too much into it? Maybe, but it's a thought-provoking vehicle nonetheless.