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BMW X6 is in a class by itself. That's not a value judgment. It really is in a class by itself. There are no other raised four-door coupe/SUVs on the market.
The X6 shares its basic architecture with the X5 SUV (or SAV for Sports Activity Vehicle in BMW parlance), but it is modified for the X6. The wheelbase is the same, but the X6 is about two inches wider and the rear track is 2.2 inches wider. The X6's coupe-like body design also makes it three inches shorter than the X5. The X6's raised ride height (with a ground clearance of 8.5 inches) means it is classified as a truck.
On the road, the X6 has a definite presence. For starters, there's the twin-kidney BMW grille. The X6 differs from the X5 and announces its performance character with lots of front end cooling. A small mesh grille is located beneath the twin kidney grilles and a larger lower air intake, also with a mesh grille, is found along the bottom of the front fascia. More noticeable are two massive air intakes that house round fog lights located beneath the cat's eye-style headlights.
It's from the side that the X6 makes its biggest statement. If you would only see the X6 from the beltline down, you'd think it's an SUV. After all, the wheelwells house massive tires, yet the wheel openings are so massive that there is plenty of air around the tires. It's the greenhouse, however, that defines the vehicle. The roof reaches the peak of its height just behind the windshield and steadily slopes down to the rear end where it culminates in a built-in spoiler. When viewed from the rear, this spoiler is part of the hatchback and it resembles the high trunk that debuted on the 7 Series.
The rear view shows a wide, rounded shape. It doesn't look quite like a sports car, though, because the rear end is fairly tall and chunky, not sleek and slim like a BMW 6 Series or Porsche 911. Nonetheless, like a sports car, the high rear end and sloped roof give the X6 the look of a predator hunched and ready to attack. next page