2009 BMW X6 xDrive50i - Short Take Road Test

Maybe it was an Oktoberfest-fueled decision, or maybe it came after a particularly trying meeting, but the volks at BMW seem to have said to themselves, “The gents at AMC really got it right in the early ’80s. Herr Bangle, make the X5 look more like a 1983 AMC Spirit, bitte, and we’ll call it the X6.”

At least when you’re driving the X6, you don’t have to look at it. And after driving the X6, it’s likely that the styling will be forgotten or, at the very least, forgiven.

It’s a prettier picture, mechanically. Despite its rhino-like 5241-pound weight, the X6 drives like a much smaller sports sedan. Steering effort is heavy and requires a deliberate hand, but the X6 responds quickly and without drama. Part of the credit goes to the xDrive all-wheel drive and a torque-vectoring system that can vary the power between each of the rear wheels to stabilize the X6—or engage in lurid power slides if you turn off the stability control. Grip from the wide Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tires registers 0.89 g on the skidpad, which will send passengers reaching for overhead grab handles that aren’t there. That the X6 achieves these numbers with a supple ride is even more remarkable considering the stiff and heavy run-flat tires on 20-inch wheels.