2008 BMW X6 xDrive 5.0i

The BMW X6 concept, which was revealed at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, is the first offering in a new vehicle segment, the Sport Activity Coupe.

The design of the BMW X6 fuses the elegance of a sport coupe with the off road potential of a 4×4 platform.

Is it a SAV or a is it a sports sedan that likes to get down ‘n dirty? Continue reading the review of the BMW X6 and decide for yourself.

Recombinated

by John Matras

Modelers have a name for it: kit-bashing. It’s when parts from different model kits are combined to make something new. That’s exactly what BMW did to create the X6. Sorta.

BMW refers to the new 2008 BMW X6 as a Sport Activity Coupé (note the accent), much as it calls the X3 and X5, despite being sport utes, Sport Activity Vehicles. Compared to the body-on-frame construction typical of SUV’s when the X5 arrived, giving the X5 its own classification just seemed like the right thing to do. Besides, BMW simply couldn’t produce anything so prosaic as an SUV. What would the world be coming to?

What the world came to is the new BMW X6.

The BMW X6 is based on the X5’s SAV platform, shares the same suspension but with a slightly wider track. BMW describes the front suspension as a “double track control arm configuration applying the double joint principle for dynamic lateral acceleration, superior tracking stability and minimization of those forces acting on the steering wheel.” That’s hard to argue with.

Read more… (Click the link to read the full review of the BMW X6 on Examiner.com)

(updated October 7, 2008)