Test Drive: 2009 BMW M6

Test Drive
A $130,000 gas-guzzling V10 monster in the land of the ding-ding bicycles
By Jacob Ward Posted 09.25.2008 at 12:21 pm 5 Comments

The 2009 BMW M6 : A car that begs for open roads. Jacob Ward

California’s Central Valley, that blistering flatland of artichoke fields criss-crossed by the occasional four-mile straightaway, would seem the perfect place to open up a big engine. But as I arrived in Davis, California, on the day my parents moved there from Seattle, I was hit with the sudden realization that I had, in fact, chosen the perfectly wrong trip on which to test BMW’s monstrous M6.

Davis, it turns out, is possibly the bike-friendliest town in the nation. It boasts the greatest number of bike lanes per capita of any American city, and the students and professors of UC Davis are the backbone of a daily parade of thousands of citizens whizzing and dinging between farmers' market and campus center, campus center and kindergarten. As a daily cyclist on the very un-bike-friendly streets of New York City, I smiled to see these happy, helmetless denizens safely pedaling their frisbees and picnic baskets and children to and fro.

But sitting at the helm of a V10 supercar, I wanted them to just get out of my frickin’ way.

Share the Road: A morose M6 in the land of plenty (of bikes).  Jacob Ward
The car is perhaps best-known for the small button on the steering wheel marked “M”. Until I was out on the highway, I’d already been impressed by the incredible power and control of the M6. No turbolag, no shimmy in the back wheels, and even though at the middle of each gear the RPM is about 1000 revolutions higher than I’m used to, the car accelerated and decelerated smoothly when I wanted to avoid making my wife sick. It turned out, however, that I’d had the thing in granny mode. Punching that modest “M” turns a 400-horsepower sportscar into a 500-horsepower shotgun. Suddenly you hear the whine of extra air being pulled through the wheel wells and into the mix, and you realize there’s far, far more acceleration at your disposal than you could possibly use.

But I just couldn’t find a place to try out this exquisite machine. Every time I rounded a corner, praying for a straightaway, there’d be some nice agriculture professor and his family pedaling to soccer practice, or a young couple on a tandem bike headed for the community pool. I probably spent more time yanking the six-speed manual transmission between first and second than any other reviewer who’s driven this car. And it takes a certain amount of skill, I found, to drive past a young eco-minded family without making the engine roar in an embarrassing, decidedly non-eco-friendly way.

I did not, however, entirely squander my opportunity. After downing some coffee at midnight I drove it to a long, empty road a few miles outside of town. And that’s where I realized that while power and speed are available in any number of American monsters, it takes a BMW to make the experience of touching 100 miles per hour so, well, relaxing. The only thing reminding me that driving such a powerful car isn’t normal was the heads-up display, which allows you to keep your eye on the road while you watch the numbers on the readout frantically try to keep up with your speed. But that was the only indication that I was doing anything unusual. As it happens, the subtle grip of the leather seats, the weight and balance of the pedals and the unerring aim of the car make dropping the hammer on an M6 no more anxious an experience than riding a bike.

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5 Comments

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Gorillamonk
09/25/08 at 3:14 pm

Luckily, no speeding tickets or a late night bike rider to test the suspension.

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nzaw4
09/25/08 at 4:36 pm

"No Turbo lag" ? are you really qualified to review cars? a V-10 sports coupe car, with a Turbo? ok buddy.....

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billdale

from Los Angeles, CA

09/26/08 at 9:55 pm

Every vehicle I have and use is a BMW: two sedans, a coupe and two motorcycles-- but I'm dismayed that BMW has yet to offer a single electrically powered vehicle, and it appears they just may be dead last to do so. I'm excited to see Dodge's announcement of the ENVI EV, and hope it will spur the Bavarians and others to follow their lead.

About a year ago BMW began offering hydrogen-powered sedans, but that's about like offering a blind man free tickets to a Charlie Chaplin film festival-- where can you find hydrogen to power them, and why would you want to drive one anyway considering that they have no advantages I know of? Hydrogen is produced either at great expense by electrolysis of water, or it is produced from petroleum, making it no better than fueling your car with gasoline.

I love all of my BMWs... they are surprisingly easy to work on, the parts are not as expensive as one would expect for performance cars and motorcycles, and they perform with satisfaction. But I yearn for the day when I can buy a BMW that does not use fuel made from foreign oil products: I do not want to send my money to the same country that financed the 9/11 attacks and that continues to finance terrorism in Iraq and elsewhere.

Until then, I am almost finished converting my BMW coupe to full battery-electric power, and will be sure to let BMW know it, and urge them to produce something even better. It has cost me nearly $30,000, but it will be extremely quiet and efficient, its performance will be comparable to what it was before the conversion, and I will be able to drive it guilt-free.

BMW needs to read the writing on the wall: oil cannot last forever, and no other power source shows any promise other than electricity, including hydrogen. There is no line formed begging for hydrogen-powered cars, but there are millions ready, money in hand, to buy a well-designed, efficient EV.

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Corner_stone
09/30/08 at 1:41 pm

I must say that contrary to popular belief electric is not absolutely eco-friendly because it takes electricity for the batteries that normally is created by power plants just like hydrogen fuel cells take energy to use the energy so really nothing is ever truly environmentally good the best we can do is use our own bodies energy or sun or wind to create the electricity or separate the hydrogen and oxygen from water.

In some ways it's better just to have an extremely efficient machine because that is the best for the environment.

Hybrid vehicles so the most promise with the ability to get back the lost energy and they are much more efficient.

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clhathat
10/01/08 at 1:37 pm

No turbo lag indeed... considering the M6 isn't turbocharged

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