“What is the point?” was my initial reaction to BMW’s ‘Sports Activity Coupe’. I ignored it completely when it was unveiled, and the few I’d seen on the road—while looking quite audacious—left me unmoved as well. A week’s custodianship worked something of a transformation, however. Here’s how it happened.

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Firstly, it doesn’t hurt that BMW’s latest is based on the excellent X5, one of the nicest driving luxury ‘Ute made. So it rides and handles, and is comfortable and thoroughly well turned-out inside. The most obvious mechanical difference is the use here of the company’s potent twin-turbo six. Its 300hp and 300lb-ft of torque moves the 5200-pound X6 with moxie, punching through sixty in under six seconds, and giving meaningful shove at highway speeds, despite our altitude.

A subtler contributor to my conversion is something we’ll see spread throughout the BMW stable, called Dynamic Performance Control. Basically a mechanical limited slip rear differential with electronically controlled output shafts on each side, it can speed up individual wheels to keep the X6 on the driver’s chosen path without the intervention of the stability control, with which it’s integrated. Weighing only 26 pounds, it is a clear example of how the Bavarians continue to lead in chassis brilliance.

It didn’t hurt that my test vehicle had the optional Sports Package, which added adjustable dampers and active antiroll bars that would stiffen up in turns yet leave the amazingly compliant ride alone the rest of the time. Combined with the variable ratio steering rack, what the X6 would do on a tight back road was simply flabbergasting. About the only thing that disappointed was a modest feeling of disconnect; any ‘organic’ feel was lost through the multitude of systems necessary to endow something this huge with such talent. So aside from feeling a bit ‘digitized’, what other demerits did the BMW have?

Very few, as it turned out. The X6 looses only about two cubic feet of interior volume to its platform mate, and if the rear seating is for two only, unlike the X5, which can—in theory—fit five in its two rear rows, those folk are very well catered to, with sumptuous leather bucket seats, comfy armrests, polished wood and full control of climate. And the cargo area is very commodious. So we know it’s still practical.

The X6 is also potent, offering all the performance that a BMW should, even in this, it’s more basic form (there’s a twin-turbo V8 as well for the power crazed). And my reservations about any driving artificiality are more conceptual than practical, as almost no one will ever attempt to broach its incredibly high limits on the road.

And after a week of being enjoyably gawked at by any and all (the X6 makes even the outré Infiniti FX and Range Rover Sport look plain), the only real shortcoming I could recon on was the profligacy inherent in its basic design and in BMW’s pricing policies. While a basic example runs mid-50’s, most of the goodies buyers will want (like the should-be-standard $400 back up camera) can easily add twenty thousand dollars or more to the tab. For those less retiring types, perhaps the monstrous sexuality of the X6 will justify the outlay. As for myself, I concluded my tenure with enormous respect for the engineering the company can marshal, and a deep desire to see all the X6’s advances applied to the (slightly) more socially responsible X5, especially in its upcoming turbodiesel form.

Price as tested: $72,520

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